AU2008101209A4 - A footwear item - Google Patents

Description

()8-12-08;14:19 ;Blake Dawson 205681341 0 2 9 258583S Ir 3/ 12

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 (Cth) Complete Specification For an Innovation Patent Application Ross Naltrass Invention Title: A footwear item The invention is described in the following statement Blake Dawson Level 225 George Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 Australia T 612 9258 6000 F 61 2 9258 6999 0O3take Dawson) 2008 COMS ID No: ARCS-216234 Received by IP Australia: lime 15:29 Date 2008-12-08 08-12-08;14:19 ;Blake Dawson ;0292585835 A 4/ 12 205681354_1 2 00 A footwear item C FIELD OF THE INVENTION 0) The present invention relates broadly to footwear, and particularly to footwear that identifies as being designed to fit on either a left or right foot.

0 BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION Children often have difficulties in putting the correct shoes on their feet. That is, they often put the right shoe on their left foot and the left shoe on their right foot. Children's inability to distinguish between the left and the right shoes is partly because of the similar shapes and looks of the left and the right shoes.

00 0 10 US 5586888 discloses a pair of children's shoes, each of which has half of a complete figure, such as the shape of a heart, on its upper. When properly positioned side by side, the shoes form a readily recognisable figure, such as a complete heart shape, on the uppers of the shoes.

However when the shoes are otherwise positioned, the recognisable figure is not formed. It is said that a child will be taught to put his/her shoes on when he/she sees the whole figure and the shoes will then match the positions of his/her feet.

US 5240418 discloses a pair of educational footwear with indicia on the exterior of the footwear.

The indicia face one another when the footwear is properly aligned. Conversely, if the footwear is not properly aligned, the indicia do not face one another. It is said that this configuration teaches the child to properly orient the pair of footwear for wearing.

Both of these two inventions work by marrying the partial figures or indicia on the two shoes, and only work if the two shoes or the two footwear items are present for alignment at the same time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a footwear item designed to fit on either a left or right foot, the footwear item comprising an upper; and a sign displayed on the upper, the sign in isolation being adapted to identify a correct foot on which the footwear item is designed to fit.

Preferably the sign includes an embossed representation of one or more toes being arranged in an order or location for identifying the correct foot.

Preferably the sign includes a silhouette of the one or more toes, the silhouette being adapted to identify the correct foot.

COMS ID No: ARCS-216234 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:29 Date 2008-12-08 08-12-08;14:19 ;Ba ke Dawson ;0292585835 5/ 12 2056813541 3 00 Preferably the sign overlays substantially a portion of the upper, the portion being adapted to Scover a footwearer's toe or toes.

o Preferably the embossed representation is made up of molded plastic.

Preferably the sign is coloured or adapted to be coloured.

00 Preferably the sign includes a textual element for identifying the correct foot.

Preferably the sign is one of many signs being adapted to identify the correct foot.

SBRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING FIGURES Figure 1 is a perspective view of a left shoe Illustrating one embodiment of the present Sinvention; and 00 Figure 2 is a perspective view of a left sandal of another embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A shoe or a footwear item typically includes an upper and a sole. When the shoe is wom by a footwearer, the footwearer's foot is typically rested on the sole, whereas the upper typically covers a substantial portion of the footwearer's foot.

The footwear item of the present invention generally comprises an upper and a sign displayed on the upper. The sign in isolation, for example in the absence of another shoe or footwear item, is adapted to identify the correct foot on which the footwear item is designed to fit. The invention therefore assists, for example, a child in picking the left shoe for the left foot, and the right shoe for the right foot. The invention may also assist visually impaired people or dementia sufferers to pick the correct shoes.

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the footwear item, in the form of a shoe 1, of the present invention. In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 1, the shoe 1 is a left shoe. The sign 2 is overlaid, and thus displayed, on an upper 3 and includes an embossed representation of five toes 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d and 4e. In this embodiment the sign 2 overlays substantially the portion of the upper 3 that is designed to cover the five toes of a footwearer. Figure 1 shows the embossed representation of five toes being arranged in an order that is consistent with five toes on a left foot. In this embodiment the embossed representation has a three-dimensional configuration protruding outwardly, as opposed to a substantially flat configuration that is typical of a shoe's upper. The sign -may therefore provide visual assistance to a person to identify from the order and/or the three-dimensional configuration of the toes that the shoe 1 is designed to fit on the left foot. The presence of another shoe is not required to provide this visual assistance.

