Disposable Protective Footwear Cover

Abstract

The present invention provides a disposable footwear cover suitable for used in critical manufacturing environments, sterile environments, and industrial clean rooms. The disposable footwear cover will protect both the environment in which it is used while providing durable protection to the user.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a disposable protective footwear cover suitable for use in critical manufacturing environments, sterile environments, medical facilities and industrial clean rooms.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In critical manufacturing environments, such as pharmaceutical manufacturing environments; sterile environments, such as labs or operating rooms; and industrial clean rooms, there is a need for workers, visitors and other people to enter these areas without contaminating the environments. As a result, workers, visitors and other people entering these environments or rooms are required to wear protective apparel that will not shed particles or fibers from the apparel and that will keep dust, fibers, dead skin and other particulates that may be present on the wearer's clothing or body from entering these environments and areas. The apparel should also protect the wearer from liquids. Generally, the apparel is disposable since it can typically only be used a single time.

Protective footwear covers, which will cover the shoe or boot of the worker or person entering the clean environments, are an important part of the apparel to prevent tracking particles into the critical manufacturing environments, sterile environments, and industrial clean rooms. Current footwear covers introduce hazards to the wearer such as slipping and tripping when too much of the material used to make the footwear contacts the floor.

Generally, the protective foot wear will have a sole or bottom portion and an upper portion joined to the sole portion. The sole or bottom portion is generally made of a non-slip, durable material. Typical non-slip durable materials are not breathable. Typically, the upper portion is made of a material that is breathable, which offers some abrasion resistance. By having a breathable upper portion, there will be air exchange with the environment so that the wearer's feet do not become too hot and/or uncomfortable while wearing protective footwear.

Typically breathable materials, like the ones used for the upper portion of a protective footwear cover, have some abrasion resistance: but these materials are not as abrasion resistant as the materials used for the sole portion. In current protective footwear covers, the lower part of the upper portion can sag allowing the upper portion to drag on the floor or allow the wearer to walk on the upper portion. When this happens, the wearer can wear a hole in the protective footwear cover, near where the upper portion joins the sole portion, not to mention the potential for tripping or slipping hazards for the user. This problem can be exacerbated by wearers that tend to walk on the outer surfaces of their shoes, or who tend to roll their ankles when standing. Once a hole is present in the protective footwear cover, the protective footwear cover offers no protection to the environment or the wearer of the protective footwear cover.

There is a need in the art for a protective footwear cover that fits to the footwear of the user that will provide protection and will not be susceptible to having a hole worn into the joint of the upper portion to the sole or lower portion of the protective footwear cover.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Generally stated, the present invention provides a disposable footwear cover having a sole, a first upper portion, a second upper portion, and an opening. The sole, the first upper portion and the second upper portion are joined together such that the sole is joined to the first upper portion and the second upper portion is joined to the first upper portion and the sole, the first upper portion and the second upper portion form an interior volume. The sole has a generally planer outer surface and an outer perimeter. The first upper portion has a lower periphery and an upper periphery, where the lower periphery is connected to the sole along the outer perimeter of the sole. The connection between the sole and the first upper portion is such that the first upper portion extends in a direction that is out of a plane created by the generally planer outer surface of the sole. The second upper portion has a proximate periphery and a distal periphery. This proximate periphery is joined to the upper periphery of the first upper portion. The opening is located at the distal periphery of the second upper portion and allows a user's foot and footwear to access the interior volume of the protective footwear cover.

In a further embodiment, the disposable footwear cover further has a pair of strips of material, each strip having a first attached end and a second free end. The attached end is attached to the disposable footwear cover and the free end is unattached to the disposable footwear cover. A further embodiment with the attached strips, the attached end of the strips of material are attached to the disposable footwear cover at or near where the first upper surface joins the second upper surface. In a further embodiment, the disposable footwear cover has a toe section, a heal section and a metatarsal section, the metatarsal section is between the toe section and the heal section, and the pair of strips of material is attached to the metatarsal section of the disposable footwear cover.

