Footwear with enhanced gripping system

1 . A footwear with enhanced gripping system comprising:

an athletic shoe, a plurality of gripping members, a shoe lace, and a lace cover;

wherein the athletic shoe is adapted to be worn by a user that requires enhanced gripping provided by the plurality of gripping members that are coupled to an exterior of the athletic shoe;

wherein the athletic shoe is adapted to be retained on a user's foot by the shoe lace and the shoe lace is covered by the lace cover;

wherein the athletic shoes are adapted to be worn as a pair of shoes with a left shoe on a user's left foot and a right shoe on a user's right foot;

wherein the plurality of gripping members are scales applied to the exterior of the athletic shoe to enhance the gripping ability of the athletic shoe;

wherein an individual gripping member selected from the plurality of gripping members is pivotably coupled to the athletic shoe;

wherein the individual gripping members overlap such that a base of a first gripping member is covered by a second gripping member.

2 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 1

wherein the athletic shoe comprises a sole, a heel counter, a toe cap, an upper, a tongue, a plurality of eyelets, a collar, or any combination thereof;

wherein the athletic shoe is adapted to be worn on the user's foot by placing the user's foot into the athletic shoe through a throat of the athletic shoe;

wherein the throat is an aperture located at the top of the athletic shoe.

3 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 2

wherein a sole is the bottom of the athletic shoe;

wherein the sole comprises an outsole which is the exterior bottom of the athletic shoe and an insole which is the interior bottom of the athletic shoe.

4 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 3 wherein a heel counter is the back of the athletic shoe;

wherein a toe cap is the front of the athletic shoe and is adapted to enclose a user's toes;

wherein the upper is the upper covering of the athletic shoe.

5 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 2

wherein the upper comprises a quarter which defines the sides of the athletic shoe and a vamp which covers the top front of the athletic shoe.

6 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 5

wherein the tongue is a flexible flap that partially covers the throat and is adapted to be moved to enlarge the throat for insertion and removal of the user's foot.

7 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 6

wherein the top of the tongue comprises a lace retainer;

wherein the lace retainer is a hollow cavity passing laterally through the tongue such that the ends of the shoe lace are placed into the lace retainer to hide the ends of the shoe lace.

8 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 7

wherein the athletic shoe comprises the plurality of eyelets which are a plurality of apertures in the upper positioned on both sides of the tongue;

wherein the shoe lace is strung through the plurality of eyelets such that the shoe lace is adapted to tighten the athletic shoe on the user's foot;

wherein the collar is the top edge of the quarter.

9 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 8

wherein the individual gripping member is made from natural or synthetic rubber such that friction between the individual gripping member and an external surface is increased.

10 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 8

wherein the plurality of gripping members are pivotably coupled to the exterior of the athletic shoe such that the plurality of gripping members compensate for changes in the direction and strength of a force applied to the athletic shoe.

11 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 10

wherein each of the individual gripping members are pivotably coupled to the athletic shoe at two coupling points.

12 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 11 wherein the individual gripping member is coupled to the athletic shoe via a plurality of hinges.

13 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 11 wherein the individual gripping member is coupled to the athletic shoe via a plurality of stitches.

14 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 10

wherein the base comprises a straight edge to promote pivoting;

wherein the remaining edges of the individual gripping member are shaped to define the appearance of the visible portion of the individual gripping member.

15 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 14 wherein the individual gripping members comprise a semi-circular shape, an elliptical shape, a trapezoidal shape, or any combination thereof.

16 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 15

wherein the plurality of gripping members are coupled to the athletic shoe individually, coupled to a gripping member assembly, or both;

wherein the gripping member assembly is made by coupling the individual gripping members to a backing strip;

wherein the gripping member assembly is coupled to the athletic shoe such that the individual gripping members on adjacent gripping member assemblies overlap.

17 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 16

wherein the lace cover is a panel that covers the shoe lace to assure maximum gripping of all parts of the athletic shoe;

wherein the exposed outer surface of the lace cover is covered by the plurality of gripping members;

wherein the lace cover couples to the athletic shoe via a hook and loop fasteners.

18 . The footwear with enhanced gripping system according to claim 17 wherein the plurality of gripping members cover the outsole, the top surfaces of the athletic shoe above the sole, the lace cover, or any combination thereof.