Claims
- 1. An article of footwear; comprising:a sole; a shroud for covering a foot of a wearer; a foot holding system extending outward from said sole; and a frame member for urging said shroud away from the foot of the wearer, said frame member having a medial end and a lateral end coupled to the foot holding system.
- 2. The article of footwear of claim 1, wherein said foot holding system includes a foot bootie.
- 3. The article of footwear of claim 2, wherein said foot bootie includes an adjustable foot fastening system for fastening said foot of said wearer to said sole.
- 4. The article of footwear of claim 3, wherein said adjustable foot fastening system includes a closed loop tensioning member.
- 5. The article of footwear of claim 3, wherein said adjustable foot fastening system includes lacing system.
- 6. The article of footwear of claim 2, wherein said foot bootie includes an aeration region with open mesh material for receiving air therethrough.
- 7. The article of footwear of claim 1, wherein said frame member includes at least a medial portion and a lateral portion interfitting together.
- 8. The article of footwear of claim 1, wherein said shroud covers at least a forefoot portion of said foot holding system.
- 9. The article of footwear of claim 1, wherein said frame member has a length in the direction from a medial side and a lateral side of said sole, and said frame member includes at least a variable cross section along its length.
- 10. The article of footwear of claim 1, wherein said shroud includes a sleeve sized for receiving said frame member, said sleeve having a medial outlet and a lateral outlet for said medial end and said lateral end of said frame member extending from the medial outlet and the lateral outlet, respectively.
- 11. An article of footwear, comprising:a sole having a midsole; a shroud for covering a forefoot portion and at least a midfoot portion of a foot of a wearer; a frame member for tensioning said shroud away from said forefoot portion and said at least a midfoot portion of said foot of said wearer, said frame member being attached to said midsole; and a foot holding system for holding the foot of the wearer to said sole.
- 12. The article of footwear of claim 11, wherein said frame member is coupled to a medial side and a lateral side of said midsole.
- 13. The article of footwear of claim 12, wherein said frame member includes a length in a direction traversing said medial side and said lateral side, said frame member having a variable cross-section along said length.
- 14. The article of footwear of claim 12, wherein said frame member includes a frame body and a rib, said frame body having an upper surface and an opposing lower surface.
- 15. The article of footwear of claim 14, wherein said rib is disposed on said upper surface of said frame body.
- 16. The article of footwear of claim 12, wherein said frame member includes a medial portion disposed on said medial side and a lateral portion disposed on said lateral side, said medial portion and said lateral portion of said frame member capable of being interconnected together.
- 17. The article of footwear of claim 11, wherein said shroud includes a sleeve for retaining said frame member therein.
- 18. The article of footwear of claim 11, wherein said foot holding system includes an adjustable foot fastening system for tightening said foot of said wearer against said sole.
- 19. The article of footwear of claim 18, wherein said adjustable foot fastening system includes a lacing system.
- 20. The article of footwear of claim 18, wherein said adjustable foot fastening system includes an adjustable tensioner attached to said foot holding system.
- 21. The article of footwear of claim 12, further including a foot fastening system for tightening said foot of said wearer to said sole, said foot fastening system extending from said midsole.
- 22. The article of footwear of claim 21, wherein said foot fastening system extends from said midsole, and said foot fastening system includes a medial compression member disposed on said medial side and a lateral compression member disposed on said lateral side.
- 23. The article of footwear of claim 11, wherein said frame member and said shroud is removable from said midsole.
- 24. The article of footwear of claim 11, wherein said foot holding system further includes a forefoot aeration region having an air permeable material for receiving air therethrough.
- 25. The article of footwear of claim 24, wherein said foot holding system further includes a medial aeration region and a lateral region including said air permeable material.
- 26. An article of footwear, comprising:a sole having a midsole including a midsole periphery; a shroud system for covering a foot of a wearer, said shroud system being coupled to said midsole periphery; a frame member for tenting said shroud system from said foot of said wearer; and a foot holding system for holding said foot of said wearer to said sole.
- 27. The article of footwear of claim 26, wherein said frame member includes a lateral end and a medial end, said lateral end and said medial end being attached to said shroud system.
- 28. The article of footwear of claim 27, wherein said shroud system is removable from said midsole periphery.
- 29. The article of footwear of claim 26, wherein said shroud system includes an tongue portion disposed on a bottom periphery of said shroud system and said midsole periphery includes a grooved portion, said tongue portion is capable of being removably attachable to said grooved portion.
- 30. The article of footwear of claim 29, wherein said shroud system further includes a gripping element for said wearer to grasp thereon, said gripping element disposed on a rearward portion of said bottom periphery of said shroud system.
- 31. The article of footwear of claim 26, wherein said sole further includes an outsole having a forefoot portion, a raised arched portion, and a rearfoot portion, said forefoot portion and said rearfoot portion configured for engaging a ground surface, said shroud system further including an sole strap for engaging said raised arched portion between a lateral side and a medial side of said outsole.
- 32. The article of footwear of claim 26, further including an adjustable foot fastening system extending from said midsole, and said adjustable foot fastening system including a medial compression member and a lateral compression member, said medial compression member is disposed on a medial side and said lateral compression member is disposed on a lateral side of said foot holding system.
- 33. The article of footwear of claim 32, wherein said adjustable foot fastening system further includes a closed loop and a tensioning member.
- 34. The article of footwear of claim 33, wherein said foot holding system includes a foot bootie extending from said sole.
- 35. The article of footwear of claim 26, wherein said midsole periphery of said midsole further includes a locating groove, and said sole further includes a raised arch portion, said shroud system further includes an attachment member disposed on a lower periphery of said shroud system, said attachment member for interfitting in said locating groove, and said shroud system further including a strap for engaging said raised arch portion between a lateral side and a medial side of said sole.
- 36. An upper system for an article of footwear, comprising:a shroud for covering at least a forefoot portion and a midfoot portion of a foot of a wearer, said shroud being configured to be removably coupled to said article of footwear; and a frame member for tenting said shroud from said at least a forefoot portion and said midfoot portion of said foot of said wearer, said frame member having a lateral end and a medial end being coupled to a lateral side and a medial side of said shroud, respectively.
- 37. The upper system of claim 36, wherein said shroud includes a locating member for removably coupling said shroud to said article of footwear, said locating member being disposed on a bottom periphery of said shroud.
- 38. The article of footwear of claims 37, wherein said shroud further covers a rearfoot portion of said foot of said wearer.
- 39. The article of footwear of claim 36, wherein said shroud further includes a transverse bottom strap extending between the medial side and the lateral side.
- 40. An article of footwear, comprising:a sole including a midsole; a shroud extending from said sole for enclosing at least a forefoot portion of a foot of a wearer therein; means for tenting a portion of said shroud away from the foot of said wearer; and means for holding the foot of said wearer against said sole; wherein said means for holding the foot includes a foot bootie.
- 41. The article of footwear of claim 40, wherein said means for tenting includes at least one frame member coupled to said shroud and to said sole.
- 42. The article of footwear of claim 40, wherein said means for tenting includes a plurality of frame members coupled to said shroud and to said sole.
- 43. The article of footwear of claim 1, wherein said frame member is spaced from the foot holding system by at least a distance of 0.25 inches.
- 44. The article of footwear of claim 11, wherein said frame member is spaced from said foot holding system by at least a distance of 1.0 inch.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
The present continuation-in-part patent application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/626,139, filed Jul. 26, 2000, which is herein incorporated by reference.
US Referenced Citations (11)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
WO 9522917 |
Aug 1995 |
WO |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/626139 |
Jul 2000 |
US |
Child |
10/051371 |
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US |