As a further embodiment of the present invention, the opening of the disposable footwear cover has a perimeter and the perimeter of the opening further has a gather material encircling the at least a portion of the perimeter of the opening. In one particular embodiment, the gather member is an elastic material and encircles the entire perimeter of the opening.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the outer surface of the sole has an anti-slip, abrasion resistant material. In a particular embodiment, the sole is prepared from a reinforced material. An example of a suitable sole material is a reinforced vinyl material.

In a further aspect of the invention, the first upper portion may be prepared from the same material as the sole. The sole and the first upper portion may be prepared from the same piece of material or from separate pieces of the material that are joined together.

In another aspect of the present invention, the first upper layer and the sole of the disposable footwear cover have a seam therebetween, where the seam is formed by stitching, heat bonding or a combination thereof, the sole to the first upper material.

The disposable footwear cover, in a further embodiment has a transition zone which is formed between the sole and the first upper portion. This transition zone is formed by stitching, heat bonding or a combination thereof.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the second upper portion of the disposable footwear cover is prepared from a nonwoven material. The nonwoven material may be a spunbond/meltblown laminate or a spunbond/meltblown/spunbond laminate.

By providing the disposable footwear cover of the present invention, drawbacks of the conventional disposable footwear covers are minimized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a side view of the disposable footwear cover of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a bottom side perspective view of the disposable footwear cover of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a front side view of the disposable footwear cover of the present invention looking directly towards the toe region.

FIG. 4 shows a back side view of the disposable footwear cover of the present invention looking directly towards the heal region.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary channel for the gather member.

FIGS. 6A and 6B each show an exemplary connection of one portion of the disposable footwear cover to another.

FIG. 7 shows an exploded view of the blank portions of the disposable footwear cover.

DEFINITIONS

It should be noted that, when employed in the present disclosure, the terms “comprises”, “comprising” and other derivatives from the root term “comprise” are intended to be open-ended terms that specify the presence of any stated features, elements, integers, steps, or components, and are not intended to preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, integers, steps, components, or groups thereof.

As used herein, the term “nonwoven web” means a web having a structure of individual fibers or threads which are interlaid, but not in an identifiable manner as in a knitted web. Nonwoven webs have been formed from many processes, such as, for example, meltblowing processes, spunbonding processes, air-laying processes, coforming processes, hydroentangling, and bonded carded web processes. The basis weight of nonwoven webs is usually expressed in ounces of material per square yard (osy) or grams per square meter (gsm) and the fiber diameters are usually expressed in microns, or in the case of staple fibers, denier. It is noted that to convert from osy to gsm, multiply osy by 33.91.

As used herein the term “spunbond fibers” refers to small diameter fibers of molecularly oriented polymeric material. Spunbond fibers may be formed by extruding molten thermoplastic material as fibers from a plurality of fine, usually circular capillaries of a spinneret with the diameter of the extruded fibers then being rapidly reduced as in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,563 to Appel et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,618 to Dorschner et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,817 to Matsuki et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,338,992 and 3,341,394 to Kinney, U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,763 to Hartman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,542,615 to Dobo et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,400 to Pike et al. Spunbond fibers are generally not tacky when they are deposited onto a collecting surface and are generally continuous. Spunbond fibers are often about 10 microns or greater in diameter. However, fine fiber spunbond webs (having an average fiber diameter less than about 10 microns) may be achieved by various methods including, but not limited to, those described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,669 to Marmon et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,759,926 to Pike et al., each is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Meltblown nonwoven webs are prepared from meltblown fibers. As used herein the term “meltblown fibers” means fibers formed by extruding a molten thermoplastic material through a plurality of fine, usually circular, die capillaries as molten threads or filaments into converging high velocity, usually hot, gas (e.g. air) streams which attenuate the filaments of molten thermoplastic material to reduce their diameter, which may be to microfiber diameter. Thereafter, the meltblown fibers are carried by the high velocity gas stream and are deposited on a collecting surface to form a web of randomly dispersed meltblown fibers. Such a process is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,849,241 to Buntin. Meltblown fibers are microfibers which may be continuous or discontinuous, are generally smaller than 10 microns in average diameter (using a sample size of at least 10), and are generally tacky when deposited onto a collecting surface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

To gain a better understanding of the present invention, attention is directed to the Figures of the present specification.

