Footwear incorporating a textile with fusible filaments and fibers
First Claim
1. An article of footwear having a sole structure and an upper secured to said sole structure, said upper comprising a textile at least partially formed from a plurality of first strands and a plurality of second strands, said first strands being formed of a thermoplastic polymer material, said textile including a fused area wherein said first strands are fused to said second strands.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention is an upper for an article of footwear that includes a textile having fusible filaments or fibers. The textile is incorporated into the upper and specific areas of the upper are heated such that the fusible filaments or fibers fuse with other filaments or fibers to form fused areas. In comparison with unfused areas of the upper, the fused areas may impart properties that include greater stretch-resistance, stability, support, abrasion-resistance, durability, and stiffness, for example. In addition, the fused areas generally provide air-permeability without significantly increasing the weight of the footwear.
-
Citations
55 Claims
- 1. An article of footwear having a sole structure and an upper secured to said sole structure, said upper comprising a textile at least partially formed from a plurality of first strands and a plurality of second strands, said first strands being formed of a thermoplastic polymer material, said textile including a fused area wherein said first strands are fused to said second strands.
-
17. An article of footwear having a sole structure and an upper secured to said sole structure, said upper comprising:
-
a fused area of a textile, said fused area being at least partially formed from a plurality of first strands and a plurality of second strands, said first strands being formed of a thermoplastic polymer material, and said first strands being fused to said second strands in said fused area; and
an unfused area of said textile, said first strands being unfused to said second strands in said unfused area. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
-
-
33. A method of manufacturing an upper for an article of footwear, said method comprising steps of:
-
providing a plurality of strands, at least a first portion of the strands including at least one thermoplastic polymer material;
incorporating the strands into a textile that forms a portion of the upper; and
forming a fused area of the textile by fusing at least the first portion of the strands to a second portion of the strands. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
-
-
51. A method of manufacturing an upper for an article of footwear, said method comprising steps of:
-
incorporating a yarn with at least one fusible strand into a majority of the upper;
heating substantially all of the upper to fuse the at least one fusible strand to an adjacent strand. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55)
-
Specification