Woven Shoe Upper

Abstract

The present invention concerns a shoe upper comprising a woven portion, wherein the woven portion comprises a plurality of warp yarns; a plurality of weft yarns; at least one stitching yarn, wherein the stitching yarn is integrally woven into the fabric during the weaving process by laterally displacing the stitching yarn substantially along the weft direction and moving the stitching yarn in and out of at least one open reed gap in a reed.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to a shoe upper comprising a woven portion with an integrally woven stitching yarn and methods for production thereof.PRIOR ART[0002]Knitting offers a great amount of flexibility for varying the stiffness and elasticity of a shoe upper by varying local yarn content and knit structure. Therefore, a knitted shoe upper allows for a good fit and conformation to a wearer's foot. However, for demanding applications, such as running, playing football, or a number of other sports activities, the knit requires extra reinforcement, for example from tape, a heel counter, or an external cage system, which adds to the complexity and cost of the production process. For this reason, woven materials are an alternative for such applications because they have a lighter weight and higher tensile strength than knits.[0003]Unfortunately, conventional weaving techniques do not offer the same flexibility for engineering a fabric as knitting. For a woven m...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent is about a shoe upper that is made up of a woven portion. This woven portion can be made to have specific performance requirements such as stretch, durability, and support. The properties of different regions can be engineered by adding stitching yarn during the weaving process without adding much weight. The weaving process can involve at least two stitching axes, which allows for more complex stitching patterns that improve the properties of the woven portion. Overall, this patent describes a way to create a shoe upper that is both light-weight and engineered for specific performance requirements.

Problems solved by technology

However, for demanding applications, such as running, playing football, or a number of other sports activities, the knit requires extra reinforcement, for example from tape, a heel counter, or an external cage system, which adds to the complexity and cost of the production process.

Unfortunately, conventional weaving techniques do not offer the same flexibility for engineering a fabric as knitting.

The technical limitations resulting from compatibility issues of different materials on a warp beam are more severe than for knitting.

A further important limitation is that any engineering based on introducing different warp or weft yarns is done in a strictly linear fashion.

Therefore, reinforcement, for example by using stronger yarns, can only be achieved along the warp (0°) or weft (90°) direction and therefore woven materials are often unstable along a “bias direction” substantially along + / −45° to the warp direction.

This relationship limits the stability of certain open structures as well as the range of achievable differences between traditionally engineered zones since typically most zones on a single textile will have similar densities and common warp yarns.

However, this method requires additional handling and is therefore time-consuming.

Furthermore, the accuracy and reproducibility in adding the additional yarn is naturally limited in this method.

However, these techniques are technically complex, produce waste yarns at the back of the fabric, and increase the area weight of the fabric significantly.

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