The materials used to prepare the disposable footwear cover 10 of the present invention may be “non-particulating” or “low particulating”, depending on the particular use of the disposable footwear cover 10. This means that the particulate emission characteristics of materials selected for use in fabricating disposable footwear cover 10 in accordance with teachings of the present invention should not exceed the particle limits for the critical manufacturing environments, sterile environments, medical facilities and industrial clean rooms. For some applications, a selected material may have a particulate emission rate of zero or at least a particulate emission rate which is low enough to be undetectable by available particulate detection equipment. For other applications which may involve a more harsh working environment or extensive abrasion and wear, the same material may have a low particulate emission rate which is compatible with the allowable level of particulate contamination in the associated environment that the disposable footwear cover is to be used.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the present invention provides a disposable footwear cover 10, having a sole 20, a first upper portion 30, a second upper portion 40, and an opening 50. The sole 20, the first upper portion 30 and the second upper portion 40 are joined together such that the sole 20 is joined to the first upper portion 30 and the second upper portion 40 is joined to the first upper portion 30. The sole 20, the first upper portion 30 and the second upper portion 40 form an interior volume 60, where the interior volume 60 is accessible through the opening 50.

The sole 20 has a generally planer outer surface 22 and an outer perimeter 24. The first upper portion 30 has a lower periphery 32 and an upper periphery 34, and the lower periphery 32 is joined to the sole 20 along the outer perimeter 24 of the sole 20 to create a transition seam 35. The transition seam is such that the first upper portion 30 extends in a direction 36 that is out of a plane 26 created by the generally planer outer surface 22 of the sole 20. The planer relationship of the sole 20 and the first upper surface can be seen in FIG. 1. It is noted that as shown in FIG. 1, the angle 29 between the plane 26 and the direction 36 of the first upper surface 30 is shown to be roughly 90°, the actual angle 29 could be other than 90°, generally roughly from about 45° to about 135°.

The second upper portion 40 has a proximate periphery 44 and a distal periphery 42. The proximate periphery 44 is joined to the upper periphery 34 of the first upper portion 30, creating a seam 45. At the distal periphery 42 of the second upper portion 40, an opening 50 is formed. The opening 50 allows access to the interior volume 60 created by the sole 20, the first upper portion 30 and the second upper portion 40, to allow the user's to insert their foot and footwear into the interior volume 60 of the disposable foot wear cover 10.

The sole 20 is made from a material which is anti-slip and abrasion resistant. The sole 20 should also be durable enough to withstand use for one work shift cycle or at least about 4 hours. In addition, the sole 20 should be made of a material which is impervious to liquids, such as water and is flexible so that the disposable footwear cover may be folded prior to use. Exemplary material which can be used as the sole include, films, polymer coated woven materials, polymer coated nonwoven materials, films reinforced with scrim and other similar materials. Any material may be used so long as the material is abrasion resistant, has liquid barrier properties and is non-slip. In addition, the material selected for the sole could also be sterilizable using sterilization techniques, such as gamma radiation, if the disposable footwear cover is to be sterilized before use. Suitable polymers which may be used to form the film include polyesters, polyolefins, polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane, elastomeric materials and combinations thereof. Particular polymers include polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride. In one particular embodiment, the sole 20 is prepared from a scrim reinforced polyvinyl chloride.

In addition, the outer surface 22 of the sole 20 may also have a texture 95 which will help impart the anti-slip properties to the disposable footwear cover 10. The texture 95 may be imparted to the outer surface 22 by forming the material for the outer surface against a negative image of the textures surface. Alternatively, other known methods of imparting a texture to the surface of a film may be used.

The first upper portion 30 is also prepared from a material which is anti-slip and abrasion resistant. Like the sole 20, the first upper portion should be made of a material which is impervious to liquids, such as water and is flexible so that the disposable footwear cover may be folded prior to use. The materials which can be used for first upper surface 30 can be the same material or same types of materials which is used for the sole 20. Alternatively, the sole 20 and the first upper surface 30 may be prepared from a single piece of material which is formed into the shape by a process such as vacuum forming, injection molding and the like.

