Athletic shoe with an adjustable sizing system

• US 6,442,874 B1
• Filed: 08/17/2000
• Issued: 09/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nike, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nike, Inc.
• Inventors: Long, Bradley S.
• Primary Examiner(s): KAVANAUGH, JOHN T
• Application Number:
  US09/640,371
• Time in Patent Office: 747 Days
• Field of Search: 36/97, 361/12, 36/71, 36/81, 361/05, 361/32, 361/36, 36/72.R, 36/15, 36/2.R, 36/72.B, 36/585, 36/586
• US Class Current: 36/97
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 3/26 adjustable as to length or size

Abstract

An article of footwear that includes a sizing system to allow the shoe size to be adjustable by the wearer. The article of footwear in the form of a shoe includes a sole, an upper extending from the sole, and a sizing member located within the upper, in which the sizing member is attached to the upper at the rear end of the athletic shoe. The sizing member includes an inner core, a separation feature, a fastening system, and locking feature. The inner core is substantially enclosed in a lining and the separation feature includes a plurality of perforations at the top of the sizing member. The sizing member enables a user to adjust the effective length of the shoe. The article of footwear may also include separable sockliner layers. This enables a user to adjust the effective height of the shoe. If an upper sockliner layer wraps upwardly at its sides and/or if the sizing member wraps substantially around the heel, removal of the upper sockliner layer 51 and/or the sizing element enables a user to adjust the effective width of the shoe. Also a method of adjusting the size of the article of footwear is disclosed.

Claims

1. An article of footwear, comprising:

a sole;

an upper extending from the sole, the upper having a front portion, a rear portion, a foot opening at the rear portion positioned to receive a foot when worn, and an inner heel portion positioned at the rear portion inside of the foot opening; and

a sizing member attached to the upper and selectively positionable between a first position within the foot opening at the inner heel portion so as to form a first predetermined foot size of said article of footwear and a second position located outside of the foot opening so as to form a second predetermined foot size of said article of footwear;

wherein said sizing member includes a preformed weakened separation line, said preformed separation line configured for assisting a user to separate said sizing member from said upper along the preformed separation line.

2. The article of footwear of claim 1, wherein the sizing member is removably attached to the upper at the preformed separation line.

3. The article of footwear of claim 1, wherein said sizing member includes an attachment member having a first end and an opposing second end, said first end of said attachment member being attached to said sizing member and said second end of said attachment member being attached to said rear portion of said upper, said preformed separation line being disposed between said first end and said second end of said attachment member.

4. The article of footwear of claim 3, wherein the preformed separation line includes a plurality of perforations.

5. The article of footwear of claim 3, wherein the preformed separation line includes a deformed portion that includes a sufficiently low breaking strength to enable said sizing member to be separated from said upper by a tensile force applied to said preformed separation line.

6. The article of footwear of claim 3, wherein the attachment member has opposing sides, said preformed separation line is curved between its opposing sides.

7. The article of footwear of the claim 1, wherein a bottom end of the sizing member includes an extension portion extending substantially horizontally therefrom and covering a region superimposed below the foot opening when the sizing member is in the first position.

8. The article of footwear of claim 7, further comprising a sockliner, wherein the extension portion of the sizing member is positioned between a sockliner and the sole.

9. The article of footwear of claim 7, further comprising a sockliner having multiple layers, wherein the extension portion extends between at least two layers of the sockliner.

10. The article of footwear of claim 1, further comprising a fastening system adapted to secure the sizing member to said inner heel portion of the upper.

11. The article of footwear of claim 10, wherein the fastening system includes at least one of a releasable adhesive and a plurality of hooks.

12. The article of footwear of claim 10, wherein said sizing member includes a predetermined thickness so that the difference between the first predetermined foot size of said article of footwear and the second predetermined foot size of said article of footwear is substantially equal to a one-half foot size.

13. The article of footwear of claim 1, wherein the sizing member includes an inner core of a compressible material.

14. The article of footwear of claim 13, wherein the sizing member includes a substantially air tight enclosure, said inner core being disposed within said enclosure.

15. The article of footwear of claim 1, further comprising a sockliner having at least first and second sockliner layers, wherein said first and second sockliner layers are releasably attached to one another, wherein a lower end of said sizing member includes a flexible extension member extending substantially horizontally therefrom and said flexible extension member is configured to be disposed underneath said sockliner when the sizing member is in said first position.

