Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A43—FOOTWEAR
  • A43B—CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR
  • A43B23/00—Uppers; Boot legs; Stiffeners; Other single parts of footwear
  • A43B23/02—Uppers; Boot legs
  • A43B23/0205—Uppers; Boot legs characterised by the material
  • A43B23/0235—Different layers of different material
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A43—FOOTWEAR
  • A43B—CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR
  • A43B1/00—Footwear characterised by the material
  • A43B1/02—Footwear characterised by the material made of fibres or fabrics made therefrom
  • A43B1/04—Footwear characterised by the material made of fibres or fabrics made therefrom braided, knotted, knitted or crocheted
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A43—FOOTWEAR
  • A43B—CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR
  • A43B23/00—Uppers; Boot legs; Stiffeners; Other single parts of footwear
  • A43B23/02—Uppers; Boot legs
  • A43B23/0205—Uppers; Boot legs characterised by the material
  • A43B23/024—Different layers of the same material
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D04—BRAIDING; LACE-MAKING; KNITTING; TRIMMINGS; NON-WOVEN FABRICS
  • D04B—KNITTING
  • D04B21/00—Warp knitting processes for the production of fabrics or articles not dependent on the use of particular machines; Fabrics or articles defined by such processes
  • D04B21/14—Fabrics characterised by the incorporation by knitting, in one or more thread, fleece, or fabric layers, of reinforcing, binding, or decorative threads; Fabrics incorporating small auxiliary elements, e.g. for decorative purposes
  • D04B21/16—Fabrics characterised by the incorporation by knitting, in one or more thread, fleece, or fabric layers, of reinforcing, binding, or decorative threads; Fabrics incorporating small auxiliary elements, e.g. for decorative purposes incorporating synthetic threads
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D10—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBLASSES OF SECTION D, RELATING TO TEXTILES
  • D10B—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBLASSES OF SECTION D, RELATING TO TEXTILES
  • D10B2403/00—Details of fabric structure established in the fabric forming process
  • D10B2403/02—Cross-sectional features
  • D10B2403/021—Lofty fabric with equidistantly spaced front and back plies, e.g. spacer fabrics
  • D10B2403/0213—Lofty fabric with equidistantly spaced front and back plies, e.g. spacer fabrics with apertures, e.g. with one or more mesh fabric plies
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D10—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBLASSES OF SECTION D, RELATING TO TEXTILES
  • D10B—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBLASSES OF SECTION D, RELATING TO TEXTILES
  • D10B2501/00—Wearing apparel
  • D10B2501/04—Outerwear; Protective garments
  • D10B2501/043—Footwear

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a shoe upper and a shoe.
• a shoe is conventionally formed of a sole, an upper, and the like.
• an upper is generally formed of a plurality of members including a fiber sheet.
• a main component for forming this kind of upper is a fiber sheet that is cut into such a shape as to conform to a shoe last when formed into a three-dimensional shape.
• Patent Literature 1 disclosed in Patent Literature 1 below is a shoe including an upper formed of a knitted fabric.
• WO 2016/033051 A relates to shoe uppers.
• US 2009/107012 A1 relates to articles of footwear having controlled and predetermined amounts of stretch in functionally correct locations.
• the upper is not only desired to have specific functional characteristics such as strength or air permeability, but is also thought to be important to have certain appearance.
• the upper includes, in addition to the fiber sheet, a different member from the fiber sheet, such as a leather sheet.
• a shoe upper can have a leather sheet sewn to a fiber sheet to depict a figure or a letter on the surface of the upper.
• a leather sheet used to depict a particular figure, a letter, or the like for a certain appearance of a shoe is generally made by a method in which a single large raw material sheet is punched with a die.
• the leather sheet does not always have such a shape as to be punched out of the raw material sheet without waste. Therefore, the proportion of the raw material sheet that is not effectively used as shoe members but becomes a waste material is not sufficiently low.
• the use of the leather sheet for such a purpose in a shoe can also be a factor of increasing time and effort in the shoe production processes. Thus, production of shoes with a number of different designs may result in complicated production processes or discharge of a large amount of waste materials.
