Oh, patents! Louis Vuitton soles

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann 

During his brief tenure as Creative Director for menswear at the 170-year-old Louis Vuitton (LV) luxury fashion House, Virgil Abloh* had time to introduce skate-style sneakers into the prestigious line of LV shoes. The chunky sneaker, street-skate style, was re-created and expertly tweaked into an iconic LV sneaker. A sneaker that became a permanent staple of the luxury LV product line. Luxury, because each pair of LV sneakers is hand-crafted at the Manufacture de Souliers Louis Vuitton (manufacturing and design center for LV shoes), in Fiesso d'Artico, close to Venice, Italy. A shoe manufacturing process that takes approximately seven hours to complete for each pair. 

Skate-style, as in “skateboard-style”, the board that was originally designed, in the 50s and 60s, for surfers to keep fit and agile on land, during periods when there are no waves to ride in the ocean. A twenty-first-century style that had already transitioned over several decades, from the niche-sport surf-style into a global street-style phenomenon, complete with organized skate competitions, skate music, skate fashion, and insider skate talk (Thimo, 2024). A style that Virgil Abloh had already pioneered in the United States with his own luxury streetwear brand called Off-White™.

The LV street-style sneakers have a patented sole.  The US design patent, USD1033004, titled Sole for footwear, was awarded on July 2nd, 2024, to Mathias Patillon and Alexander Kelvy. The patent was then assigned to the original legendary (1854) trunk-making company Louis Vuitton Malletier (FR). 

Below, the patent Figure depicting the patented sole design, from the bottom-up, together with LV Skate and LV Trainer sneakers models, both manufactured with the patented sole design. 

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Note

* Virgil Abloh, the first black-American Creative Director for Louis Vuitton menswear, from 2018 till his premature death at the age of 41, in 2021.

References

Louis Vuitton (website)

https://us.louisvuitton.com/eng-us/

Louis Vuitton: A legendary history.

https://us.louisvuitton.com/eng-us/magazine/articles/a-legendary-history

Manufacture de souliers Louis Vuitton

https://wwd.com/footwear-news/shoe-features/gallery/louis-vuitton-italian-footwear-factory-photos-1238026158/

Off-White™

https://www.off---white.com/

Thimo (March 31, 2024). The evolution and enduring popularity of skate style. Sneaker Jagers. 

https://tinyurl.com/bdzx5fsu 

Oh, patents! Kiziks, no hands slip-on footwear

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Kiziks are no hands, slip-on shoes. Kizik heels not only collapse, enabling feet to slip inside Kizik shoes, Kizik heels also spring back, recovering their original shape, again and again. Indeed, Kizik heels are subjected to compression forces with spring back, at least 30,000 times during testing. 

The collapse and spring-back heel technology, and many additional aspects of the Kizik shoes, are patented. For example, the original lattice heel spring-back technology, marketed as the Cage®, was awarded, on May 2020, the US utility patent, US10638810B1, titled Rapid-entry footwear having a compressible lattice structure.  

The patent recites rapid-entry shoes defined as various types of shoes, such as athleisure, casual, formal, dress, sports, including tennis, golf, bowling, running, football, basketball and soccer shoes, as well as walking shoes, sandals or other types. Rapid-entry shoes with “a compressible lattice structure in the heel portion to facilitate rapid, easy donning and doffing of shoes”. A compressible lattice heel structure 110, comprising a closed position with a smaller shoe opening to retain the user’s foot inside the shoe, and an expanded open position to let the user’s foot in, respectively illustrated in the below Figures 2a and 2b of the rapid-entry shoe 100.

The Figures 2a and 2b further depict apertures 112 of the compressible lattice heel structure 110. The apertures 112, whether void, or filled with a polymer or material substructure, are designed to accommodate compression forces. The patent further recites that the compressible lattice heal structure 110 might be molded or 3D printed. The Figures 2a and 2b also show a stabilizer 120 designed to prevent inward deflection or buckling of the heel.  

Below, a short video shows how easy it is to slip on a pair of Kiziks. However, according to the patent specification, not only were the Kizik rapid-entry shoes designed for convenience, they were also designed for those without the mobility required to slip on a pair of shoes. 

Below, the abstract of the invention.

