FOOTWEAR

摘要

An outsole unit (15, 21, 24, 27) for an item of footwear (30) comprises a base layer (16) of a flexible material having fibres extending from one surface, for example a napped leather such as pigskin suede or a textile material, and one or more lugs (17, 25) of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) moulded directly to the fibrous surface so as to form a tread. Multiple lugs (17) may form a regular array separated by grooves (18, 19), and may be connected solely by the base layer (16), by a skin (23) of TPU extending across the base layer (16) or by narrow connecting elements of TPU (28, 29). An upper (31) of an item of footwear (30) may comprise a backing (2) of suede leather with a grid of strips (3, 4) of TPU moulded to its napped surface. An item of footwear (30) may comprise the outsole unit (15, 21, 24, 27) of the invention, the upper (31) of the invention, or both.