16. An article of footwear, comprising:

a sole;

an upper attached to and extending outwardly from the sole, the upper having a front portion and a rear portion, the upper having a foot opening at the rear portion positioned to receive a foot when worn, and the upper having an inner heel region adjacent to said foot opening;

a sockliner, said sockliner having an upper surface defining a footbed; and

a sizing member having an top portion and a bottom portion, the top portion removably attached to the upper adjacent the foot opening, the bottom portion having an extension, said extension extending below the footbed, wherein the article of footwear has a first effective length when the sizing member is positioned within the foot opening at the inner heel region and second effective length when the sizing member is positioned outside of the foot opening;

wherein the sizing member has a predetermined thickness such that the difference of effective length between the first effective length and the second effective length substantially equals one-half shoe size.

17. The article of footwear of claim 16, wherein said sockliner has a base layer and an upper layer contacting the base layer.

18. The article of footwear of claim 17, wherein the extension of the sizing member is disposed between the base and upper layers of the sockliner.

19. The article of footwear of claim 17, wherein the extension is fixedly attached to the upper layer of the sockliner.

20. The article of footwear of claim 16, wherein said sizing member includes a preformed separation region disposed in said top portion so that said sizing member is removable from said upper at said preformed separation region.

21. The article of footwear of claim 20, wherein the sockliner includes a fastening system for removably coupling said base layer and said upper layer.

22. The article of footwear of claim 20, further comprising a strap having first and second ends, said first end of the strap being attached to said the sizing member and said second end of the strap being attached to said upper, wherein said preformed separation region is disposed between said first end and said second end of said strap.

23. The article of footwear of claim 22, wherein said upper includes an outside surface opposite of said inner heel region, said second end of said strap is attached to said outside surface of said rear portion of said upper.

24. The article of footwear of claim 16, wherein the sizing member includes an inner core of a compressible material and an enclosure, said inner core being disposed within said enclosure.

25. An article of footwear having an adjustable shoe sizing system, a sole, an upper extending from the sole, and a foot opening positioned to receive a foot when worn, said adjustable shoe sizing system, comprising:

a first member, said first member removably coupled within the upper; and

a second member, said second member removably coupled within the upper;

wherein the first member is a sizing member removably coupled to a heel portion of the upper adjacent the foot opening enabling a user to adjust an effective length of the article of footwear by one-half size, and wherein the article of footwear further includes a sockliner having a plurality of separable layers, wherein said second member is a sockliner layer removably coupled to another sockliner layer for enabling a user to adjust an effective height of the article of footwear.

26. The article of footwear of claim 25, wherein the sizing member includes a flap extending from a bottom portion of the sizing member such that the flap is disposed beneath at least one sockliner layer.

27. The article of footwear of claim 25, wherein the sizing member includes a preformed weakened separation line at the top portion to allow the sizing member to be detached from the upper.

28. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 27, wherein said preformed separation line includes at least one of a plurality of perforations and a groove.

29. An article of footwear, comprising:

a sole;

an upper extending from the sole, the upper having a front portion, a rear portion, a foot opening at the rear portion positioned to receive a foot when worn, and an inner heel portion positioned at the rear portion inside of the foot opening; and

a sizing member attached to the upper and selectively positionable between a first position within the foot opening at the inner heel portion so as to form a first predetermined shoe size of said article of footwear and a second position located outside of the foot opening so as to form a second predetermined shoe size of said article of footwear, said sizing member being removably coupled to the rear portion of the upper;

wherein the sizing member has a predetermined thickness configured to selectively alter an effective length of the upper by a fixed amount substantially equal to a one-half shoe size between said first position and said second position wherein said sizing member includes a preformed separation region being weakened, said preformed separation region configured for allowing a wearer to separate said sizing member from said upper along the preformed separation line.

30. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 29, wherein the sizing member includes a top portion having a first end and a second end, said first end of said top portion being attached to said sizing member and said second end of said top portion being fixedly attached to said rear portion of said upper, said preformed separation region being disposed between said first end and said second end of said top portion.

31. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 30, wherein the preformed separation region includes at least one of a plurality of perforations, and a grooved depression.

32. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 30, wherein said top portion is an elongated flexible strap.