Patents on the soles of your shoes...: Sanuk

Monday, April 8, 2013

Oh, patents! Original Sanuk Not-a-shoe

The first patent awarded to Jeff Kelley, Inventor and Master Sanuk Shooemaker, was for Not-a-shoe soles, called footbeds! Indeed, US2005044746 titled DECORATIVE FOOTBEDS FOR FOOTWEAR was awarded for footbeds made of commercial and industrial carpeting materials! So the quintessential feeling of sinking into a carpet was perhaps the idea originally embodied in the Sanuk Not-a-shoe, which was definitely a sandal...and Not-a-shoe….

Here is the original exploded patent drawing, and a recent embodiment, the Sanuk Yoga Sling, where the sandal footbeds are made of yoga mat materials!

Oh, BTW... The term “sanuk” is apparently a Thai word meaning “fun”, so that every Not-a-shoe is awarded that title. Visit the www.sanuk.com splash page and click on “Saaa what? (How to say sanuk?) for info on pronunciation too!

Oh, patents! Hoodies for your feet

“Smile… Pass it on!” “They’re not shoes, they’re sandals… because your happiest days are always spent in sandals…
because sandals are for backyards, beers and BBQs..."

Those are some of the messages you will read at www.Sanuk.com, the website for shoes with a patented sandal construction…!

And, here is the abstract for these 'not-shoes but sandals' that will give your feet an endless summer, even when it’s snowing!

Footwear having a shoe upper and a sandal type sole are made from an upper having a lower marginal edge with a plurality of spaced fingers extending from the lower marginal edge, a foot bed having a peripheral edge and a plurality of spaced slots there through adjacent the peripheral edge and aligned respectively with the fingers, the fingers being extended through the slots and folded over onto the lower surface of the foot bed, an outsole secured to the lower surface of the foot bed and the folded portions of the fingers and securing the fingers between the foot bed and the outsole, and a structural arrangement for concealing from view the lower marginal edge and the fingers of the upper. A mid-sole is optionally provided between the foot bed and the outsole. A method of making the footwear is described. [US 2006196080]

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