Seamless Shoe Upper Design for Foot Comfort
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for producing shoe uppers in three-dimensional shapes often result in local contact pressure at the heel portion due to joint seams, leading to poor wearing comfort.
Innovation Solution
A seamless upper design is created using a cutting pattern that adjusts the length of the outer periphery to conform to the shoe last shape, eliminating the need for seams by expanding or shrinking a sheet to match the shoe last's shape, thereby avoiding local contact pressure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If the upper is produced by joining separate heel portions by sewing, then the upper can be formed in a three-dimensional shape conforming to the shoe last, but joint portions create local contact pressure in the foot portion leading to poor wearing comfort
Solution Approach 1:
The upper is divided into a main body portion and a separate bottom surface portion, where the main body portion is formed as a seamless single piece that wraps around the heel, eliminating the need for joining heel portions while maintaining three-dimensional conformity
Solution Approach 2:
The main body portion is designed with an annular hollow shape having an inner periphery and an outer periphery, allowing it to wrap around the heel portion in three-dimensional space without requiring seams, thus achieving both shape conformity and seamless construction
2Ease of manufacture
If joint portions are formed in the heel portion, then the upper can be constructed from separate parts, but a vertically extending linear heel portion is formed which lowers feeling of fit
Solution Approach 1:
The upper is segmented into a main body portion and a bottom surface portion, where the main body portion is constructed as a seamless single piece that provides superior fit, while the bottom surface portion is separately attached to complete the upper assembly
Solution Approach 2:
The main body portion merges the heel portions into a continuous seamless structure, eliminating the vertically extending linear heel portion and improving feeling of fit, while the bottom surface portion is separately attached to provide structural support
Data Source
AI summary
An upper is used for a shoe. The upper includes a main body portion located on an upper side of the shoe and a bottom surface portion connected to the main body portion at at least a part of an outer periphery of the main body portion. The main body portion is seamless and in a shape having an inner periphery on an inner side of the outer periphery. The shoe includes the upper that includes the main body portion that is seamless and is in the shape having the inner periphery on the inner side of the outer periphery and a sole provided on a bottom surface portion side of the upper.