GB2232057A - Dancer's shoe - Google Patents

Abstract

A dancer's shoe having a separate heel pad 14 and sole pad 16 connected to an upper 30 is formed in the instep region of the upper 12 with a shape-refining dart aperture defined by a cutout re-sewn at stitching 36, 38. Flattening of the arch of the wearer's foot stretches the upper 12 and gives rise to a supporting tension therein. The seams at 36, 46 are reinforced on the inside by low stretch tapes. <IMAGE>

Description

DANCER'S SHOE The present invention relates to a dancer's shoe and more particularly to a dancer's shoe having a split sole, so that separate sole and heel pads are provided.

A problem in the design of dancer's shoes having split soles is to provide proper orthopaedic support for the sole of the foot.

The present invention provides a dancer's shoe comprising an upper attached to a sole pad underlying the ball of the foot and to a heel pad that is separate from the sole pad, wherein a medial side of the upper adjacent the instep region is so shaped that when the shoe is worn flattening of the arch of the wearer's foot stretches the upper.

With the above arrangement, provided hat the top face of the upper is resistant to stretching e.g. by being laced together, the arch of.-the-eartr's vfoot cannot flatten significantly without stretching of the material of the shoe which in turn gives rise to a supporting force.

Conveniently the instep of the upper has an elongate aperture whose edges are sewn together to define a dart extending longitudinally between the sole pad and the heel pad. In order to connect and space apart the sole and heel pads, portions of the upper extend to the underside of the shoe and are attached together at a generally central seam directed longitudinally of the shoe. With this arrangement, the central seam assists in the location and maintenance of the correct spacing of the sole and heel pads.

Conveniently the dart aperture is defined by turned longitudinal edges sewn together. The upper may be formed with an outer layer of natural or synthetic leather and an inner fabric lining, the dart defining apertures being formed in both the instep and the lining. The shoe may further comprise an insole of leather cloth mechanically connected to the sole pad and to the heel pad as by stitching and bonded to the portions of the upper extending across the instep at the underside of the shoe.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an underneath view of a dancer's shoe; Figure 2 is a side view of the shoe; Figure 3 shows patterns used to cut out the material from which the shoe is made; and Figure 4 is a fragmentary top perspective view of the shoe.

In the drawings, a dancer's shoe 10 has an upper 12 attached to a heel pad 14 and a sole pad 16 of a split sole. The upper 12 is formed of a single piece of soft natural leather lined by a single piece of fabric which is adhered thereto. The heel pad 14 comprises a relatively thin upper heel 18 of leather which is directly attached to the shoe upper 12 and a relatively thick lower pad 20 of rubber or other suitable material that slightly raises the heel from the ground. The sole pad 16 is a relatively thin sheet of soft leather. Sides of the upper 12 are separated by a longitudinal slot 22 bounded by eyes 24 for laces.

Referring now to Figure 3, the material to make the shoe upper 12 is formed from an outer panel 30 and a slightly smaller inner panel 32 that generally conforms to the shape of the outer panel except where indicated below. Both outer and inner panels are formed with eye-shaped cutouts 34 that in the finished shoe are located in an instep region and extend between the heel pad 14 and the sole pad 16 in a generally longitudinal direction just to the side of the two pads as shown. The outer panel 30 and the inner panel 32 are adhered together, after which the edges of the cutouts 34 are stitched together on the inside to make a seam, and then turned.An adhesive strip of reinforcing material 40 (Fig 4) which resists longitudinal stretching and also resists transverse stretching is adhered over the seam defined by line of stitching 38 and over the return portions of outer panel 30 and inner panel 32. The reinforcing strip or tape 40 may be a 15 mm backseam tape of difficultly stretchable materal, for example that sold under the trade name "Cambrelle". To complete the dart two stitch lines 36 parallel to and closely spaced from the stitch line 38 are formed through the tape 40, the return portions of panels 30 and 32 and through the outer portions of panels 30, 32.

The side edges of the outer panel 30 are formed with cheeks 42 that are not present in the inner or lining panel-32. In the assembled shoe, the cheeks 42 extend to the centreline where they are attached together at line of stitching 46 and to form a generally central seam directed longitudinally of the shoe and then turned. On the inner face of the shoe, the central seam is backed by an adhesive strip 48 of difficultly stretchable reinforcing textile material e.g.

Cambrelle which is not covered by the inner panel 32.

The central seam is then completed by forming two stitch lines 44 parallel to and closely spaced from the stitch line 38, the stitiches passing through tape 48, the return portions of checks 42 and the outer portions 42. An insole 50 spans between the sole pad 16 to which it is mechanically attached by stitching 52 and to the upper heel pad 18 to which it is mechanically attached by stitching 56, the instep region of the insole 50 being adhered to the blind face of the cheeks 42 of the shoe upper. In this way, the insole 50, the cheeks 42 and the central seam form a unitary structure tending to hold the heel pad 14 and the sole pad 16 at the correct spacing. The insole 50 is formed with a medial side cheek 54 that protects the lines of stitching 36,38 and spreads the load at the medial dart.

When the shoe is being worn, the medial dart serves to define the shape of the instep region, and follows the contours of the arch of the foot, occupying space not taken up in a normal shoe. The two sides of the shoe are mechanically connected through the laces 26.

Although an inflexible support is not provided at the instep region, flattening of the arch of the dancer's foot brings about a stretching of the medial side and lower region of the shoe upper which is resisted by the dancer's foot and can only occur to a limited extent because of the stretch resistance of the leather. The presence of a user's foot reinforces the shoe upper 10 which acts as a shell structure which is difficult to deform, and consequently the stretch resistance of the leather supplies the required orthopaedic support to the dancer's foot arch.

Claims (9)

CLAIMS:

1. A dancer's shoe comprising an upper attached to a sole pad underlying the ball of the foot and to a heel pad that is separate from the sole pad, wherein a medial side of the upper adjacent the instep region is so shaped that when the shoe is worn flattening of the arch of the wearer's foot stretches the upper.

2. A shoe according to claim 1, wherein the instep region of the upper has an elongate aperture whose edges are sewn together to define a dart extending longitudinally between the sole pad and the heel pad.

3. A shoe according to any preceding claim, wherein portions of the upper extend to the underside of the shoe and connect the foot and the heel panels.

4. A shoe according to claim 3, wherein medial and lateral portions of the upper extend to the underside of the shoe and are attached at a generally central seam directed longitudinally of the shoe.

5. A shoe according to any preceding claim, further comprising an insole attached to the sole pad and to the heel pad.

6. A shoe according to claim 5, wherein the insole is of leather.

7. A shoe according to any of claims 3 to 6, wherein the insole is bonded to the portions of the upper extending to the underside of the shoe.

8. A shoe according to any preceding claim, in which the sides of the upper have lace apertures.

9. A dancer's shoe substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.