• the present invention has been conceived in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a shoe having a low risk of causing complicated production processes or discharge of a large amount of waste materials even when shoes with a large number of different types are produced.
• the present invention seeks to solve the above problem by providing a method of easily depicting a figure, a letter, or the like on a fiber sheet itself.
• the present invention provides an upper according to claim 1 and a shoe according claim 7.
• Fig. 1 shows a shoe of this embodiment.
• a direction along a shoe center axis CX connecting a heel center HC and a toe center TC may be referred to as a length direction X.
• a direction X1 directed from the heel to the toe may be referred to as, for example, a forward direction
• a direction X2 directed from the toe to the heel may be referred to as, for example, a rearward direction.
• a direction parallel to a horizontal plane HP may be referred to as a width direction Y.
• a direction Y1 directed to the first toe side may be referred to as, for example, a medial side direction
• a direction Y2 directed to the fifth toe side may be referred to as, for example, a lateral side direction
• a vertical direction Z orthogonal to the horizontal plane HP may be referred to as a thickness direction or a height direction.
• a direction Z1 directed upward in this vertical direction Z may be referred to as an upward direction
• a direction Z2 directed downward may be referred to as a downward direction.
• the shoe 1 of this embodiment includes an upper 2 and a shoe sole 3.
• the shoe sole 3 includes a midsole 31 and an outsole 32.
• the shoe 1 of this embodiment includes the outsole 32 in its bottommost position.
• the outsole 32 of this embodiment has, for example, a sheet shape, and is arranged in the bottommost position of the shoe 1 so that the thickness direction thereof corresponds to the vertical direction Z.
• the shoe 1 includes the midsole 31 between the outsole 32 and the upper 2 that covers a foot of a wearer from the upper side.
• the shoe 1 of this embodiment further includes a shoe tongue 4 and a shoe lace 5.
• the upper 2 of this embodiment has a plurality of lace holes 2h in a portion superposed on both ends in the width direction of the shoe tongue 4.
• the upper 2 of this embodiment includes a fiber sheet 21.
• the fiber sheet 21 of this embodiment is provided on the upper side of the shoe sole 3 in such a three-dimensional shape as to conform to an outer surface of a shoe last (not shown).
• the upper 2 of this embodiment can include another member in addition to the fiber sheet 21.
• the upper 2 of this embodiment can include a leather sheet 22 formed of a natural leather, an artificial leather, or the like.
• the leather sheet 22 is disposed in the portion in which the lace holes 2h are provided.
• the leather sheet 22 in this embodiment is bonded to the fiber sheet 21 in a state of being overlaid on an outer side of the fiber sheet 21.
• the fiber sheet 21 can be a knitted fabric or a woven fabric.
• the fiber sheet 21 can be a non-woven fabric.
• a method for knitting the fabric can be warp knitting or weft knitting. That is, the fiber sheet 21 can be a warp knitted fabric or a weft knitted fabric. In the case where the fiber sheet 21 is a warp knitted fabric, a method for knitting the fabric can be tricot knitting, Raschel knitting, or Milanese knitting. In the case where the fiber sheet 21 is a weft knitted fabric, a method for knitting the fabric can be flat knitting, rib knitting, double side knitting, or purl knitting.
• a method for weaving the fabric can be plain weaving, satin weaving, or twill weaving.
• the fiber sheet 21 can be a spunbonded non-woven fabric or a melt-blown non-woven fabric.
• the fiber sheet 21 can be a thermal bonded non-woven fabric, a chemical bonded non-woven fabric, or a spunlace non-woven fabric.
• the fiber sheet 21 can be a needle-punched non-woven fabric, a spunlace non-woven fabric, or a stitch bonded non-woven fabric.