COMS ID No: ARCS-216234 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:29 Date 2008-12-08 08-12-08:14:19 ;Blake Dawson ;0292585835 A 6/ 12 205681354L1 4 00 To avoid confusion below, a "represented toe" refers to an embossed representation of a toe, 0 owhereas a "real toe" refers to a person's actual toe.

o The invention may assist a person, such as a child, attempting to put the left shoe 1 shown in .Figure 1 on the correct foot in the following way. First, a child may realise or understand that the big toe on his/her left foot, when viewed directly by him/her, is the rightmost toe of the five Stoes. Additionally the child may realise or understand that the small toe on his/her left foot is the leftmost toe. Then the child may look at the five represented toes 4 on the sign 2 overlaid on the upper 3 of the shoe 1, and realise that the five represented toes 4 are in an order that is oconsistent with the real toes on the child's left foot. That is, when the shoe 1 is oriented with the i 10 toe area of the shoe 1 being furthest from the child (which is the usual orientation of a shoe o immediately before it is put on), the child may see that the represented big toe 4a is also 0 rightmost on the sign 2, and the represented small toe 4e is also the leftmost on the sign 2.

OThis comparison between the embossed representation of the five toes 4 and the child's own Stoes may assist the child to identify the left shoe 1 as being designed to fit his/her left foot.

Conversely, if the child compares the represented toes 4 shown in Figure 1 with the real toes on his/her right foot, the child may recognise inconsistencies between the order of the represented toes 4 and the order of the real toes on his/her right foot. This may lead the child to conclude that the left shoe 1 is not designed to be worn on his/her right foot.

In some embodiments, the sign may include an embossed representation of only two, three or four toes being arranged in an order that is consistent with those on the correct foot on which the foodtwear item is designed to fit.

In some embodiments, the sign may only include one represented toe, such as the big toe, located on the upper near the region of the big toe. For example, for a left shoe being viewed as if it is worn by the person viewing it, the represented big toe is located at a substantially right portion of the upper.

In some embodiments, the sign includes a silhouette of one or more toes. The silhouette forms an outline or a shadow of one or more toes. The silhouette, like the embossed representation of the toes 4, allows a person to make a comparison between the silhouette and the person's real toes, thereby identifying the correct foot on which a footwear item is designed to fit.

In some embodiments, the sign may include a textual element, such as "LEFT", "RIGHT", "L" or for identifying the correct foot.

In some embodiments, the embossed representation is made up of molded plastic. The use of molded plastic allows the formation a non-geometrical shape, such as the shape of a toe or toes.

In some embodiments, the sign is coloured or adapted to be coloured. The possibility of colouring the footwear with the footwearer's favourite or chosen colour may be attractive for, for COMS 0ID No: ARCS-216234 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:29 Date 2008-12-08 08-12-08;14:19 ;Biake Dawson ;0292585835 7/ 12 205681354_1 0 example, children. The colour or colours of the sign may also assist the person putting the Sfootwear item on the correct foot. For example, the represented big toe on a left shoe may be in colour red, whereas the represented big toe on a corresponding right shoe may be in colour green. Additionally, the colour on each shoe may fade out continuously to white when going from the big toe to the small toe. Altematively the shade of the colours may change in a discrete fashion, with the shade being lighter or darker, when going from one toe to the next.

In some embodiments, the footwear item may be a sandal, a jandal or a sandshoe For example, the sandal 10, such as that shown in Figure 2, may include a strap 11 on which the sign 12 is displayed. The sign 12 may include an embossed representation of five toes 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d and 13e, represented in a similar way to that shown in Figure 1 or described hereinbefore.

0O Now that several preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in some detail it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the footwear item of the present invention has at least the following advantages: The likelihood of putting on the wrong footwear item can be reduced.

Only one footwear item (either the left or right, but not both) is required to identify the correct foot on which the item is designed to fit.

The footwear item can be coloured and therefore attractive for children.

The footwear item can be individualised by colouring in the sign.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. For example, the footwear item may be a right shoe. As another example, the embossed representation may project inwardly rather than protruding outwardly. All such variations and modifications are to be considered within the scope of the present invention the nature of which is to be determined from the foregoing description.

COMS ID No: ARCS-216234 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:29 Date 2008-12-08

Claims (2)

1. 08-12-08;14:19 ;Blake Dawson 02288 0292585835/ 12 205681354j1 6 00 CLAIMS 1. A footwear item designed to fit on either a left or right foot, the footwear item comprising: o an upper; and a sign displayed on the upper, the sign in isolation being adapted to identify a correct foot on which the footwear item is designed to fit. 00 2. A footwear item of claim 1 wherein the sign includes an embossed representation of one or more toes being arranged in an order or location for identifying the correct foot. 3. A footwear item of any of the preceding claims wherein the sign overlays substantially a portion of the upper, the portion being adapted to cover a footwearer's toe or toes. 4. A footwear item of any of the preceding claims wherein the embossed representation is Smade up of molded plastic. A footwear item of any of the preceding claims wherein the sign is coloured or adapted to be coloured. COMS ID No: ARCS-216234 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:29 Date
2. 2008-12-08