Disclosed is a shoe having a compressible lattice structure in a heel portion to facilitate rapid, easy donning and doffing of shoes. In example embodiments, the lattice structure includes a plurality of interconnected, overlapping, intersecting and/or woven ribs defining a plurality of apertures. The lattice structure has an open position in which the shoe opening is expanded to facilitate reception of a foot of an individual wearing the rapid-entry shoe, and a closed position in which the shoe opening is smaller to retain the foot within the rapid-entry shoe. [Abstract US10638810B1] 

Reference
Kizik (website)
www.kizik.com  

Oh, patents! Vionic® (sandal) soles (3)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The benefits of Vionic® orthotic soles also apply to Vionic® sandals, even Vionic® flip flops. The Vionic® sandal sole patent is recited in the US utility patent US10244813B2, titled Sandals with biomechanical foot support. In response to the prior art of orthotic soles for flipflops or slides, essentially consisting in costly custom solutions or temporary laminated add-on soles, glued to the sandal footbed, the Vionic® patent recites single density injection-molded solutions, providing biomechanical support that is both cost-effective and permanent.  

The biomechanical support recited comprises a low footbed and raised contoured medial (instep) support for Y-shaped thong or single strap slide-in type sandals. The bottom of the soles is also roughed to increase traction and prevent slipping, alternatively designed with grooves to enable water flow. The sandal soles may be designed with a concavity under the arch to provide additional cushioning, or different length, and elasticity, of the Y-straps to support the user’s biomechanical foot motion. Finally, the bottom of the sole may be slightly tilted upwards, instead of flat, to provide additional support.

Three patent drawings are included below, together with the abstract of the patent. An image of the Floriana marketed Vionic® sandal model, embodying invention features, is also included. 

Figures 2A and 2B, respectively depict the top and bottom views of the Vionic® sandal sole (110). Figure 4 depicts a detailed cross-sectional and longitudinal view of the sole's front elevation. In particular, Figure 2A shows the grooves (117) on the bottom surface (116) to enhance water flow and traction. The oval-shaped cavity (118) beneath the arch of the foot is also depicted, with a short horizontal axis (217) and a longer vertical axis (218), designed to provide more cushioning aligned with the toe to heel axis and width axis of the foot. 

The Y-anchor points (111), (112) and (113) for the Y-shaped thong strap are also shown on Figures 2A and 2B. The two rear anchor points (112) and (113) are slightly offset, to allow for different lengths of the two arms of the Y-shaped strap, with varying elasticity. Varying length and elasticity of the two arms are respectively designed to correlate with the movement of the user's foot, and to provide enhanced directional stability. Thus, for example, if the user's toes point inward or outward, the different pull from the two different lengths of the Y-arms of the strap, together with their varying elasticity, are both designed to provide beneficial support for re-centering the direction of the user's foot.  

Sandals with biomechanical foot support, robust usability and cost-effectiveness are disclosed. The footwear may comprise a biomechanical sole and a Y-shaped rubber strap anchored to the sole. The sole has a top surface including a raised contour on the medial side of the sandal, and a low profile heel cup. The raised contour on the medial side and the heel cup match the natural anatomic shape of the foot, and thus provide biomechanical foot support. The bottom surface of the sole may be a roughed surface to provide necessary traction and friction when a wearer/user walks. The bottom surface further comprises a plurality of grooves to allow water to be expelled and increase traction. [Abstract US10244813B2]

Reference 
Vionic® 
https://www.vionicshoes.com/

Oh, patents! Balenciaga shoe

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

This Balenciaga shoe is patented! The US design patent USD754955, titled Shoe, was awarded to Isabelle Guichot, the former Balenciaga CEO. A figure drawing on file for this US design patent, and an image of the marketed product are included below. 

As a reminder the difference between a US design patent and a US utility patent is the following:

“a “utility patent” protects the way an article is used and works (35 U.S.C. 101), while a "design patent" protects the way an article looks (35 U.S.C. 171)” (USPTO)

References

Balenciaga

https://www.balenciaga.com/us

Found... Warhol's shoe perdu (2)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

On the third floor of the NYC MOMA...

Andy Warhol - Shoe of the evening, beautiful shoe

Another selection from a portfolio of 18 offset lithographs. The captions of the prints with distinctive cursive writing were written by Andy Warhol's mom, Julia Warhola.