Protective footwear for cleats

Abstract

A protective footwear is provided that selectively attaches to a cleat to at least partially cover the protrusions on the bottom of the cleat and allow an athlete or other person to safely traverse a hard surface like concrete. The protective footwear has a strap system that provides the selective attachment to the cleat, and a pliable inner sole of the protective footwear conforms to the protrusions on the cleat. As a result, the protrusions are protected and do not contact a hard surface like concrete. The athlete or other person is less likely to slip and fall by using the protective footwear among other benefits described herein.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A protective footwear, comprising:
 an outer sole and an inner sole affixed on the outer sole, wherein the inner sole is more pliable than the outer sole; and   a strap system extending upwardly from the outer sole to selectively secure the protective footwear to one of a cleat or a foot.   
     
     
         2 . The protective footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the strap system comprises:
 a first strap portion having a first fastener; and   a second strap portion having a second fastener, wherein the first and second fasteners selectively join to secure the protective footwear to one of the cleat or the foot.   
     
     
         3 . The protective footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the strap system is a continuous loop. 
     
     
         4 . The protective footwear of  claim 2 , wherein the first fastener is a hook fastener and the second fastener is a loop fastener. 
     
     
         5 . The protective footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the strap system comprises an expansion section operable to that stretch to an expanded size and compress back to an original size. 
     
     
         6 . The protective footwear of  claim 5 , wherein the original size is between 5 and 25 mm. 
     
     
         7 . The protective footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the inner sole comprises a foam material and the outer sole comprises a rubber material. 
     
     
         8 . The protective footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the strap system comprises a distinguishing area to receive a distinguishing feature. 
     
     
         9 . The protective footwear of  claim 8 , wherein the distinguishing feature is one of a number, a color, a letter, a word, a symbol, or a logo. 
     
     
         10 . The protective footwear of  claim 8 , wherein the distinguishing area is rectangular and the distinguishing feature is card-shaped. 
     
     
         11 . The protective footwear of  claim 8 , wherein the distinguishing feature and the distinguishing area are attached by a hook and loop fastener. 
     
     
         12 . The protective footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the outer sole further comprises at least one compartment. 
     
     
         13 . The protective footwear of  claim 12 , further comprising one of a weight, a heating feature, or a cooling feature positioned in the at least one compartment. 
     
     
         14 . The protective footwear of  claim 12 , wherein the heating feature has a resistive heating element and a power supply. 
     
     
         15 . The protective footwear of  claim 12 , wherein the cooling feature is a cooling gel. 
     
     
         16 . The protective footwear of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one compartment is located in a forward portion of the outer sole. 
     
     
         17 . The protective footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the inner sole extends above a top surface of the outer sole. 
     
     
         18 . The protective footwear of  claim 1 , wherein a width of the outer sole at a back end is between 65% and 85% of a width of the outer sole at a front end. 
     
     
         19 . The protective footwear of  claim 18 , wherein the width of the outer sole at the back end is 80% of the width of the outer sole at the front end. 
     
     
         20 . The protective footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the outer sole comprises one or more slits operable to form traction with a surface.