Abstract: Hard or soft wood of veneer-like thickness, and having the form of footwear insoles, fillers, liners, midsoles, outsoles, and of inserts, is incorporated as a structural component of boots, overshoes, shoes, slippers, and sneakers. These wooden component may extend for the full length of the footwear, or be just an insert disposed at the toe portion thereof, or at the toe and instep. These wooden components may or may not be treated with elastic sealants, or strengthened with heat-bonded thermoplastics, and they may be disposed in footwear with their grains extending laterally or longitudinally of the footwear.

Abstract: Shoes are provided with outsoles having molded protrusions which diminish wear and negate the slippages, interlocks and stickages that so frequently cause injuries to wearers of previous types of shoes and damage to turf or other surfaces on which the shoes are used. The shoes are especially intended for sportswear, by football and baseball players, for instance, and in a preferred design the treads or outsoles are made flexible and provided with integral, spaced, flexible protrusions of cylindrical or tapered, conical configuration. These protrusions interengage, for instance, with natural or artificial turf to provide a sure grip so that the wearer can make quick turns without falling or twisting an ankle.