Shoe comprising one or more decorative stones fixed to the upper and/or to the bottom.

The present patent application for industrial invention relates to a shoe comprising one or more decorative stones fixed to the upper and/or to the bottom.

The present invention has been devised after a careful observation of the technical problems related to the production and use of shoes comprising decorative stones that are fixed to the upper.

Shoes in general, including pumps or sandals, decorated with accessories, like bright precious or non-precious stones, have been known on the market for long time. Said stones can be fixed to the shoe by means of two fixing methods that are described in detail below.

The first fixing method consists in using adhesives to glue the stone to the external surface of the upper.

More precisely, such an upper comprises an internal side suitable for being in contact with the foot, and an external side suitable for remaining visible. Said stones comprise a contact surface, which is glued to said external side of the upper, and an external surface that remains visible.

Therefore, in order to glue the stone, said contact surface of the stone must be perfectly flat in order to be glued on the external side of the upper of the shoe.

As it can be easily understood, the fixing of a stone to an upper depends on the quality of the adhesive used. In any case, it is not guaranteed that the stone will remain fixed to the shoe over time or during use.

It must be noted that, while walking, the upper of a shoe is stressed and bends often, while the stone that is glued on the upper of the shoe cannot get deformed to follow the movements of the upper. For this reason, the contact surface of the stone tends to be detached from the upper, especially near the perimeter of said contact surface, thus impairing the stability of the stone-upper coupling.

An additional drawback of said first method used to fix a stone on an upper is the low reliability in case of accidental shocks suffered by the stone when the shoe is being used. More precisely, it is possible for said stones to impact on external objects, being stressed along a direction that is tangent to the external surface of the upper whereon they are glued.

The higher the force discharged on the stone because of said accidental shocks, the higher the risk for the stone to be detached from the surface of the upper will be. Moreover, the higher the number of said accidental shocks, the higher the risk for the stone to be completely detached from the upper will be.

In any case, it must be noted that when a stone starts being detached near the perimeter of the surface in contact with the upper, it is almost impossible to prevent the stone from being completely detached from the upper. In such a case, in fact, the accidental shocks may generate overturning forces in correspondence of the unglued portion of the stone, which may determine the rapid, if not immediate, detachment of the entire stone.

For all of the aforementioned reasons, it can be easily understood that this first fixing method is preferably used for non-precious stones.

The second fixing method consists in a metal frame that fastens the stone, fixing it to the upper. More precisely, said metal frame comprises a fixing portion that is anchored to the upper and a housing for said stone, which is firmly fixed by means of flexible tabs obtained in one piece with the frame.

Said flexible tabs may be in a diverged opening position, which allows for placing the stone on the frame inside said housing, and in a contracted closing position, which prevents the stone from being detached from the frame and from moving from said housing. More precisely, in closing position, said tabs are disposed in the vicinity of the lateral edge of the stone and cooperate in order to hook the stone, holding it firmly in the housing of the frame.

Said tabs can be moved from the opening position to the closing position only by exerting a considerable force on each tab, generally with a tool such as tongs, or the like. This second fixing method is used for large stones or precious stones and the cost of said frame is considerably higher than the cost of adhesives. Another drawback is represented by the complex assembly and by the fact that the stones cannot be mounted in adjacent position, side-by-side, because of the space occupied by each frame.

The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the aforementioned prior art by disclosing a new type of shoe that comprises one or more precious or non-precious stones.

Another purpose of the present invention is to combine the advantages of the aforementioned technologies by devising a new shoe comprising one or more stones that are fixed to the upper or to the bottom in an innovative way, with or without adhesives.

The shoe of the invention comprises:

- a bottom;

- an upper connected to said bottom; said upper comprising an

internal side suitable for being in contact with the foot, and an external side suitable for remaining visible;

- a stone fixed to said bottom or said upper.

The peculiarity of the shoe of the invention consists in the fact that it comprises a housing inside which said stone is inserted and fixed, at least partially.

For the sake of clarity, the description of the shoe of the invention continues with reference to the attached drawings, which have a merely illustrative, not limiting value, wherein:

- Fig. 1 is an axonometric view of the shoe according to the invention;

- Fig. 2 is an axonometric view of the upper of the shoe according to the invention and of a stone suitable for being fixed to said upper;

- Fig. 3 is a view of the upper and of the stone of Fig. 1 cut with a plane perpendicular to a stone;

- Fig. 4 is a view of the upper and of the stone of Fig. 3 fixed together; - Similarly to Fig. 4, Figs. 5 and 6 are views of two uppers of the shoe according to the invention in two additional embodiments, wherein the housing has a different configuration from Fig. 4 in order to guarantee a mechanical fixing of the stone to the upper. With reference to Fig. 1 , the shoe of the invention comprises:

- a bottom (1 );

- an upper (2) connected to said bottom (1 ); said upper (2) comprising an internal side (21 ), which is suitable for being in contact with the foot, and an external side (22), which is suitable for remaining visible; - a stone (3) fixed to said bottom (1 ) or said upper (2).

With reference to Fig. 2, said upper (2) comprises a housing (4) wherein said stone (3) is inserted and fixed, at least partially.

Specifically, said housing (4) is disposed on the external side (22) of the upper (2). However, although it is not shown in the attached figures, said housing (4) may be provided on the lateral edges of the bottom (1 ) of the shoe.

With reference to Figs. 1 and 3, said housing (4) comprises an internal surface (41 ), whereas said stone (3) comprises a contact surface (31 ), which is fixed to said internal surface (41 ) of the housing (4), and comprises an external surface (32) that remains visible.

More precisely, with reference to Figs. 5 and 6, said contact surface (31 ) of the stone (3) is engaged by the internal surface (41 ) of the housing (4).

Alternately, with reference to Fig. 4, said contact surface (31 ) of the stone (3) is glued to the internal surface (41 ) of the housing (4).

As shown in the attached figures, said housing (4) preferably has a tapered-conical shape; with reference to Fig. 4 said conical housing (4) has a vertex facing the internal surface (21 ) of the upper (2).

The provision of a similar housing (4) and a corresponding stone (3) increases the contact surface between them, increasing, otherwise said, the surface where to apply the adhesive suitable for fixing the stone (3) with the upper (4).

As shown in Fig. 2, the shoe of the invention comprises a set of housings (4) with different size and/or shape. Because of said housings (4), precious stones (3) can be used without the risk of being detached from the housing (4).

Although the shoe of the invention has been devised by conceiving the upper (2) and/or the bottom (1 ) made of moldable material, the same advantages can be also achieved if the housing (4) is obtained on shoes made of other materials.

In any case, by using moldable material, a mechanical anchoring - without using any adhesive - of the stone (3) to the upper (2), can be obtained, like the one shown for illustrative purposes in Figs. 5 and 6.

The use of moldable material also makes it possible to provide for a transparent or translucent material that does not cover the brightness of the portion of stone (3) that is housed and set in the housing (4).