Article of Footwear With Braided Upper

Abstract

An article of footwear includes a braided upper comprised of a unitary braided structure. The unitary braided structure of the braided upper may be engineered with specific features tailored to particular activities. Different regions of the upper may have different braided configurations. For example, higher braid densities may be used in specific areas of the footwear to provide additional structural support or compression. Also, strands of a different material may be incorporated in different regions of the braided upper to provide specific properties to the footwear in those areas.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An article of footwear comprising:
 a sole; and   an upper attached to the sole, wherein said upper comprises a unitary braided structure;   the unitary braided structure having a first region with a first density of braids and at least a second region with a second density of braids,   wherein the first density of braids is lower than the second density of braids.   
     
     
         2 . The article of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the upper has a throat, and the upper has braids of the second density forming a band at a front of the throat. 
     
     
         3 . The article of footwear of  claim 2 , wherein the upper has an ankle opening and wherein the upper comprises braids of the second density around the ankle opening. 
     
     
         4 . The article of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the unitary braided structure comprises strands of at least two different materials having different properties. 
     
     
         5 . The article of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the upper comprises floating cables laced through the braided structure. 
     
     
         6 . The article of footwear of  claim 5 , wherein at least one floating cable is attached to a tensioning device. 
     
     
         7 . The article of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the upper comprises an integrated lateral side lace that is interlaced through the braided structure to a lateral side eyelet and a medial side lace that is interlaced through the braided structure to a medial side eyelet. 
     
     
         8 . The article of footwear of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one of an outer covering attached to an outer surface of the upper and an inner covering attached to an inner surface of the upper. 
     
     
         9 . The article of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the second region of the braided structure with the second braid density provides at least one of greater abrasion resistance, greater durability, greater tensile strength and greater stability compared to the abrasion resistance, durability, tensile strength and stability of the braid with the first braid density. 
     
     
         10 . The article of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the upper comprises a throat having a front end, wherein the upper also comprises floating cables attached at a first end to the sole and at a second end to at least one of an eyelet, a heel and the front end of the throat. 
     
     
         11 . The article of footwear of  claim 10 , further comprising a tensioning device configured to adjust tension of the floating cables. 
     
     
         12 . An article of footwear comprising:
 a sole; and   an upper comprising a unitary braided structure attached to the sole;   said upper having a toe region, a forefoot region, a midfoot region, a heel region, and an ankle region;   said upper also having a perimeter around a throat and around an ankle opening;   wherein the unitary braided structure has a first braid density at the forefoot region, the midfoot region and the heel region and a second braid density at the perimeter around the throat and the ankle opening; and   wherein the second braid density is higher than the first braid density.   
     
     
         13 . The article of footwear of  claim 12 , wherein the unitary braided structure has a third density at the toe region, wherein the third density is higher than the first density. 
     
     
         14 . The article of footwear of  claim 12 , wherein the unitary braided structure has a fourth density in a first band across the upper in front of the throat. 
     
     
         15 . The article of footwear of  claim 12 ,
 wherein the unitary braided structure has a second band of a fifth density attached at a lateral side to the sole at the forefoot region and at a medial side to the sole at the midfoot region, and a third band of the fifth density attached at the lateral side to the sole at the midfoot region and at the medial side to the sole at the forefoot region.   
     
     
         16 . The article of footwear of  claim 15 , wherein the upper has an apex at the midfoot region, and wherein the second band and the third band intersect at the apex of the midfoot region. 
     
     
         17 . The article of footwear of  claim 12 , further comprising ground-engaging components attached to the sole. 
     
     
         18 . The article of footwear of  claim 12 , further comprising an outer covering over an outer surface of the unitary braided structure. 
     
     
         19 . The article of footwear of  claim 12 , further comprising an inner covering disposed on an inwardly facing side of the unitary braided structure. 
     
     
         20 . The article of footwear of  claim 12 , wherein the article of footwear has a throat and wherein the article of footwear also has eyelets disposed on a medial side of the throat and on a lateral side of the throat, further comprising floating cables laced through the braided structure attached to at least one eyelet on the medial side of the throat and at least one eyelet on the lateral side of the throat. 
     
     
         21 . The article of footwear of  claim 20 , further comprising a shoelace laced through the eyelets, wherein the floating cables are configured to provide tensional integrity to the footwear when the shoelace is tied tightly around a wearer's foot. 
     
     
         22 . An article of footwear comprising:
 a sole bearing ground-engaging components;   a braided upper attached to the sole on a top surface of the sole;   said upper having an ankle opening, a throat, a heel region, a midfoot region and a forefoot region;   a low density braid at the midfoot region of the upper;   a high density braid at the heel region of the upper providing a stable heel region;   a high density braid around the ankle opening and around the throat defining a perimeter of the ankle opening and the throat;   a band of high density braid in the forefoot region of the upper providing increased tensile strength in the forefoot region; and   an integrated lateral side lace laced through the band of high density braid on a lateral side of the article of footwear to a lateral side eyelet, and an integrated medial side lace laced through the band of high density braid on the medial side of the article of footwear to a medial side eyelet.   
     
     
         23 . The article of footwear of  claim 22 , further comprising an outer covering over an outer surface of the braided upper. 
     
     
         24 . The article of footwear of  claim 22 , wherein the braids are formed from one of nylon, carbon, polyurethane, polyester, cotton, aramid, polyethylene, and polypropylene fibers. 
     
     
         25 . The article of footwear of  claim 22 , wherein the sole is made from one of EVA and rubber. 
     
     
         26 . An upper for an article of footwear comprising:
 a heel region, a midfoot region, and a forefoot region;   the upper having a throat, a lateral side and a medial side;   the upper also having lateral side eyelets disposed on a lateral side of the throat in the upper and medial side eyelets disposed on medial side of the throat;   wherein the upper has bands of high density braids at the heel region and at the midfoot region, and wherein the upper has a low density braid in the forefoot region and the toe region;   a lateral side lace attached at the lateral side of the upper to a bottom of the lateral side of the upper; and   a medial side lace attached at a medial side of the upper to a bottom of the medial side of the upper;   wherein the lateral side lace is laced through the upper and through at least one eyelet on the lateral side of the upper and at least one eyelet on the medial side of the upper; and   wherein the medial side lace is laced through the upper and through at least one eyelet on the medial side of the upper and at least one eyelet on the lateral side of the upper.   
     
     
         27 . The upper of  claim 26 , further comprising an outer covering comprising a thermoplastic polymer bonded to the upper. 
     
     
         28 . The upper of  claim 26 , further comprising an outer covering molded to the upper. 
     
     
         29 . The upper of  claim 26 , wherein the upper comprises strands coated with a thermoplastic material, and wherein the thermoplastic material on certain of the strands has been melded to thermoplastic material on other coated strands that are in contact with those strands. 
     
     
         30 . The upper of  claim 26 , wherein the upper comprises at least two different kinds of strands having different physical properties.