• any kind of fiber can be used as a material of the fiber sheet without particular limitation, and examples thereof include synthetic resin fibers such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polyesters (e.g., polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, copolymerized polyesters), polyamides (e.g., aliphatic polyamide, aromatic polyamide), and fluorocarbon polymers (e.g., polytetrafluoroethylene, tetrafluoroethylene-perfluoroalkyl ether copolymer, polyvinylidene fluoride).
• the fiber can be composed of a natural fiber such as cotton, hemp, bamboo, wool, silk, or rock wool.
• the fiber can be a regenerated fiber such as cupra or rayon, or a semi-synthetic fiber such as acetate.
• the fiber can be a metal fiber such as steel wool.
• the fiber does not necessarily have a single structure, and can have, for example, a core-sheath structure, a side-by-side structure, or a multicore structure.
• the thickness of the fiber in this embodiment is not particularly limited.
• the thickness of the fiber in this embodiment can be, for example, 0.5 dtex or more and 50 dtex or less.
• the fiber sheet 21 can include two or more types of fibers having different thicknesses and/or composed of different materials.
• the fiber sheet 21 can be composed of a staple fiber, can be composed of a continuous fiber, or can be composed of a staple fiber and a continuous fiber in combination.
• the fiber sheet 21 can be composed of a spun yarn, can be composed of a filament yarn, or can be composed of a spun yarn and a filament yarn in combination.
• the filament yarn can be a bulky textured yarn such as a crimped yarn.
• the filament yarn can be a monofilament yarn, or can be a multifilament yarn.
• the multifilament yarn can be a paralleled yarn formed simply by paralleling filaments, or can be a twisted yarn formed by twisting filaments.
• the twisted yarn can be a soft twisted yarn having a number of twists of less than 500 twists per meter, can be a medium twisted yarn having a number of twists of 500 twists per meter or more and less than 1000 twists per meter, can be a hard twisted yarn having a number of twists of 1000 twists per meter or more and less than 2500 twists per meter, or can be a super hard twisted yarn having a number of twists of 2500 twists per meter or more.
• the total fineness thereof is not particularly limited.
• the total fineness can be, for example, 100 dtex or more and 10000 dtex or less.
• the fiber sheet 21 of this embodiment has a layered structure of at least three layers including a surface layer 211 forming an outer surface of the shoe 1, an inner layer 213 disposed on an inner side of the surface layer 211, and an intermediate layer 212 provided between the surface layer 211 and the inner layer 213.
• Each of the surface layer 211, the inner layer 213, and the intermediate layer 212 is composed of any of the aforementioned fibers.
• the surface layer 211, the intermediate layer 212, and the inner layer 213 can have different thicknesses, fiber densities, and the like, and can be composed of different fibers from each other.
• one of the surface layer 211, the intermediate layer 212, and the inner layer 213 can be composed of a multifilament yarn or a spun yarn, and another one can be composed of a monofilament yarn.
• the fiber sheet 21 in this embodiment can have a thickness of, for example, 1 mm or more and 8 mm or less.
• Each of the surface layer 211, the intermediate layer 212, and the inner layer 213 can be formed to generally have a thickness of 0.5 mm or more and 4 mm or less.
• the area of the surface layer 211 and the area of the inner layer 213 are substantially equal to each other, but the area of the intermediate layer 212 is smaller than that of the surface layer 211 and that of the inner layer 213. That is, in the fiber sheet 21 of this embodiment, the intermediate layer 212 is only partially provided.
• the fiber sheet 21 of this embodiment includes connected parts 21a each of which has the surface layer 211 and the inner layer 213 connected to each other by the intermediate layer 212, and non-connected parts 21b each of which has the surface layer 211 and the inner layer 213 not connected to each other with no intermediate layer 212 provided therebetween.
• a clearance corresponding to the thickness of the intermediate layer 212 is provided between the surface layer 211 and the inner layer 213. That is, a space 210 is formed inside the non-connected part 21b.
• the connected parts 21a and the non-connected parts 21b are distributedly located at a plurality of places.
• One connected part 21a extends to continue across the entire region of the fiber sheet 21, and a plurality of the non-connected parts 21b surrounded by the one connected part 21a are distributedly located in the fiber sheet 21.
