Athletic performance shoes

Abstract

An athletic shoe includes an outsole, a midsole, an insole, a bootie, a cage surrounding the upper front of the bootie, a tongue, a quarter, a heel counter and wings. The bootie can have one, two, three, four or five individual toe sections which allow the toes of the foot to move independently. The bootie may be removable or adhesively attached to the midsole and the innersole. Both the midsole and the innersole can have slots cut between the toe portions which further allows for independent movement of the toes. The cage and outsole surround the front toe portions of the bootie, insole and midsole. The cage and outsole prevent all large particles from falling between the toes. The individual toe sections in the inventive shoe increase natural foot movement, haptic response and improve stability / balance, footstrike biomechanics and foot strength.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61 / 497,351, “Athletic Performance Shoe” filed Jun. 15, 2011 which is hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]Starting in the 1950's the rise of consumer-level physical fitness in the United States can be mapped out in overlapping waves. Initially, post-war physical fitness evolved around body-building. In the mid 70's, there was a rise in running and jogging as a popular activity choice for fitness. As the running market matured, a wide range of running-specific footwear product offerings appeared—tailored to specific types of running and built around different body types. The running footwear market expanded into a multi-billion dollar industry. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, a similar increase in popularity occurred with basketball. As basketball as a consumer level fitness activity increased, the market for basketball footwear also grew. Prior to...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0004]The present invention is directed towards an athletic shoe which can have various components including: an outsole, a midsole, an insole, a bootie, a cage, a tongue, a quarter, a heel counter and wings. The construction of the athletic shoe can include bonding the bootie to the insole, bonding the insole to the midsole and bonding the midsole to the outsole. A cage can surround and protect the front toe portion of the bootie from debris and particles. A tongue can be attached to the cage and the bootie. The heel portion of the bootie can be surrounded by the quarter and the heel counter. The heel portion can include an upper which covers the middle portion of the bootie and a vamp which has shoelace eyelets. The components can be assembled with cement, sewing, thermal bonding and other suitable construction methods.

[0005]The bootie can have one, two, three, four or five individual toes. Each bootie toe can completely surround each toe so that the bootie fits like a glove on the foot with slots that separate the toes. The bootie toes allow the user's toes to move independently without rubbing in direct physical contact against each other. This also aids in the separation of the toes for added functional improvement. The bootie is adhesively attached to the midsole and the innersole. Alternatively, the booties may be removable or releasably attached. Both the midsole and the innersole can have slots cut between each of the toe portions which allow each toe portion to move and bend independently without causing movement of the other toe sections. These slots further increase the independent movement of the toes. The cage and outsole surround the front toe portions of the bootie, insole and midsole and prevent all large particles from getting between the toes which can cause irritation or injury to the foot. The cage and outsole can also be elastic and flexible so the bootie with individual toe sections can move freely. In an embodiment, the outsole may not have full articulation of the toes so that the movement of individual toe sections is more limited. The inventive shoe allows for natural foot movement, increased haptic response, increased balance, increased stability and agility. This improvement in foot movement freedom while wearing the shoe leads to improvement in foot movement biomechanics in a wide range of different sports resulting in increased foot strength.

Problems solved by technology

In an embodiment, the outsole may not have full articulation of the toes so that the movement of individual toe sections is more limited.

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