FOOTBALL SHOE

Abstract

A sport boot includes a sole, an upper associated with the sole which extends substantially continuously to cover, in use, at least the instep, the sides of the foot and a back of the heel, and has an upper edge which defines an opening for insertion of the foot. The upper includes a rear insert which in use covers the back of the heel and is made of a foldable and/or yielding material to be folded towards an inside of the boot to enable insertion of the foot into the boot from the rear part of the boot. A front insert which in use covers the instep, is also made of a yielding material to bind the upper part of the foot uniformly without use of laces and loops and improving comfort and foot-to-ball sensitivity.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to footwear and more particularly to athletic shoes or boots, for use in full-team football or five- or seven-a-side football.

RELATED ART

Many types of football boot are known in the footwear sector.

A very comfortable and practical football boot model is described in European patent EP-1621089B1 in the name of the present Applicant.

This boot is constituted by a sole and an upper which covers the sole. The upper is a single portion with elastically deformable areas which can envelop the instep of the foot and the sides thereof.

The upper is superiorly interrupted by an oval opening, where the foot is inserted, which in use surrounds the ankle. This special construction eliminates the need for laces and loops on the part of the upper above the instep, improving the sensitivity of the upper part of the foot on the ball, as well as the comfort.

In order to increase the rigidity of the boot and avoid excessive yield during movement, a piece of stiffening material is included, applied to the upper in the zone above and behind the heel. The stiffening material indicated with reference numeral 18 in EP-1621089B1 is a non-elastically deformable material which, locally associated to the upper, prevents elastic deformability thereof in the zones to which it is applied.

In order to insert the foot, the athlete has to open the oval aperture of the upper and push the foot inside. The elasticity of the upper allows sufficient dilation for the foot to slide in. This type of footwear can be improved.

If the deformable areas of the upper are made of a contained elasticity material in order to limit expansion thereof in use and to improve adhesion thereof to the foot, the athlete may encounter difficulty in inserting the foot and a shoe horn may have to be used.

On the contrary, if the deformable areas of the upper are more elastic and yielding in order to enable an easier insertion, the foot is not bound sufficiently to enable good control of the footwear, and perfect adhesion is not achieved to the foot under any circumstance, and in particular during a straight, lateral, oblique run, etc., as well as kicking and jumping.

SUMMARY

An object of the present invention is to improve on the prior art.

A further object of the present invention is to obtain a shoe, e.g., an athletic shoe such as a football/soccer boot (or five- or seven-a-side football) which is easier to don with respect to the known-type of shoe or boot.

A further object of the present invention is to obtain a football boot (or five- or seven-a-side football boot) which enables excellent control of the boot and a perfect adhesion thereof to the foot in all circumstances.

A boot for football or the like includes a sole, an upper associated with the sole which extends substantially continuously to cover, in use, at least the instep, the sides of the foot and a back of the heel, and has an upper edge which defines an opening for insertion of the foot. The upper includes a rear insert which in use covers the back of the heel and is made of a foldable and/or yielding material to be folded towards an inside of the boot to enable insertion of the foot into the boot from the rear part of the boot. A front insert which in use covers the instep, is also made of a yielding material to bind the upper part of the foot uniformly without use of laces and loops and improving comfort and foot-to-ball sensitivity.

A still further object of the present invention is to simplify and make more economical the manufacture of a boot made in the described way.

These objects are attained with the realization of an upper made of stretchable components and non-stretchable components.

In an aspect of the present invention, a football boot (or boot for five- or seven-a-side football) is provided. The dependent claims relate to preferred and advantageous embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will more fully emerge from the following sample description of a boot, together with the accompanying figures of the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the boot of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a perspective external lateral view of the boot in FIG. 1 when completely assembled.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A football boot 30 according to the invention can be symmetrical or asymmetrical with respect to a vertical longitudinal plane and comprises a sole 50 and an upper 40 superposed thereon.

In the full-team football version the sole 50 comprises a plurality of studs 52 of the type illustrated in FIG. 1.

In the five- or seven-a-side version, the sole 50 can have other forms with studs (not illustrated) suitable for the different requirements of use, or it can be completely free of studs.

The upper 40 is made of a substantially non-stretchable material, e.g., natural or synthetic leather possibly coupled to a non-stretchable material layer, and comprises a front tongue 42 and flank portions 44.

The front tongue 42 and the flank portions 44 can be made in a single piece, or can be made of several parts joined together.

As shown in FIG. 2, the portions 44 join tapering on the heel and are joined at the back by a strip 47 which surrounds the heel.

The tongue 42 is separated from the portions 44 by a front insert 60, formed by two substantially parallel segments 64a, 64b which extend from a common base 62. The front insert 60 is inserted in the upper 40 around the tongue 42. For this purpose the upper 40 comprises empty sections 48 of about the same size as the segments 64a, 64b.

The shape of the front insert 60 with the segments 64a, 64b has the advantage of adapting to and extending symmetrically around the foot, comfortably distributing the enveloping of the front part of the boot.

A rear insert 70 to cover the heel is located at the back of the upper 40, which rear insert 70 can be made of a yielding and/or foldable material and is destined to be folded and deformed for the foot to be inserted in the boot from behind.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the rear insert 70 is foldable towards the inside of the boot during insertion of the foot, though other embodiments are possible in which the rear insert 70 is foldable towards the outside and/or can give to enable insertion of the foot into the boot from behind.