• a plurality of small connected parts 21a can be distributedly located within at least one of the plurality of the non-connected parts 21b.
• the connected parts 21a exert high strength.
• the non-connected parts 21b exert excellent flexibility.
• the non-connected parts 21b are also excellent in air permeability.
• the fiber sheet 21 of this embodiment includes the non-connected parts 21b having a relatively large area in each of a forefoot portion 11, a midfoot portion 12, and a rearfoot portion 13, of the shoe 1.
• the forefoot portion 11, the midfoot portion 12, and the rearfoot portion 13 correspond respectively to portions of the shoe 1 obtained by dividing the shoe 1 into three portions in the length direction X, that is, a portion in which an arch part is formed, and the remaining front and rear portions. That is, the shoe 1 of this embodiment includes the forefoot portion 11, the midfoot portion 12, and the rearfoot 13 arranged in order from a front toward a back of the shoe 1.
• the non-connected parts 21b can house a different member from the fiber sheet 21 as will be described later.
• a different member enables the adjustment of strength and design.
• the fiber sheet 21 be formed to exert desired characteristics without relying on such a different member.
• the rearfoot portion 13 have a large area ratio of the connected parts 21a to the non-connected parts 21b.
• a shoe upper is demanded to have a rearfoot portion excellent in stiffness. According to the preferable configuration as described above, such a demand can be satisfied.
• the area of the connected parts each having a larger dimension in a vertical direction of the shoe than a dimension in a front-back direction of the shoe be larger than the area of the non-connected parts each having a larger dimension in the front-back direction than a dimension in the vertical direction.
• a shoe upper is demanded to have a midfoot portion exerting high resistance against stretch in the vertical direction. According to the preferable configuration as described above, such a demand can be satisfied.
• a plurality of the connected parts 21 each having a large dimension in the vertical direction be formed on at least one of a medial side and a lateral side of the shoe 1.
• the connected parts 21a and the non-connected parts 21b which are elongated in the vertical direction, be arranged alternately with each other from a toe side to a heel side of the midfoot portion 12.
• one or a plurality of groups each in which one connected part 21a having an elongated shape in the vertical direction and one non-connected part 21a having an elongated shape in the vertical direction are adjacent to each other be aligned from the toe side to the heel side.
• the forefoot portion 11 of this embodiment it is preferable that the area ratio of the non-connected parts 21b to the connected parts 21a be higher than both that of the midfoot portion 12 and that of the rearfoot portion 13.
• a shoe upper is demanded to have a forefoot portion having high air permeability.
• the forefoot portion 11 has an area ratio of the non-contacted parts 21b to the total area of the connected parts 21a and the non-connected parts 21b that is preferably 25% or more.
• the area ratio is more preferably 30% or more, further preferably 35% or more, particularly preferably 40% or more.
• the area ratio is preferably 95% or less since excessive formation of the non-connected parts 21b makes it difficult for the shoe 1 to exert sufficient strength.
• the surface layer 211 of this embodiment is composed of fibers as aforementioned.
• the fibers can form the surface layer 211 in the form of yarns.
• the surface layer 211 in this embodiment formed of fibers have gaps between the fibers and between the yarns through which light passes. That is, in the upper 2 of this embodiment, the appearance of the intermediate layer 212 is made visible from the outside through the gaps of the surface layer 211.
• the non-connected parts 21b which have no intermediate layer 212 provided therein, enable the inner layer 213 to be easily visible through the surface layer 211 when viewed from the surface side.
• the fiber sheet 21 of this embodiment has the connected parts 21a and the non-connected parts 21b visually different from each other, and their shapes are changed to be thereby able to freely depict letters, figures, and the like.
• the surface layer 211 be formed of a yarn having a certain thickness.
• the surface layer 211 is formed of a front yarn 2111. It is preferable that at least a part of the surface layer 211 be formed of a monofilament yarn in term of better visibility of the appearance of the inside. That is, in this embodiment, it is preferable that a part or all of the front yarn 2111 be a monofilament yarn.