Turning to the second upper surface 40, the second upper surface 40 may be made from a nonwoven material. Suitable nonwovens include those which are breathable, meaning that the nonwoven allow a small degree of air passage through the nonwoven, yet are essentially impermeable to liquids. Examples of these nonwoven webs include laminates of spunbond with meltblown or spunbond with a mircoporous film or other film that will allow for water vapor transmission through the film. In one particular example, the nonwoven web is a three-layer nonwoven material known as SMS. SMS is an acronym for Spunbond, Meltblown, Spunbond, the process by which the three layers are constructed and then laminated together. See for examples U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,203 to Brock et al. One particular advantage is that the SMS material exhibits enhanced fluid barrier characteristics, while still being breathable. Examples of breathable nonwoven/film laminates are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,868 to McCormack et al. Other commercially available materials, such as TYVAK®, available from DuPont, and other similar breathable materials, may be used. It should be noted, however, that other nonwovens as well as other materials including wovens, films, foam/film laminates and combinations thereof may be used to construct the disposable footwear cover 10 of the present invention. It is also contemplated that the second upper surface 40 may be coated with a liquid impervious coating to prevent fluid absorption into the second upper surface 40 material.

In addition, the disposable footwear cover 10 may also have a pair of strips of material 70 which serve as a means for the user to tie the two strips together. Each strip of material has an attached end 71 and a free end 72. The attached end 71 is attached to the disposable footwear cover 10. Each strip of material 70 has a length L which is sufficiently long enough to allow the user to tie the strips together to improve the fit of the disposable footwear cover 10. Generally, the strips of material will be attached to the second upper portion 40 of the disposable footwear cover 10 at or near the seam 45. By having the strips of material 70 attach to the disposable footwear cover at or near seam 45, the strips of material 70 can be joined to the disposable footwear cover 10 when the second upper portion 40 is joined to the first upper portion 30. Any suitable joining techniques known to those skilled in the art may be used and those techniques are described in more detail below. Further, the strips of material may be made of a woven material, a nonwoven material or may be a filament like material. From an ease of manufacturing standpoint, the strips of material 70 are prepared from the same material used to prepare the second upper portion 40.

The disposable footwear cover 10 is divided into sections which generally correspond to sections of a user's foot when inserted into to disposable footwear cover 10. The sections are a toe section 81, a metatarsal section 82, and a heal section 83, as are shown in FIG. 1. The metatarsal section 82 is located between heal section 83 and the toe section 81 and generally corresponds to the section of a user's foot, when inserted into the disposable footwear cover 10, containing the metatarsal bones. In one embodiment of the present invention, the attached ends 72 of the strips of material 70 are attached to the seam 45 in the metatarsal section 82 of the disposable footwear cover 10.

In one particular embodiment of the present invention, the length L of the strips of material 70, is generally long enough so that the user can cross the strips of material 70 over in front of the user's leg, wrap the strips of material around their leg and tie the two strips of material in front of their leg. This will allow the user to securely fit the disposable footwear cover 10 over the user's footwear and securely attach the disposable footwear cover 10 to the user's body. Typically, the length L of the strips of material 70 may be between 18 and 36 inches, more typically between 24 and 30 inches in length.

When the disposable footwear cover 10 is donned by a user, generally the opening 50 of the disposable boot cover 10 will be located on the lower leg of user, somewhere between the ankle and the just below the knee of the user. To assist in securing the disposable footwear cover 10 to the leg of the user, the disposable footwear cover 10 optionally has a gather material 52 which is generally located at the perimeter 54 of the opening 50. The gather material 52 typically encircles at least a portion of perimeter 54 of the opening 50. This gather material 52 serves to have the opening 50 of the disposable footwear cover 10 to fit snugly around the lower leg of the user to prevent dust and particle from escaping from the user to the environment through the opening 50 in the disposable footwear cover 10.

