THONG SANDAL WITH PROTECTIVE COVERING

Abstract

A more comfortable thong sandal is disclosed. The strap of the thong sandal includes a piece of material added to the underside of the rubber body of the strap. This additional piece of material provides a cushion to alleviate irritating friction that would otherwise occur because of direct contact between the rubber body and a foot.

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Footwear.

2. Description of the Related Art

A popular casual shoe is a thong sandal. A thong sandal can be easily slipped on and off the foot. People generally wear thong sandals in warm weather (e.g., at the beach) or indoors (e.g., in a gym locker room), as the sandal exposes much of the foot. In many instances wearing a thong sandal is uncomfortable for the first time or the first several times as a person's foot must adjust to the contact between the foot and the thong strap. Although some variations of thong sandals exist, there is a need for a thong sandal that provides more comfort to the wearer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at least one.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a top view of an embodiment of a thong sandal.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a bottom view of the thong sandal of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a back view of the thong sandal of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an exploded view of the thong sandal of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a side view of the thong sandal of FIG. 1 being worn.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a front view of the thong sandal of FIG. 1 being worn.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an embodiment of a bottom view of a thong sandal strap.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of an embodiment of a bottom view of a thong sandal strap.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of an embodiment of a bottom view of a thong sandal strap.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of an embodiment of a bottom view of a thong sandal strap.

FIG. 11 is a diagram of an embodiment of a bottom view of a thong sandal strap.

FIG. 12 is a diagram of an embodiment of a bottom view of a thong sandal strap.

FIG. 13 is a diagram of an embodiment of a bottom view of a thong sandal strap.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1-3 are diagrams of a top, bottom (or underside), and back side view, respectively, of a thong sandal. Thong sandal 100 includes sole 105 to support the weight of a foot and strap 120 to assure that sole 105 (and overall sandal) stays with the foot while the foot is moving, such as when the person is walking.

Sole 105 at upper side 110 receives strap 120 through posts (also referred to as prongs or plugs) 220, 230, 240 that extend through to the underside of sole 210. While FIG. 2 depicts three posts, the thong sandal 100 may alternatively be manufactured with five posts (one post at the toe end and two posts for each of the two posts shown at the heel end). Thong sandals with posts that extend all the way through to the underside of the sole are classified as “house slippers” and are generally cheaper to import, as these types of shoes incur lower costs in duties from overseas. Thus, a thong sandal of this style is generally notably cheaper than a thong sandal containing posts that do not extend all the way through to the underside of the sole.

Strap 120 is composed of a base piece 130 that forms the main body of the strap 120 and includes the posts 220, 230, 240 that are attached to the sole 105. Base piece 130 is a polymer material (e.g., synthetic rubber, thermal plastic urethane (TPU), thermal plastic rubber (TPR), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), or any combination of these materials, etc.). One way a base piece may be formed is by using a mold, where a polymer material in liquid form is poured or injected into the mold to set, thus creating a molded polymer strap of flexible, closed cell material. Accordingly, base piece 130 and posts 220, 230 and 240 are integrally formed as a single unit. As noted above, a strap formed solely of a polymer mold (with a hardness property of 65-70 PSI) without any added padding can cause discomfort to the foot of a person wearing the shoe because of the friction created from contact between the rubber base piece 130 and the foot. The discomfort is generally centered on areas of the foot with the greatest or heaviest contact to the strap, such as between the big toe and the second toe (in contact with a toe post of the strap) and the upper surface of the foot near the big toe and the second toe (in contact with the two main portions of the strap).

In one embodiment, the strap 120 is also composed of a padding piece 140 attached to the underside of base piece 130. Padding piece 140 provides a cushion between base piece 130 and the foot, alleviating discomfort that might otherwise be caused by friction between base piece 130 and the foot. Padding piece 140 is made of a material that provides more cushion than base piece 130, such as neoprene, ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), cotton, organic fabric, or synthetic material (e.g., an open cell polymer or polymer gel). Padding piece 140 is thus compressible in response to the force of the foot against padding piece 140 to provide such cushion, whereas base piece 130 is generally not compressible in response to the force of the foot against base piece 130 and causes discomfort to the foot. Padding piece 140 is stitched, glued, taped, and/or fused to base piece 130. Padding piece 140 may also wrap around post 220 and may be connected to post 220 or connected to itself around the post (e.g., free ends of padding piece 140 are stitched together).

In one embodiment, base piece 130 has a body, exclusive of posts 220, 230 and 240, that has a generally uniform thickness, e.g., on the order of 0.1 to 0.25 inches. Alternatively, base piece 130 may be molded with an inset (concave) space or an underside (side intended to face sole 105) so that padding piece 140 may be placed inside the inset space of base piece 130. Collectively, the arrangement of base piece 130 having an inset and padding piece 140 form a strap of generally uniform thickness forms an even surface at the underside portion of the strap 120, with padding piece 140 not protruding or not significantly protruding from the underside surface of base piece 130. Rather, the edges of the underside surface of base piece 130 around the inset space are at an approximately equivalent surface level with padding piece 140.

