BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Footwear soles may be secured to uppers by a number of means including. stitching, gluing, stapling, tacking or a combination of these.

One method of construction results in what is known as a bucket sole construction.

In this form the upper is folded around a last and glued to a type of inner sole layer.

Thereafter this combination is fitted onto a moulded sole unit which includes a vertical peripheral lip. Then a horizontal or side wall stitch is used to fasten the lip to the side wall of the upper.

An alternative method is the so-called"stitch and turn"method which involves attaching the upper to the flexible lip of the sole unit in an end to end manner. This junction zone is then folded or turned to produce a seam which is vertically stitched. This method is also not suitable for use with sandals having high sole units.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a footwear construction suitable for use with high sole units, and a method of manufacture thereof, which results in an upper construction which is exceptionally flexible and comfortable.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION According to the invention, an article of footwear comprises an upper and a sole unit, the sole unit including a raised lip formation at or near the periphery thereof the lip extending at least in part or parts around the periphery; the upper being affixed to at least a

portion or portions of the exterior surface of the lip by a gluing process; the upper being further secured to the lip by means of stitching.

In the preferred form, the gluing process is manual.

In the preferred form of the invention, the stitching comprises a horizontal lock stitch.

Also in the preferred form of the invention, the lip of the sole unit is located at a predetermined distance from the edge of the top surface of the sole unit. In the preferred form, the predetermined distance is in the range 2,0 to 3,0 mm. The lip preferably has a width dimension in the range 1 mm to 5 mm. In the preferred form the width of the lip is approximately 2,5 mm.

The article of the invention may further include an inner sole comprising a"comfort material", for example, a polymeric material such as polyurethane, latex rubber or thermoplastic rubber.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a method of manufacture of an article of footwear includes the steps of affixing the upper to a peripheral or near peripheral vertical formation of the sole unit ; applying fastening means horizontally through the upper and the peripheral vertical formation; inserting a rigid last into the shoe cavity. and removing the last.

In the preferred form of the invention, a further step involves insertion of an inner sole comprising a"comfort material"into the shoe cavity.

The first affixing step may comprise a manual gluing process.

The application of fastening means preferably comprises a horizontal lock-stitch.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS An embodiment of the invention is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in which : Figure 1 is a 3-Dimensional view of an article of footwear according to the invention; Figure 2 is a sectional view through an article of footwear according to the invention; Figure 3 is a series of sectional views illustrating the steps of the method of manufacture according to the invention; And Figure 4 is a 3-Dimensional view of the sole unit.

DESCRIPTION OF MODES OF THE INVENTION In Figures I and 2, an article of footwear 10 comprises an upper 12, a sole unit 14 and an inner sole 16.

The sole unit 14 preferably has a raised formation or lip 18 having a width of approximately 2,5 mm and which is located approximately 2 mm from the edge 20 of the upper surface of the sole unit.

The article of footwear is constructed by first manually gluing the upper to the exterior vertical surface 22 of the lip 18 (Figure 3 (a), inserting a rigid last 24 into the shoe cavity to provide a surface against which stitching may take place (Figure 3 (b)) and then further binding the upper and the sole unit by means of horizontal lock stitching 26 (Figure 3 (c)).

The last is then removed and an inner sole 16 comprising a comfort material such as polyurethane, latex rubber or thermoplastic rubber is inserted (Figure 3 (d)).

This results in a shoe or sandal with a flexible upper and an extremely comfortable fit.