Moulded shoe sole with rigid fixing of heel and uppers - has flexible transverse zone beneath metatarsal zone of foot giving good walking comfort

摘要

Shoe soles have a relatively flexible transverse zone beneath the ball of the foot (the metatarsal zone), by reducing the sole material thickness or incorporating a panel of material more flexible than the rest of the sole. The sole components may be made of natural or synthetic leather or other soling materials, and the flexible panel is secured by stitching, adhesives or welding as appropriate. Used to combine the comfortable flexibility (of e.g., a hide strip) with sufficient rigidity of most of the sole body e.g., of toughened polystyrene to facilitate fixing the heels and/or partially wrapped round uppers.