Shoe manufacturing method
A shoe including an upper, a lower attached to the upper, and an outsole attached to the lower is presented. In one embodiment, the outsole has a ground contacting surface which includes a first section and a second section, with the first section being formed of a first material and the second section having an outer later formed of a fabric material. The first section is free of the fabric material and is instead formed of other suitable materials, such as rubber, leather, etc. The outsoles and uppers are configured so that they can easily be mixed and matched with one another for assembly of the shoe at time after each of the individual components is separately made.
1. A method of manufacturing a shoe, comprising the steps of:
a) inserting a sheet of fabric material into a first injection mold;
b) injecting a curable, flowable, thermoplastic material into the first mold into contact with the sheet of fabric material for bonding therewith upon curing to form an integrated fabric-thermoplastic part;
c) removing the integrated fabric-thermoplastic part from the first mold;
d) inserting the integrated fabric-thermoplastic part into a second mold;
e) injecting a curable, flowable thermoplastic material into the second mold into contact with the integrated fabric-thermoplastic part for bonding therewith upon curing to form an outsole;
f) removing the outsole from the second mold; and
g) independently non-moldably attaching a shoe upper to the outsole at a site at which molding is not performed.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the injecting step includes preheating the mold.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the injecting step includes heating thermoplastic pellets to form the flowable, thermoplastic material.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the attaching step is performed at a region of the outsole that is not covered by the fabric material.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the fabric material is exposed at an outer surface of the outsole, and wherein the attaching step is performed at an inner surface of the outsole remotely from said outer surface.
6. The method of claim 1 ; and further comprising the step of forming an annular gap surrounding the integrated fabric-thermoplastic part in the outsole.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic material injected into both molds is the same material.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the outsole has an outer surface which contacts the ground over a ground-engaging area, and wherein the fabric material is exposed at the outer surface over an area at least half of the ground-engaging area.