Item of footwear

Abstract

An item of footwear and a method of modifying an existing item of footwear is provided that is compact, lightweight, resilient and stable. The item of footwear includes a sole; and a fibre reinforced shank extending along a length of the sole, to provide rigidity to the sole.

1 . An item of footwear comprising:
 a sole; and   a fibre reinforced shank extending along a length of the sole to provide rigidity to the sole.   
     
     
         2 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the fibre reinforced shank is provided within the sole. 
     
     
         3 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the sole defines a rocker that assists the wearer with forward movement when a front portion of the shoe is lowered and a heel portion of the shoe is raised. 
     
     
         4 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the item of footwear comprises a straight last shoe. 
     
     
         5 . The item of footwear of  claim 4 , wherein the sole has substantially straight longitudinal sides. 
     
     
         6 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the shank is reinforced by carbon fibre. 
     
     
         7 . The item of footwear of  claim 6 , wherein the shank is formed of carbon fibre reinforced polymer. 
     
     
         8 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the shank is configured to store kinetic energy from a one stage of a gait cycle, and use the kinetic energy in another stage of the gait cycle. 
     
     
         9 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the shank is disposed between an upper portion of the sole, and a lower portion of the sole. 
     
     
         10 . The item of footwear of  claim 9 , wherein the upper portion of the sole and the lower portion of the sole both extend along an entire length of the sole. 
     
     
         11 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the shank is glued between the upper and lower portions of the sole. 
     
     
         12 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the sole is moulded with shank in place. 
     
     
         13 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the shank has a thickness of 1 mm or less. 
     
     
         14 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the shank extends across a width of the sole. 
     
     
         15 - 16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the shank comprises a heel portion and a toe portion, and is curved upwards at the toe portion. 
     
     
         18 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the shank is curved upwards from a central portion of the shank to opposing ends of the shank. 
     
     
         19 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the shank comprises a step in width at a boundary between a heel portion of the shank and a toe portion of the shank. 
     
     
         20 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein a toe portion of the shank is wider than a heel portion of the shank. 
     
     
         21 . The item of footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the shank is at least partly curved upwards from a central portion of the shank to opposing sides of the shank. 
     
     
         22 . A method of modifying an existing item of footwear comprising:
 removing a lower portion of a sole of the item of footwear;   attaching a fibre reinforced shank to the remaining sole of the item of footwear, such that the shank extends along a length of the remaining sole to provide rigidity to the sole; and   attaching a further sole portion to an underside of the shank.