Technical field

The present invention relates to size-adjustable footwear, and in particular to footwear able to accommodate growth of children's feet.

Background of the Invention

To address the problem of new children's shoes becoming too small as the feet grow it is common for new shoes one or two sizes too large to be purchased. For ordinary walking shoes the poor fit and possible resulting discomfort may be insignificant during the time the shoes are over-size, however footwear for sporting use must be as perfectly fitted as possible. It is important that the foot is supported securely and comfortably to allow good control over movements during the sporting activity. It will be apparent that there is a need for sporting footwear able to be more perfectly fitted and that reduces the demand for regular and costly replacement as children grow.

Interchangeable insoles are used to take up some of the excess volume in moderately over-size sporting footwear. These insoles underlie the sole of the foot, raising the foot relative to the footwear. They may be formed from a resilient sheet of uniform thickness, or have a variable thickness (for instance, increasing at the arch) to fill the excess space between the sole of the foot and the inside of the shoe. In some applications, such as skates having a boot to which the wheels are fixed in a non-adjustable manner, the proper fore-and-aft positioning of the foot relative to the centre of the skate is important for skating performance and balance. However with these prior art interchangeable insoles no provision is made for proper positioning in this respect. It is an object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate the above disadvantages or more generally to provide an improved sports footwear for children. Disclosure of the Invention

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided size-adjustable footwear comprising:

a body having a body heel, a body sole and a body upper;

first and second insoles removably received within the body, each insole comprising integral sections including a forefoot-supporting section and a midfoot- and heel-supporting section,

the forefoot-supporting section of the first insole having a reentrant form for partially enclosing at least part of the periphery of the forefoot and including a first toe cap at a tip thereof, and lateral and medial flanges integral with the first toe cap, the first toe cap and lateral and medial flanges terminating in an arcuate forward edge;

the midfoot-supporting section of the first insole having a non-reentrant form including opposing first medial and first lateral edges and a first arch-supporting portion with a concave convex inner side for facing the arch of the wearer's foot,

the heel-supporting section of the first insole including a reentrantly shaped heel cup to partially enclose the heel,

the forefoot-supporting section of the second insole having a reentrant form with an integral second toe cap at a tip thereof,

the midfoot-supporting section of the second insole having a non-reentrant form including opposing second medial and second lateral edges and a second arch-supporting portion with a concave convex inner side for facing the arch of the wearer's foot,

the heel-supporting section of the second insole having a non-reentrant form with an arcuate peripheral edge, wherein first and second insoles generally overlie one another, and one of the first and second insoles generally overlies the body sole, the first and second toe caps are complementary to one another, one of the first and second toe caps being received within the other of first and second toe caps.

Preferably the first insole generally overlies the second insole and the second insole generally overlies the body insole and a first longitudinal dimension between the heel cup and the second toe cap defines a first size and a second longitudinal dimension between the heel cup and the first toe cap defines a second size greater than the first size.

Preferably the second medial edge is offset downwardly of the first medial edge.

Preferably the first and second insoles are formed from a resilient self-supporting material.

Preferably the body comprises a rigid polymer shell.

Preferably the footwear comprises sports footwear such as skates, ski boots and gym shoes. Most preferably the footwear further includes inline wheels mounted to the body sole.

In use, the footwear is chosen to fit a child's feet of the first size, such that as the feet grow the first insole may be removed to accommodate feet of the second size, then following further growth the second insole is removed to accommodate feet of a third size. In this manner the invention provides footwear which reduces footwear replacement costs without compromising fit and performance.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Preferred forms of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through an exemplary embodiment of footwear according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of a first insole of the footwear of Fig. 1 ; Figure 3 is a section along line AA of Fig. 2;

Figure 4 is a section along line BB of Fig. 2;

Figure 5 is a section along line CC of Fig. 2;

Figure 6 is a plan view of a second insole of the footwear of Fig. 1 ;

Figure 7 is a section along line FF of Fig. 6;

Figure 8 is a section along line DD of Fig. 6;

Figure 9 is a section along line EE of Fig. 6, and

Figure 10 is a transverse section through the first and second insoles at the arch- supporting region.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Referring to Fig. 1, a size adjustable inline skate 10 includes a body 11 having a body sole 13 and a body upper 14 and body heel 20 and body toe 21. A pair of inline wheels 15 is mounted to the bottom of the body sole. The body 11 is constructed from a rigid polymer shell 16 having a resilient liner 17 for fitting the wearer's foot (not shown). A first insole 18 generally overlies a second insole 19, the second insole 19 in turn generally overlies the body sole 13, with both insoles 18, 19 extending from the body heel 20 to the body toe 21.

Both the insoles 18, 19 are generally thin, one-piece items, moulded from a resilient, self- supporting material such as polyethylene foam.

Referring to Figs 2-5, the first insole 18 includes integral sections including a forefoot- supporting section 40, a midfoot-supporting section 41 and a heel-supporting section 42. In Figs 2-5 three contour lines drawn in dashed lines are provided to better show the shape of insole 18, and represent three parallel planes evenly spaced above a base 26 of the insole 18.