The gather material 52 may be a single strip of material 53, which goes around the perimeter 54 of the opening or a pair of strips of material 53. In this case of a single strip, the single strip may be attached to second upper portion 40 near the distal end 42, or may be placed in a channel formed at the distal end 42; the channel 59 being formed by, for example, folding the distal end 42 of the second upper portion 40 over and attaching the folded over distal end 42 to the second upper portion 40, as is shown in FIG. 5. In any event, the gather material will have two free ends 57 which can be used to tie together. Or, in the alternative, the gather material may be a pair of strips of material 53 to which are attached to or near the perimeter 54 of the disposable boot cover 10, as is shown in FIG. 3. Each strip 53 may have an attached end (not shown) and a free end 57. Again, the strips of material 53 may be tied together to secure the opening 50 of the disposable footwear cover around the leg of the user.

In an alternative embodiment, the gather material 52 may be an elastic member 55, as is shown in FIG. 1. Generally, the elastic member 55 is preferred, since donning the disposable footwear cover 10 is easier for the user if the user does not have to tie the gather material 52. The elastic member 55 is typically joined to second upper portion 40 near the perimeter 54 of the opening 50. In addition, the elastic member 55 may partially encircle a portion of the perimeter 54 or may encircle the entire portion of the perimeter 54. The elastic gather material 55 may be formed from any elastic material, including, for example, spandex, natural rubber, or any other similar elastomeric material. The elastic gather 55 may be a band, a ribbon or one or more threads.

When attached to the second upper portion 40, the gather member 52, whether at least one an strip of material 53 or an elastic gather 55, may be joined to the second upper member 40 near the distal end 42 using convention fabric joining techniques which are discussed below. Alternatively, the gather material 52, when a single piece of material, such as an elastic band or a single strip of material may be placed in a channel 59 which may be formed by, for example, folding the distal end 42 of the second upper portion 40 over and attaching the folded over distal end 42 to the second upper portion 40, as is shown in FIG. 5. It is noted that channels may be formed in other ways know to those skilled in the art.

The disposable footwear cover 10 of the present invention is shaped such that it could be placed on either foot of the user. It is also contemplated that the disposable foot wear cover could be provided in different sizes, such as small, medium, large and extra-large. Generally each size will be sized such that it will fit a range of numerical shoe sizes.

As shown in FIG. 7, each of the sole 20, the first upper section blank 30′ and the second upper section blank 40′ are each separately formed of a single piece of material. Each first upper section blank has a first end 38 and a second end 39 which are joined together to form a first upper section seam 37, as is shown in FIG. 3. In a similar manner, the second upper section 40′ has a first end 48 and a second end 49, which are joined together to form a second upper section seam 47, shown in FIG. 3. As can be seen in FIG. 4, the back side of the disposable footwear cover 10 does not have a seam in the visible form the back looking at the heel section. It is noted, however, that it is contemplated the first upper section seam 37 and the second upper section seam 47 could be, instead, visible from the back view of FIG. 4. In a further alternative embodiment, each of the first upper section 30 and the second upper section 40 could be made of multiple panels joined together (not shown).

The individual portions of the disposable footwear cover 10 may be joined together using methods known in the art to join pieces of fabric together. Exemplary bonding techniques include, but not limited to, hot or cold adhesive bonding, laser bonding, radio frequency bonding, ultrasonic bonding, heat and pressure bonding, impulse bonding, sewing or other similar techniques or combinations thereof. As is shown in FIG. 6A, as an example, the second upper section 40 is joined to the first upper section 30 such that the proximate end 44 and the upper periphery 34 of the first upper section 30 are folded such that the two pieces are in contact with one another. Any known bonding method that will work for the material may be used. As shown in FIG. 6A the two upper portions are sewn together with a thread 99. In an alternative method, shown in FIG. 6B and edge binder 98 could be used at the junction of the two portions. Again, as is shown in FIG. 6B the edge binder 98 is sewn to the first and second upper portions 30, 40, using a thread 99. Although, joining of the sections is shown in terms of the first and second upper sections, the same methods may be used to join the strips of material 70 to the disposable boot cover 10, the elastic gather 55 to the disposable boot cover 10, as well as the sole 20 to the first upper section 30.