The front insert 60 can also be made of a foldable and/or yielding material. The foldable and/or yielding material with which the inserts 60 and 70 are made must, during use, maintain the elastic capacity thereof and must not be subject to variations due to climatic conditions.

For example, the material of the inserts is a thermoplastic material destined to maintain, during use, its elastic capacity and destined not to undergo variations due to climatic conditions.

The rear insert 70 is cap-shaped, with a main concave body 72 terminating at the sides thereof with two pointed parts 74a, 74b and at the bottom thereof with a tail 76.

The body 72 and the tail 76 can be more or less rounded at the edges thereof, to be better integrated in the upper 40.

The boot 30 is inferiorly closed by the sole 50, which anteriorly has a raised edge 54 and two raised rear wings 56a, 56b which, after assembly, cover and envelop the lower edge of the upper 40, guaranteeing excellent grip. The wings 56a, 56b join at the back in the heel zone by means of a tract 57 of a lower height, in such a way that the rear insert 70 remains visible and is either not covered at all or only marginally covered.

With the boot assembled, the front insert 60 is arranged in the empty sections 48 and around the tongue 42, while the insert 72 is associated at the back to the upper 40 to cover the heel.

The inserts 60, 70 can be integrated in the upper 40 by sewing, glue, hot-sealing, etc., or other joining means.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the inserts 60, 70 can each be singly, or both, made of an elastically yielding material to facilitate insertion of the foot. The front insert 60, which in use covers the instep, uniformly binds the upper part of the foot without requiring use of laces and loops, thus improving the comfort and sensitivity on the ball.

Overall, after assembly, the upper edges of the portions 44, of the base 62 and the body 72 define an opening 46 in the boot 30 having continuous edges, for the insertion of the foot.

The boot may be used as follows.

There are no laces to be tightened, but the rear insert 70 is folded and lowered towards the inside of the boot 30 to increase the size of the opening 46 and ease the insertion of the foot.

With the foot inserted, the rear insert 70 is pulled into position with a finger, for which operation a little tab (not illustrated) can be associated with the insert 70, or the insert 70 can return elastically into position.

The insertion of the foot is also facilitated by the dilation of the front insert 60, which under the pushing action of the foot temporarily widens the upper 40 at the front; and/or it is facilitated by the stretching of the heel zone, in the embodiment of the present invention in which the rear insert 70 is also made of an elastically-deformable material.

To further facilitate the insertion of the foot without compromising the comfort of the boot in use, the front insert 60 and/or the rear insert 70 can have a structure which is entirely or partly a bellow or pleated structure, such as during the stage of insertion of the foot into the boot to widen and enable a temporary distancing of the tongue 42 from the portions 44.

Due to the new type of structure, with introduction of the foot from the rear part, the football (or five- or seven-a-side) boot of the present invention can be easily donned, while the front part of the upper, being less yielding, enables an excellent control of the boot and a perfect adhesion thereof to the foot in all circumstances.

Furthermore, the front part of the football (or five or seven-a-side) boot of the present invention uniformly binds the upper part of the foot without requiring use of laces and loops, thus improving comfort and sensitivity of the foot on the ball.

The present invention, as herein conceived, is susceptible to numerous modifications and variants, all of which fall within the ambit of protection of the following claims.

Claims

1. A boot comprising:

a sole;

an upper associated with the sole which extends substantially continuously to cover, in use, at least one of an instep and sides of a foot, and has an upper edge which defines an opening for insertion of the foot;

the upper including a rear insert which in use covers the back of the heel, wherein the rear insert is made of a foldable and/or yielding material for folding and/or deforming to enable insertion of the foot into the boot from a rear part of the boot.

2. The boot according to claim 1, wherein said rear insert is folds and/or deforms towards an inside of the boot to permit insertion of the foot into the boot from the rear part thereof.

3. The boot according to claim 1, wherein a portion of upper which in use covers at least one of the instep and the sides of the foot is made of a substantially non-stretchable material.

4. The boot according to claim 3, wherein the portion of upper comprises a front insert which can elastically deform.

5. The boot according to the claim 4, wherein said front insert comprises an edge portion of said opening and an extension which extends into the upper above the instep.

6. The boot according to the claim 5, wherein the extension of said front insert comprises two tracts which are substantially parallel and distanced from one another and which are joined to said edge portion.

7. The boot according to claim 4, wherein said front insert is made of a thermoplastic material to maintain an elastic capacity thereof in use and not to undergo variations due to climatic conditions.

8. The boot according to claim 1, wherein the upper is made of natural or synthetic leather or of natural or synthetic leather coupled to a substantially non-stretchable material.

9. The boot according to claim 1, wherein the yielding material of the rear insert, which in use covers the back of the heel, is an elastically-deformable material.

10. The boot according to claim 1, wherein the rear insert, which in use covers the back of the heel, has a bellow or pleated structure to temporarily widen during insertion of the foot.

11. The boot according to claim 4, wherein said front insert in a portion of the upper, covering in use at least the instep, has a bellow or pleated structure to temporarily widen during insertion of the foot.