Cable-Fastened Footwear Assembly for Clean Deconstruction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional footwear construction methods make it challenging to deconstruct footwear articles without parts becoming contaminated or remaining affixed to one another, limiting recycling and reuse possibilities.
Innovation Solution
The use of cables to affix footwear components, such as the upper and sole, without chemical adhesives or thermal bonding, allowing for easy disassembly and separation of parts while maintaining material purity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional construction methods (adhesives, mechanical fasteners, stitching, fusion, ultrasonic welding) are used to attach footwear components, then the footwear article achieves strong bonding and structural integrity, but it becomes challenging to deconstruct the footwear article into constituent parts without contamination or remaining affixed materials
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the footwear construction into distinct modular components (upper, midsole, outsole) that can be independently attached and detached. The cable-lacing system creates discrete connection points through eyelets, allowing the footwear to be segmented into separable parts without leaving residual bonding materials, thus enabling easy deconstruction while maintaining structural integrity during use.
2Stability of the object's composition
If conventional construction methods are used to attach parts together, then the footwear achieves stable assembly, but parts become contaminated with adhesive or other attachment mechanisms during deconstruction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the harmful bonding agents (adhesives, thermal bonding materials) from the footwear construction process entirely. Instead, it uses a mechanical cable-lacing system that connects components through eyelets without leaving any residual bonding materials. This extraction eliminates contamination during deconstruction while maintaining assembly stability through the tensioned cable system.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple different materials are used in footwear components (polyester, nylon, rubber, EVA foam, TPU), then the footwear achieves optimized performance for each component, but recycling becomes difficult due to material contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by creating clearly defined modular components (upper, midsole, outsole) that can be easily separated into pure material streams for recycling. Each component maintains its material integrity without contamination from other materials or bonding agents, allowing polyester uppers, rubber outsoles, and EVA midsoles to be recycled separately according to their respective recycling streams.
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure relates to recyclable footwear. Components of an article of footwear—e.g., an upper and a sole—may be secured to one another using one or more cables. The article of footwear may comprise a spacer knit that may cushion a wearer's foot from the one or more cables. The article of footwear may also comprise a heel counter and/or toe cap, which may serve as anchor points for the one or more cables, improving stability. Thus, the article of footwear may be constructed without the use of an adhesive and may be easily disassembled, improving recyclability.