• the monofilament yarn occupies preferably 10 mass % or more, more preferably 25 mass % or more, still more preferably 50 mass % or more, of the front yarn 2111.
• the monofilament yarn is preferably colorless and transparent. That is, the monofilament yarn is preferably made of a synthetic resin having a natural color and containing no pigment or filler, and is preferably a polyester monofilament, a polyamide monofilament, a fluorocarbon monofilament, or the like.
• the fiber sheet 21 of this embodiment can be, for example, provided with through holes 211h as shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 . That is, the fiber sheet 21 of this embodiment can have the through holes 211h penetrating through the surface layer 211 in one or both of the connected parts 21a and the non-connected parts 21b.
• the fiber sheet 21 of this embodiment is preferably a single knitted fabric, and preferably includes portions respectively serving as the surface layer 211, the intermediate layer 212, and the inner layer 213 in the thickness direction of the knitted fabric. It is more preferable that the fiber sheet 21 be a warp knitted fabric.
• the surface layer 211 is formed of the front yarn 2111
• the inner layer 213 is formed of a lining yarn 2131
• the intermediate layer 212 is formed of an intermediate yarn 2121 that is knitted on both the front yarn 2111 and the lining yarn 2131, so that the intermediate layer 212 is easily formed to have a relatively large thickness.
• This configuration allows the warp knitted fabric to easily form the space 210 that is relatively large between the surface layer 211 and the inner layer 213.
• the through holes 211h and the like can also be easily formed.
• a different member from the fiber sheet 21 is housed in the space 210 between the surface layer 21 and the inner layer 213.
• the member can be housed in the space 210 in the state of being bonded to one or both of the surface layer 211 and the inner layer 213.
• the member can be housed in the space 210 in the state of not being bonded to the fiber sheet 21 at all. In such a case, in order to make the housed member movable within the space 210, the member can be made to have a smaller area than the area of each of the non-connected parts 21b.
• the size (area) of the member can be, for example, 80% or less of the area of the non-connected part 21b.
• the size of the member can be 50% or less of the area of the non-connected part 21b.
• the space 210 can house a plurality of members.
• a first member to be housed in the first space 210 and a second member to be housed in the second space 210 can share the same material and/or size, or can have different materials and/or sizes.
• Examples of the member to be housed in the space 210 can include a hollow balloon P1, as shown in Fig. 6 .
• a hollow balloon P1 formed of a transparent film is housed in the space 210, a difference in light transmission between the connected part 21a and the non-connected part 21b can be more remarkable.
• the configuration can be such that the balloon P1 has a different color from that of the fiber sheet 21 so that the difference in appearance between the connected part 21a and the non-connected part 21b becomes more remarkable.
• the balloon P1 can be colored, or can be made transparent and include a colored liquid thereinside.
• the balloon P1 can be, for example, formed of a material excellent in light reflectiveness such as an aluminum laminate film. That is, the difference in design between the balloon P1 and the fiber sheet 21 can be expressed by their colors, or can be expressed by their difference in light reflectiveness (gloss).
• Forming the through holes 211h in the surface layer 211 of the non-connected part 21b in which the balloon P1 is housed enables the balloon P1, which has a different design from that of the fiber sheet 21, to be directly visible from the outside of the upper 2 through the through holes 211h.
• the balloon P1 formed of, for example, a rubber can cause a change in the volume of the member housed in the space 210.
• the balloon P1 can be formed to have a thickness equal to or larger than that of the intermediate layer 212 to bulge the non-connected part 21b outward, as shown in Fig. 7 .
• Examples of the member to be housed in the space 210 can include a sheet P2 having a smaller thickness than that of the intermediate layer 212, as shown in Fig. 8 .
• Figures, letters, and the like can be depicted on the sheet P2.
• the sheet P2 having a different design from that of the fiber sheet 21 more remarkably differentiates the appearance between the connected part 21a and the non-connected part 21b.
• the surface layer 211 can have the through holes 211h therethrough.
