Footwear for making personalized footprints

Abstract

Footwear for leaving a personalized imprint on wet sand and other surfaces is accomplished through the removal of material as opposed to previous additive processes. Footwear according to the invention includes a sole portion having a bottom surface with a matrix of projections extending therefrom. Each projection is selectively removable, thereby enabling a user to remove a subset of the projections corresponding to the personalized imprint. The sole portion may form any type of shoe, including sandals, thongs, ‘flip-flops,’ and so forth. Each projection preferably has a nominal length in the range of {fraction (3/16)} to ⅜ inch and a nominal width in the range of ⅛ to {fraction (3/16)} inch, and may be circular, triangular, rectangular, square, or hexagonal in cross-section. The matrix of projections may cover the entire bottom surface of the shoe, or a non-partitioned border may be provided which surrounds the matrix of projections. The sole portion may further be at least partially transparent, enabling the user to view the projections therethrough as they are being removed. In use, a plurality of the projections are selectively removed to produce a mirror image corresponding to the personalized footprint. The sole portion is preferably such that it may be flexed to better expose projections to be removed. In the preferred embodiment, the composition of the projections is such that they may be removed by hand as through ‘plucking’ without tools, though a pocket knife, nail clippers, spoon or other common implement may be used.

I claim:  
     
         1 . Footwear for leaving a personalized imprint on wet sand and other surfaces, comprising: 
 a sole portion having a bottom surface with a tight matrix of projections extending therefrom,    each projection being selectively removable, enabling a user to remove a subset of the projections corresponding to the personalized imprint.    
     
     
         2 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein each projection has a nominal length in the range of {fraction (3/16)} to ⅜ inch, and a nominal width in the range of ⅛ to {fraction (3/16)} inch.  
     
     
         3 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the projections are circular, triangular, rectangular, square, or hexagonal in cross-section.  
     
     
         4 . The footwear of  claim 1 , further including a non-partitioned border surrounding the matrix of projections.  
     
     
         5 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the sole portion is at least partially transparent, enabling the user to view the projections therethrough as they are being removed.  
     
     
         6 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the sole portion forms part of a sandal or thong.  
     
     
         7 . A method of modifying footwear to produce a personalized footprint on wet sand and other surfaces, comprising: 
 providing footwear having a sole portion with a bottom surface including a matrix of projections extending therefrom; and    selectively removing a plurality of the projections to produce a mirror image corresponding to the personalized footprint.    
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein at least the sole portion of the footwear is transparent or semi-transparent, enabling a user to view the projections therethrough as they are being selectively removed.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , further including the step of flexing the sole portion to better expose projections to be removed.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the projections are such that they may be removed by hand without tools.