Footwear fitting design

Abstract

The fitting is one of the most important properties of footwear. The fitting property mainly depends on the upper material and structure. This indicates that an investigation of the deformation of the footwear upper is required in designing the fitting property. In this chapter a new quantitative evaluation method of the fitting property is introduced. This evaluation method is based on the difference of strain distributions in foot and upper. First, the strain distribution on a bare foot is measured under the heel up condition using a non-contact typed three-dimensional strain measuring system. The secondary upper strain distribution is also measured by the same method. Based on the difference between the two, the fitting parameter is quantitatively defined. Through the above measurements it was found that the strain distributions on a bare foot are not uniform and are different on the medial and lateral sides. Considering these barefoot results, as an example of practical footwear design, a new upper structure is also introduced. © 2011 Springer-Verlag London Limited.