Fabric-type open toe footwear system

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention relates to an open toe footwear system including a base member, toe post, and strap member. The toe post is coupled to the base member at a region corresponding to a location between a user's big toe and the adjacent toe. The strap member is intercoupled between the toe post and two lateral foot coupling regions on the base member. The strap member includes a structural portion which may be composed of a stiffer fabric type material that is configured to maintain separation from the base member. The strap member further includes a stretched padding portion coupled to and extended over the structural portion so as to be externally exposed on both the top and bottom surfaces of the strap member. The coupling on the top surface of the strap member between the stretched padding portion and the structural portion may be seamless. The stretched padding portion may include both a wrapping and retaining tensile extension.

1 . An open-toe footwear system comprising:
 a base member;   a toe post coupled to the base member;   a strap member intercoupled between the toe post and two lateral foot coupling regions on the base member, wherein the strap member includes a top surface and a bottom surface, and wherein the strap member includes a structural portion and a stretched padding portion; and   wherein the stretched padded portion is elastically stretched over the structural portion between a bottom surface coupling and a top surface coupling.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the stretched padding portion substantially covers the bottom surface and extends onto the top surface of the strap member. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein structural portion of the strap member is composed of a fabric material having a particular stiffness configured to maintain a separation from the base member at the toe post. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the bottom surface coupling of the stretched padded portion includes a stitching between the stretched padded member and the structural portion. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the top surface coupling of the stretched padded portion includes a seamless coupling between the stretched padded member and the structural portion. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the stretched padded member extends across the entire bottom surface of the strap member including between the toe post coupling and the two lateral foot post couplings. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein portion of the stretched padded member that extends onto the top surface is configured to be separated from the two lateral foot couplings on the top surface. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the top surface is oriented opposite the base member at the toe post and oriented perpendicular to the base member at the two lateral foot coupling regions. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the elastic stretching of the stretched padded portion is multi-directional including a wrapping tensile extension between the bottom surface coupling and the top surface coupling. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the elastic stretching of the stretched padded portion is multi-directional including a retaining tensile extension between the two lateral foot coupling regions and the toe post coupling. 
     
     
         11 . An open-toe footwear system comprising:
 a base member;   a toe post coupled to the base member;   a strap member intercoupled between the toe post and two lateral foot coupling regions on the base member, wherein the strap member includes a top surface and a bottom surface, and wherein the strap member includes a structural portion and a stretched padding portion;   wherein the stretched padding portion substantially covers the bottom surface and extends onto the top surface of the strap member, and wherein the stretched padded portion is elastically stretched over the structural portion between a bottom surface coupling and a top surface coupling, and wherein the elastic stretching is multi-directional including both a wrapping and retaining tensile oriented extension.   
     
     
         12 . A method for stretching a padded portion across a fabric-type sandal strap member, comprising the acts of:
 providing a base member, a toe post coupled to the base member, and a strap member intercoupled between the toe post and two lateral foot coupling regions on the base member, wherein the strap member includes a top surface and a bottom surface;   coupling a padded member to the bottom surface of the strap member;   elastically extending the padded member across the bottom surface and a portion of the top surface; and   coupling the elastically extended padded member to the top surface of the strap member.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the act of coupling the padded member to the bottom surface of the strap member includes stitching the padded member to the strap member. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the act of coupling the elastically extended padded member to the top surface of the strap member includes a seamless coupling. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the act of elastically extending the padded member across the bottom surface and a portion of the top surface includes creating a wrapping tensile extension and a retaining tensile extension of the padded member. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the wrapping tensile extension is oriented across the padded member between the top surface coupling and the bottom surface coupling. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the retaining tensile extension is oriented across the padded member between the toe post and the two lateral foot coupling regions. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 12 , further including coupling the padded member to the strap member at the lateral foot post regions. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the padded member substantially covers the bottom surface of the strap member. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the padded member is separated from the lateral foot post regions on the top surface of the strap member.