Braided footwear with integrated laces and methods for their manufacture

Abstract

A braided article of footwear and a method is provided for forming a braided article of footwear. The method includes braiding a unitary braided upper (100) having at least a main body (120) and independently braiding at least one braided lace (122, 124, 160, 164) while braiding the unitary upper (100). At a lace integration portion (130) of the unitary braided upper (100), the method includes integrating the at least one braided lace (122, 124, 160, 164) into the unitary braided upper (100).

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A braided article of footwear comprising: a sole; a braided upper coupled to the sole and having a toe portion, a heel portion, a midfoot portion extending between the toe portion and the heel portion, and a throat portion; and at least one braided lace integrated with the braided upper, at a lace integration portion of the braided upper. 
     
     
         2 . The braided article of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the throat portion includes a base, and the lace integration portion is located at the base of the throat portion. 
     
     
         3 . The braided article of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein at least two braided laces are integrated with the braided upper, at the lace integration portion of the braided upper. 
     
     
         4 . The braided article of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the braided upper is braided with a first yarn and the at least one braided lace is braided with a second yarn, different from the first yarn. 
     
     
         5 . The braided article of footwear of  claim 4 , wherein the second yarn is a high performance yarn. 
     
     
         6 . The braided article of footwear of  claim 5 , wherein the high performance yarn comprises one or more of a thermoplastic coated polyester yarn, an aramid material yarn, a liquid crystal material yarn, a carbon fiber yarn, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The braided article of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the throat portion includes a medial edge and a lateral edge, further comprising a plurality of integrally braided eyelets along each of the medial edge and the lateral edge of the throat portion. 
     
     
         8 . The braided article of footwear of  claim 7 , wherein the plurality of integrally braided eyelets are braided with a high performance yarn. 
     
     
         9 . The braided article of footwear of  claim 7 , wherein at least two braided laces are integrated with the braided upper along the medial edge of the throat portion and the at least two braided laces are integrated with the braided upper along the lateral edge of the throat portion. 
     
     
         10 . A method of forming a braided article of footwear, the method comprising: braiding a unitary braided upper having at least a main body and independently braiding at least one braided lace while braiding the unitary upper; at a lace integration portion of the unitary braided upper, integrating the at least one braided lace into the unitary braided upper. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the integrating the at least one braided lace into the unitary braided upper is performed by interlacing a plurality of yarns of the at least one braided lace and a plurality of yarns of the unitary braided upper in at least two different directions. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising forming the main body of the unitary braided upper having a toe portion, a heel portion, a medial midfoot portion and a lateral midfoot portion between the toe portion and the heel portion, a throat portion between the medial midfoot portion and the lateral midfoot portion, and an underfoot portion, and braiding a plurality of integrally braided eyelets, each eyelet in the plurality of integrally braided eyelets having an exit point and an entry point into the main body. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising affixing a sole to the underfoot portion of the braided upper. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the throat portion has a medial side and a lateral side, the method further comprising, and at the lace integration portion of the unitary braided upper, integrating at least two braided laces into the unitary braided upper along each of the medial side and the lateral side.