Article of footwear having a textile upper

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9936758-B2
Application number	US-201715610011-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2017
Priority date	Mar 3, 2004
Publication date	Apr 10, 2018
Grant date	Apr 10, 2018

Abstract

An article of footwear and a method of manufacturing the article of footwear are disclosed. The footwear may include an upper and a sole structure. The upper incorporates a textile element with edges that are joined together to define at least a portion of a void for receiving a foot. The textile element may also have a first area and a second area with a unitary construction with varying stitch configurations. The upper may also incorporate non-textile elements, including non-textile elements on the lateral side and in the heel region. Various warp knitting or weft knitting processes may be utilized to form the textile element.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An upper for an article of footwear, the upper comprising:
a wide-tube circular-knitted textile element, the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element being removed from a wide-tube cylindrical textile structure having at least one outline for the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element, the outline defining at least a forefoot region and a heel region and having a longitudinal axis extending between the forefoot region and the heel region, wherein knit columns of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element have a knitting direction parallel to the longitudinal axis between the forefoot region and the heel region;
a non-textile element secured to a first portion of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element forming a heel region of the upper; and
a plurality of strips of non-textile material secured to a second portion of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element on a lateral side of the upper, the strips of non-textile material being spaced apart and parallel to each other on the lateral side.

2. The upper of claim 1 , wherein the forefoot region of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element is knitted before the heel region of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element.

3. The upper of claim 1 , wherein the heel region of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element is knitted before the forefoot region of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element.

4. The upper of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of strips of non-textile material comprise less stretch capabilities than the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element.

5. The upper of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of strips of non-textile material comprise a leather material or synthetic leather material.

6. The upper of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of strips of non-textile material comprise three strips of non-textile material of varying lengths.

7. The upper of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of strips of non-textile material extend longitudinally across the lateral side of the upper.

8. The upper of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of strips of non-textile material are in a mid-foot region of the upper on the lateral side.

9. The upper of claim 1 , wherein the non-textile element secured to the first portion of the circular-knitted textile element defining the heel region extends from the lateral side to a medial side in the heel region.

10. An article of footwear comprising:
an upper comprising:
a wide-tube circular-knitted textile element, the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element being removed from a wide-tube cylindrical textile structure having at least one outline for the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element, the outline defining at least a forefoot region and a heel region and having a longitudinal axis extending between the forefoot region and the heel region, wherein knit columns of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element have a knitting direction parallel to the longitudinal axis between the forefoot region and the heel region;
a non-textile element secured to a first portion of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element forming a heel region of the upper; and
a plurality of strips of non-textile material secured to a second portion of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element on a lateral side of the upper, the strips of non-textile material being spaced apart and parallel to each other on the lateral side; and
a sole structure secured to the upper.

11. The article of claim 10 , wherein the forefoot region of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element is knitted before the heel region of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element.

12. The article of claim 10 , wherein the heel region of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element is knitted before the forefoot region of the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element.

13. The article of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of strips of non-textile material comprise less stretch capabilities than the wide-tube circular-knitted textile element.

14. The article of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of strips of non-textile material comprise at least two strips of non-textile material parallel to one another.

15. The article of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of strips of non-textile material comprise three strips of non-textile material of varying lengths.

16. The article of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of strips of non-textile material extend longitudinally across the lateral side of the upper.

17. The article of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of strips of non-textile material each comprise a first end extending toward the forefoot region and a second end extending toward the heel region.

Assignees

• Nike Inc

Inventors

• Dua Bhupesh
• Thomas Edward Nathaniel

Classifications

• A43B23/0235

  Different layers of different material · CPC title

• A43B23/028

  Resilient uppers, e.g. shock absorbing · CPC title

• A43B23/0215

  Plastics or artificial leather · CPC title

• D10B2501/043

  Footwear · CPC title

• D04B1/24

  wearing apparel · CPC title