Padding piece 140 may be of various sizes. In one embodiment, padding piece 140 is a single piece that covers the entire underside of base piece 130 (at the two main portions) and wraps around post 220 (the toe portion of base piece 130) that would be situated between the big toe and the second toe. FIGS. 1-3 show padding piece 140 wrapped around post 220. In another embodiment, padding piece 148 is not wrapped around post 220 but instead, as a single distinct piece or multiple distinct pieces, is connected to post 230 and post 240 so that post 230 and post 240 are padded but post 220 is not. In another embodiment, padding piece 140 is a single piece that covers just a portion of the aforementioned parts of base piece 130, such as a portion of each of post 230 and post 240 between post 220 that is likely to contact a top portion of a human foot when sandal 100 is worn (i.e., padding piece 140 extends from adjacent post 220 less than a length of post 230 or post 240 between post 220 and sole 105, respectively). Typically, a sandal such as sandal 100 when worn contacts less than an entire portion of a foot. Generally a point of contact that creates the most friction with the foot while walking is an open area of post 230 and post 240 near the big toe and the second toe. Furthermore, padding piece 140 may be composed of multiple pieces. For example, a first distinct portion of padding piece 140 may wrap around post 220, and a second distinct portion of padding piece 140 may be connected to an underside of base 130 exposed to the top surface of the foot can be another piece.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an exploded view of a thong sandal. In this figure, base piece 130, padding piece 140, and sole 105 are detached from one another to illustrate the components of this embodiment of a thong sandal.

To manufacture a thong sandal, base piece 130, padding piece 140, and sole 105 are created separately and subsequently assembled. Padding piece 140 is attached to base piece 130 via stitching, gluing, taping, or fusing. Then, strap 120 (composed of padding piece 140 attached to base piece 130) is attached to sole 105 by securing posts 220, 230, 240 of the strap to sole 105. The posts 220, 230, 240 are inserted through openings 225, 235 respectively, through the entire width of the sole 105, such that the posts 220, 230, 240 are visible from the underside view of the sole 105. In one embodiment, only posts 220, 230 240 of base piece 130 are inserted through openings 225, 235 and 245, respectively, of sole 105. In other words, padding piece 140 is not also inserted in or through the openings.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a side view of a thong sandal being worn. FIG. 5 depicts a thong sandal on a foot 410.

When a person is walking, the movement of the foot 410 causes contact between the foot 410 and the strap 120 and is particularly discomforting around the area of most friction 420. The padding of the strap 120 may cover the entire underside surface of the strap 120 (and the part of the strap 120 between the big toe and the second toe) or the padding may be limited to the portion of the strap 120 that creates the most friction with the foot 410.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a front view of a thong sandal being worn. In this view, the piece of the strap 120 between the big toe and the second toe can be seen. This portion of the strap 120 (i.e., post 220) typically creates friction with the foot 410 while the person is walking and can be discomforting if that portion of the strap 120 does not contain padding. The upper surface of the foot 410 near the big toe and the second toe is also in great contact with the strap 120; this contact can also be discomforting if that portion of the strap 120 does not contain padding. Thus, at least these portions of the strap 120 would include padding.

FIGS. 7-13 are diagrams of various embodiments of a bottom view (sole side view) of a five post/prong thong sandal strap. Note that the embodiments described above depict a three post/prong thong sandal strap. The strap has a rubber base piece 1050 (including posts 1010, 1020, 1030, 1040, 1050) and a padding piece attached together through stitching, gluing, taping, or fusing. The figures show various embodiments of a padding piece that may be used with a five post sandal strap or a three post sandal strap as described above.

The padding piece may be a single piece of various sizes. For example, the padding pieces 140, 510, 520, 560 of FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and 13 cover the rubber base piece 1005 to various extents. Generally, the padding is focused on at least the upper portion of the padding piece.

The padding piece may be made of multiple padding parts. FIGS. 10-12depict padding pieces of three (530A, 530B, 530C, 540A, 540B, 540C) or five parts (550A, 550B, 550C, 550D, 550E). Further variations are recognized of different numbers of padding parts.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes can be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Claims

1. A thong sandal comprising:

a sole having an upper side and an underside; and

a strap including: a base piece having an upper side and an underside, the base piece including posts, the posts inserted through the sole and exposed at the underside of the sole; and a padding piece coupled to the underside of the base piece.

2. The thong sandal of claim 1, the padding piece alleviates friction between the base piece and a foot.

3. The thong sandal of claim 1, the base piece being a molded rubber material.

4. The thong sandal of claim 3, the molded robber material selected from the group consisting of thermal plastic urethane (TPU), thermal plastic rubber (TPR), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC)b.

5. The thong sandal of claim 1, the padding piece being a cushion material.

6. The thong sandal of claim 1, the underside of the base piece having an inset space, the padding piece situated in the inset space such that an exposed surface of the padding piece and a surface of the underside of the base piece outside the inset space are continuous.

7. A thong sandal comprising:

a sole; and

a strap having: a molded rubber base piece defined by a toe portion, a first main portion, a second main portion, and posts, wherein the toe portion, the first main portion, the second main portion, and the posts formed as integral parts of the molded rubber base piece; and a padding piece coupled to the molded rubber base piece.

8. The thong sandal of claim 7, the padding piece is stitched to the molded rubber base piece.

9. The thong sandal of claim 7, the padding piece is glued to the molded rubber base piece.

10. The thong sandal of claim 7, the padding piece is fused to the molded rubber base piece.

11. The thong sandal of claim 7, the padding piece alleviates friction between the molded rubber base piece and a foot.

12. The thong sandal of claim 7, the padding piece is composed of material based at least in part on one of neoprene, ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), cotton, organic fabric, antibacterial fabric, gels, lycra, stretch fabrics, or synthetic material.

13. The thong sandal of claim 7, the padding piece being split into two or more pieces.

14. The thong sandal of claim 7, the molded rubber base piece having three posts.

15. The thong sandal of claim 7, the molded rubber base piece having five posts.

16. A method comprising:

attaching a padding piece to a molded rubber base piece to create a strap, the molded rubber base piece having posts;

inserting the posts of the strap through a sole, the sole having an upper side and an underside; and

securing the posts of the strap at the underside of the sole.