• a cured product P3 obtained by curing a liquid can be housed in the space 210 as the member.
• a curable liquid is introduced into the space 210 for curing thereafter, so that a part of the liquid is impregnated in the surface layer 211 and the inner layer 213 and cured to obtain the cured product P3 that can be firmly held.
• the liquid can include light reflective powder such as metal flakes.
• the light reflectiveness of the powder in the liquid can be effectively exploited for differentiating the appearance between the connected part 21a and the non-connected part 21b.
• the liquid can be a foamable liquid, such as a urethane foam raw fluid. That is, the cured product P3 can be a foam. In this case, the non-connected part 21b can be brought into a state of bulging outward by the cured product P3 (foam).
• the cured product P3 can have a different design from that of the fiber sheet 21 to be capable of being used for a design of the upper 2.
• the cured product P3 is also effective in reinforcing the upper 2.
• the cured product P3 functions as a heel counter when the non-connected part 21b is arranged in the rearfoot portion 13 so as to cover the heel of a foot and the cured product P3 is provided in the non-connected part 21b.
• the non-connected part 21b be provided to cover the heel from three sides namely the medial side, the lateral side, and the rear side of the heel. It is preferable that the non-connected part 21b be provided to contact the shoe sole 3.
• any other member than those aforementioned can be housed in the space 210.
• the space portion 210 can be filled with a fibrous material such as yarn or cotton.
• the fibrous material can cause the non-connected part 21b to bulge outward as in the balloon P1 if an excessive amount of the fibrous material is filled relative to the volume of the space 210 in a natural state.
• the fibrous material to be housed in the space 210 can be applied with any color.
• the fiber sheet 21 of this embodiment can have colors applied or figures depicted on the surface of the inner layer 213 facing the space 210, in substitution for providing such a member in the space 210.
• a leather sheet processed into a specific outer shape is attached to a fiber sheet to depict figures, letters, and the like thereon.
• the connected part 21a and the non-connected part 21b are formed into certain shapes to depict letters, figures, or the like by themselves on the fiber sheet itself used for forming the upper 2.
• the number of leather sheets for use can be reduced as compared with the conventional shoe.
• a leather sheet serving as a forming member of a shoe upper is generally obtained from a raw material sheet having a larger area than that of the leather sheet and having such a size as to allow several to several tens of the leather sheets to be obtained therefrom.
• raw material sheets having different colors or composed of different materials are prepared, from which leather sheets having certain shapes are to be obtained.
• the shoe 1 of this embodiment in which various figures and letters are easily depicted on the upper without use of the leather sheet saves time and effort for production as compared with a conventional shoe.
• the shoe 1 of this embodiment suppresses the remaining raw material sheets from being wasted after the leather sheets are obtained in producing the shoe 1, and is thus excellent also in saving resources.
• the aforementioned description has been given on some examples of the present invention relating to the upper and the shoe, and the present invention is not limited to the aforementioned examples.
• the aforementioned description has been given by taking, for example, the case where the fiber sheet provided on the upper includes three layers namely the surface layer, the intermediate layer, and the inner layer.
• the upper of the present invention can include another layer further on the inner side of the inner layer.
• various modifications can be made to the aforementioned examples of the present invention. That is, in the present invention, conventionally known technical matters relating to shoes and uppers can be widely employed without remarkably impairing the effect of the present invention.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Materials Engineering (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Footwear And Its Accessory, Manufacturing Method And Apparatuses (AREA)
• Knitting Of Fabric (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (3)

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

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Family Cites Families (11)

• 2019
  • 2019-09-05 EP EP19944208.8A patent/EP4026453B1/en active Active
  • 2019-09-05 JP JP2021543888A patent/JP7430192B2/ja active Active
  • 2019-09-05 US US17/753,416 patent/US20220346499A1/en active Pending
  • 2019-09-05 WO PCT/JP2019/034967 patent/WO2021044577A1/ja not_active Ceased
  • 2019-09-05 CN CN201980099986.3A patent/CN114340437B/zh active Active

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