Footwear Uppers Including Bladders, Articles of Footwear Including Bladders in the Upper, and Methods of Forming Such Uppers and/or Articles of Footwear

Abstract

Footwear upper components include a fabric element and a bladder component that defines a sealed interior chamber. The bladder component includes: (a) a first major surface engaged with the fabric element, wherein this first major surface defines at least part of a first perimeter seam surface and at least part of a first surface of the sealed interior chamber, (b) a second major surface opposite the first major surface, wherein this second major surface defines at least part of a second perimeter seam surface opposite the first perimeter seam surface and at least part of a second surface of the sealed interior chamber opposite the sealed interior chamber's first surface, and (c) and a fluid chamber between the first and second major surfaces. The first major surface (and optionally the second major surface) may include texturing, e.g., texturing corresponding to texture present on a surface of the fabric element.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of forming a footwear upper component, comprising:
 placing a bladder or a bladder precursor on a first fabric element, wherein the first fabric element includes a first surface having texturing, and wherein the bladder or the bladder precursor includes a first thermoplastic polymer layer and a second thermoplastic polymer layer overlapping the first thermoplastic polymer layer; and   forming texturing on at least a portion of the first thermoplastic polymer layer by applying heat and pressure to form at least one of: (a) a seam that engages the first thermoplastic polymer layer with the second thermoplastic polymer layer and (ii) an engagement of at least the portion of the first thermoplastic polymer layer with the first fabric element, wherein the bladder or the bladder precursor defines a sealed interior chamber for containing a fluid, and wherein the texturing formed on the portion of the first thermoplastic polymer layer corresponds in surface contour features to the texturing included on the first surface of the first fabric element.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the sealed interior chamber includes a first major exterior surface formed by the first thermoplastic polymer layer and a second major exterior surface formed by the second thermoplastic polymer layer, and wherein the portion of the first thermoplastic polymer layer on which the texturing is formed comprises at least a portion of the first major exterior surface. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the sealed interior chamber includes a first major exterior surface formed by the first thermoplastic polymer layer and a second major exterior surface formed by the second thermoplastic polymer layer, and wherein the step of forming the texturing forms texturing on at least a portion of the second major exterior surface. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising: engaging a second fabric element with the second thermoplastic polymer layer. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the step of engaging the second fabric element with the second thermoplastic polymer layer takes place simultaneous with the step of applying heat and pressure to form the texturing on at least the portion of the first thermoplastic polymer layer. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of forming the texturing further includes forming texturing on at least a portion of the second thermoplastic polymer layer by applying heat and pressure to the second thermoplastic polymer layer, and wherein the texturing formed on the portion of the second thermoplastic polymer layer corresponds in surface contour features to the texturing included on the first surface of the first fabric element. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the second thermoplastic polymer layer is formed at least in part from an at least partially transparent or translucent material, and wherein the texturing present on at least a portion of the first thermoplastic polymer layer is visible through the second thermoplastic polymer layer. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising: inflating the sealed interior chamber after the step of forming the texturing. 
     
     
         9 . A footwear upper component, comprising:
 a first fabric element; and   a bladder component that defines a sealed interior chamber for containing a fluid, wherein the bladder component includes: (a) a first major surface engaged with the first fabric element, wherein the first major surface defines at least part of a first perimeter seam surface and at least part of a first surface of the sealed interior chamber, (b) a second major surface opposite the first major surface, wherein the second major surface defines at least part of a second perimeter seam surface opposite the first perimeter seam surface and at least part of a second surface of the sealed interior chamber opposite the first surface of the sealed interior chamber, and (c) and a fluid chamber located between the first major surface and the second major surface, and wherein at least a portion of the second major surface includes molded-in texturing.   
     
     
         10 . The footwear upper component according to  claim 9 , wherein the molded-in texturing on the second major surface of the bladder component includes texturing on at least a portion of the second surface of the sealed interior chamber. 
     
     
         11 . The footwear upper component according to  claim 9 , wherein the molded-in texturing on the second major surface of the bladder component includes texturing on the second perimeter seam surface. 
     
     
         12 . The footwear upper component according to  claim 9 , wherein the molded-in texturing includes a member selected from the group of: a plurality of raised ridges, a plurality of raised grid elements, a plurality of recessed grid elements, a herringbone pattern, or a plurality of rounded elements. 
     
     
         13 . The footwear upper component according to  claim 9 , wherein the molded-in texturing includes a first portion having a first pattern and a second portion having a second pattern different from the first pattern. 
     
     
         14 . A footwear upper component, comprising:
 a first fabric element that includes a first surface having texturing; and   a bladder component that defines a sealed interior chamber for containing a fluid, wherein the bladder component includes: (a) a first major surface engaged with the first surface of the first fabric element, wherein the first major surface defines at least part of a first perimeter seam surface and at least part of a first surface of the sealed interior chamber, (b) a second major surface opposite the first major surface, wherein the second major surface defines at least part of a second perimeter seam surface opposite the first perimeter seam surface and at least part of a second surface of the sealed interior chamber opposite the first surface of the sealed interior chamber, and (c) and a fluid chamber located between the first major surface and the second major surface, and wherein at least a portion of the first major surface includes texturing having surface contour features corresponding to the texturing present on the first surface of the first fabric element.   
     
     
         15 . The footwear upper component according to  claim 14 , wherein the texturing on the first major surface of the bladder component includes texturing on the first surface of the sealed interior chamber. 
     
     
         16 . The footwear upper component according to  claim 14 , wherein the texturing on the first major surface of the bladder component includes texturing on the first perimeter seam surface. 
     
     
         17 . The footwear upper component according to  claim 14 , wherein at least a portion of the second major surface includes texturing corresponding to the texturing present on the first surface of the first fabric element. 
     
     
         18 . The footwear upper component according to  claim 17 , wherein the texturing on the second major surface of the bladder component includes at least one of texturing on the second surface of the sealed interior chamber or texturing on the second perimeter seam surface. 
     
     
         19 . The footwear upper component according to  claim 14 , wherein the first major surface of the bladder component is formed from a first thermoplastic sheet and the second major surface of the bladder component is formed from a second thermoplastic sheet, and wherein the second thermoplastic sheet is formed from an at least partially transparent or translucent material such that the texturing present on at least a portion of the first major surface is visible through the second thermoplastic sheet. 
     
     
         20 . The footwear upper component according to  claim 14 , wherein the first fabric element is a knit fabric element.