Shoe with central closure

Abstract

A shoe of the type having a sole and an upper formed of nonrigid materials attached to the sole, and with a central closure mechanism that is coupled with at least one elongated flexible tightening element by which a vamp of the upper can be tightened and loosened via increasing and decreasing an effective length of the at least one tightening element as measured from the central closure mechanism as it runs between guide elements on the upper and on an instep shield. In accordance with preferred embodiments, the shoe upper has a closed vamp, at least the instep area of which is formed of a volume-elastic compressible material and the instep cover is formed of an elastically bendable material at least approximately matched to the surface contour at least a portion of the instep. Additionally, the central closure is provided on the outside of the back of the upper above the heel, and the tightening element runs from the central closure along both sides of the shoe, via a guide element provided curving around the heel from near the height of the insole, without crossing the instep, to a higher guide element provided on the instep cover and then to a forward guide element lying at the level of the insole on the outside of the shoe upper near the small toe at the medial side of the shoe and in the area between the metatarsophalangeal joint of the big toe and approximately the center of the arch on the lateral side of the shoe.