An integrally-moulded toe cap 43 extends about the end and sides of the tip of the forefoot- supporting section 40 and is continuous with the base 44 of the insole 19. The toe cap 43 has a reentrant form, extending upward and backward away from the outermost edge 45. Lateral and medial flanges 67 and 68 are integral with the toe cap 43 and the base 44. Forward of the widest part of the second insole 19 (which lies along line DD of Fig. 6) the lateral and medial flanges 67, 68 have a re-entrant form with concave inner surfaces covering opposing sides of the forefoot. The toe cap 43 is complementary to and nested within the toe of the body upper 14, as seen in Fig. 1. The toe cap 43 and lateral and medial flanges 67, 68 terminate in an arcuate forward edge 46 offset inwardly of the outermost edge 45 of the forefoot-supporting section 40.

The midfoot-supporting section 41 includes an arch-supporting portion 49 shaped complementary to the arch of the wearer's foot, having an inner side 48 of convex curvature. The sides of midfoot-supporting section 41 are turned upwardly, but are nόn-reentrant, and terminate in medial and lateral edges 50 and 51 respectively which curve smoothly to blend with the ends of the forward edge 46. The insole 19 generally engages with the entire inner surface of the insole 18 upon which it is supported, except for the portion 60 (shown in Figs. 1 and 10) of midfoot-supporting section 41 which extends above the edge 33.

The heel-supporting section 42 is also non-reentrant and includes with an arcuate peripheral edge 35 which smoothly blends with the medial and lateral edges 50 and 51.

As shown in Figs 6-9, the second insole 19 includes integral sections including a forefoot- supporting section 22, a midfoot- supporting section 23 and a heel-supporting section 24. The three dashed contour lines in Figs 6-9 correspond to those in Figs 2-5. The outer surface of the second insole 19 is complementary to the inner surface of the liner 17.

The forefoot-supporting section 22 is characterized by having an integrally-moulded toe cap 25 which is continuous with the base 26 of the insole 18 and which has a reentrant form, extending upward and backward. Lateral and medial flanges 27 and 28 are integral with the toe cap 25 and the base 26. The lateral and medial flanges 27, 28 also have a re-entrant form with concave inner surfaces covering opposing sides of the forefoot. The front of the forefoot-supporting section 22 (forward of the widest part of the second insole 19 which lies along line BB of Fig. 2) therefore has a reentrant form. The toe cap 25 and lateral and medial flanges 27, 28 terminate in an arcuate forward edge 29 offset inwardly of the outermost edge 30 of the forefoot-supporting section 22.

The midfoot-supporting section 23 includes an arch-supporting portion 31 shaped complementary to the arch of the wearer's foot, having an inner side 32 of convex curvature

(as shown by the dashed contour lines and in Fig. 5). The sides of the midfoot-supporting section 23 are turned upwardly, but are non-reentrant, and terminate in medial and lateral edges 33 and 34 respectively which curve smoothly to blend with the ends of the forward edge 29. The medial edge 33 rises to a high point above the base 26 generally in the centre of the arch-supporting portion 31 , smoothly curving downwarly from this high point toward the front and rear. The lateral edge 34 extends at approximately a constant height above thebase 26 along the length of the midfoot-supporting section 23.

The heel-supporting section 24 has a lower part for underlying the heel and a reentrantly shaped heel cup 55 with a relatively short longitudinal extent to partially enclose the heel. The heel cup 55 terminates in an upper edge 57 that lies in a plane parallel to the base 26. The upper edge 57 is joined by arcuate, concave edges 56 which smoothly blend with the medial and lateral edges 33 and 34.

As shown in Fig. 10, when both the insoles 18, 19 are received in the skate 10, the second medial edge 50 is offset upwardly of the first medial edge 33. Offsetting the edges 50, 33 in this manner provides in the instep area a more gradual volume change or tapering at the edges when both insoles are in place. Similarly, on the opposing outer side the second lateral edge 51 is offset vertically with the first lateral edge 34. When new the skates 10 are sized to fit the user with both insoles 18, 19 nested together within the body, as shown. This provides a first size defined by a first longitudinal dimension between the heel cup 55 and the first toe cap 43. The insole 19 may subsequently be removed to define a second size greater than the first size, defined by an internal longitudinal dimension between the heel cup 55 and the toe cap 25. In an exemplary embodiment, the longitudinal difference between the first and second sizes is 6.6mm, taken up the toe cap 43. The longitudinal difference between the second and the third size is 6.6mm, of which 3.3mm is taken up by each of the heel cup 55 and the toe cap 25. From the toe caps 25 and 43 the thickness tapers to 1.5mm for both the lateral and medial flanges 27, 28, 67, 68 so that for both the first and second sizes a total lateral reduction of 6mm is provided relative to the third size. The base 26, 44 of both insoles 18, 19 is approximately 1.5mm thick. It has been found that this arrangement provides optimal or near optimal fitting as well as longitudinal, transverse and vertical positioning of the user's feet in the three different sizes. In particular, the heel cup move the foot forward, ensuring better fore-and-aft positioning of the foot relative to the centre of the skate. This size adjustment also achieved with a minimum of material, providing footwear with a lightweight, relatively low cost size adjustment.

Aspects of the present invention have been described by way of example only and it should be appreciated that modifications and additions may be made thereto without departing from the scope thereof.