Footwear sole with leather fiber surface and method of making the same

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a footwear sole includes providing a base sole, and performing an electrostatic flocking process to bond a leather material layer onto a portion of the base sole. The electrostatic flocking process includes the steps of applying an adhesive material to cover a surface of the base sole, providing a leather flock source, spraying electrically charged leather flock onto the adhesive covered surface of the base sole, and curing the base sole to bond the leather flock to the surface of the base sole. The method is described principally with respect to applying a leather material layer to a surface of a base sole, and the method may be employed to apply a leather material layer to shoe portions other than a surface of the base sole, such as a surface of the outer sole, insole, or inner sole, or a surface of a whole shoe.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of manufacturing a footwear sole comprising the steps of:
 providing a base sole; and   performing an electrostatic flocking process to bond a leather material layer onto at least a portion of the base sole.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of performing the electrostatic flocking process comprises the steps of:
 applying an adhesive material to cover a surface of the base sole;   providing a leather flock source;   spraying electrically charged leather flock onto the adhesive covered surface of the base sole; and   curing the base sole to bond the leather flock to the surface of the base sole.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the adhesive material comprises one of a water based glue or latex material. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the adhesive material further includes at least one of a stabilizer, bonding agent, or curing agent additive. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the step of providing a leather flock source comprises grinding a leather scrap material and extracting fibrous leather particles. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein a particle size of the leather flock ranges from 40-100 μm. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the leather flock is electrically charged by spraying the leather flock from a charging nozzle. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the leather flock is electrically charged by spraying the leather flock through one of a charging screen or a static generator net. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 providing the base sole in a flocking chamber; and   applying an electric field to the flocking chamber to distribute the leather flock onto the adhesive covered surface of the base sole.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the leather flock is sprayed an at ejection pressure of 4-8 kg. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the leather material layer is bonded onto an entire bottom surface of the base sole. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the leather material layer is bonded onto a portion of a bottom surface of the base sole less than the entire bottom surface. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the base sole comprises a half sole and a heel portion; and
 a first leather material layer is bonded to the half sole and a second leather material layer is bonded to the heel portion.   
     
     
         14 . A method of manufacturing a shoe comprising the steps of:
 providing a shoe; and   performing an electrostatic flocking process to bond a leather material layer onto at least a portion of the shoe.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the step of performing the electrostatic flocking process comprises the steps of:
 applying an adhesive material to cover a surface of the shoe;   providing a leather flock source;   spraying electrically charged leather flock onto the adhesive covered surface of the shoe; and   curing the shoe to bond the leather flock to the surface of the shoe.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the adhesive material is applied to a surface of at least one of the outer sole, insole, or inner sole, or a surface of a whole shoe.