The disposable footwear cover 10 may be packaged in any method as known to package such footwear covers 10 to form a disposable footwear package to be delivered to the wearer. Generally, the footwear cover 10 will be folded by a means and/or method that allow a person needing to wear the disposable footwear cover to easily put on the footwear cover without touching the exterior surface of the disposable footwear cover, keeping the outside sterile, if it is sterilized. It is contemplated that the disposable footwear cover could be packaged with another protective garment, such as overall for used in critical manufacturing facilities. Typically, the disposable footwear cover 10 may be placed in a bag and the bag sealed to form a package. It may be desired that the package containing the disposable footwear cover be sterilized by any sterilization as is known for such products. Additionally, it may be desirable that the air within the bag be removed during packaging, such that the disposable footwear cover is vacuum-packed, prior to such sterilization.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to various embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. As such, it is intended that the foregoing detailed description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting and that it is the appended claims, including all equivalents thereof, which are intended to define the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A disposable footwear cover comprising:

a. a sole having a generally planer outer surface and an outer perimeter;

b. a first upper portion having a lower periphery and an upper periphery, the lower periphery being connected the sole along the outer perimeter of the sole, such that the first upper portion extends in a direction that is out of a plane created by the generally planer outer surface of the sole;

c. a second upper portion having a proximate periphery and a distal periphery, the proximate periphery being joined to the upper periphery of the first upper portion;

d. an interior volume defined by the sole, the first upper portion and the second upper portion; and

e. an opening for insertion of a user's foot and footwear into the interior volume, the opening being located at the distal periphery of the second upper portion.

2. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 1, further comprising a pair of strips of material, each strip having a first attached end and a second free end, wherein the attached end is attached to the disposable footwear cover and the free end is unattached to the disposable footwear cover.

3. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 2, wherein the attached end of the strips of material are attached to the disposable footwear cover at or near where the first upper surface joins the second upper surface.

4. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 3, wherein the disposable footwear cover has a toe section, a heal section and a metatarsal section, the metatarsal section is between the toe section and the heal section, the pair of strips of material is attached to the metatarsal section of the disposable footwear cover.

5. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 1, wherein the opening has a perimeter wherein the perimeter of the opening further comprises a gather material, the gather material encircles at least a portion of perimeter of the opening.

6. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 5, wherein the gather material comprises an elastic material, wherein the elastic material encircles the entire perimeter of the opening.

7. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 1, wherein the outer surface of the sole comprises an anti-slip and abrasion resistant material.

8. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 7, wherein the sole comprises a reinforced material.

9. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 8, wherein the reinforced material comprises a reinforced vinyl material.

10. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 1, wherein the first upper portion is prepared from the same type of material as the sole.

11. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 9, wherein the first upper portion is prepared from the same type of material as the sole.

12. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 10, wherein the first upper portion and the sole are prepared from separate pieces of material, which are joined together.

13. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 12, wherein the first upper layer and the sole have a seam therebetween, the seam being formed by stitching, heat bonding or a combination thereof, the sole to the first upper material.

14. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 10, wherein the sole and the first upper portion comprises a single piece of material.

15. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 14, wherein a transition zone is formed between the sole and the first upper portion.

16. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 15, wherein the transition zone is formed by stitching, heat bonding or a combination thereof.

17. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 1, wherein the second upper portion is prepared from a nonwoven material.

18. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 17, wherein the nonwoven material comprises a spunbond/meltblown laminate.

19. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 17, wherein the nonwoven material comprises a spunbond/meltblown/spunbond laminate.

20. The disposable footwear cover according to claim 1, further comprising a pair of strips of material, each strip having a first attached end and a second free end, wherein the attached end is attached to the disposable footwear cover and the free end is unattached to the disposable footwear cover, wherein the disposable footwear cover has a toe section, a heal section and a metatarsal section, the metatarsal section is between the toe section and the heal section, the pair of strips of material is attached to the metatarsal section of the disposable footwear cover; wherein the opening has a perimeter wherein the perimeter of the opening further comprises an elastic material, wherein the elastic material encircles the entire perimeter of the opening; wherein the sole comprises a reinforced vinyl material; wherein the first upper portion is prepared from the same material as the sole; and wherein the second upper portion is prepared from a spunbond/meltblown/spunbond laminate.