Nike patents shoe cushioning with slotted core for better flexibility
Nike has filed a patent for a new cushioning component designed for wearable items like shoes. The design features a sealed bladder containing a core made of a polymeric sheet with multiple slots cut into it. These slots create separate strips that are bonded alternately to the top and bottom layers of the bladder, allowing the core to flex independently.
In the filing’s own words
A cushioning component for a wearable article includes a bladder with barrier sheets defining an interior cavity. A core is disposed in the interior cavity and is spaced entirely inward of a peripheral bond between the barrier sheets. The core traverses the interior cavity between and is bonded to the opposing inner surfaces of the barrier sheets at a plurality of bonds. The core includes at least one polymeric sheet defining a plurality of spaced slots extending therethrough, each slot having a first end and a second end with both the first end and the second end inward of an outer perimeter of the core such that the core includes a plurality of strips bordering the slots and decoupled from one another at the slots, each strip bonded to at least one of the first barrier sheet or the second barrier sheet by at least one of the bonds.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A cushioning component for a wearable article, the cushioning component comprising: a bladder including a first barrier sheet and a second barrier sheet defining an interior cavity between opposing inner surfaces of the first barrier sheet and the second barrier sheet, the first barrier sheet and the second barrier sheet coupled to one another along a peripheral bond; and a core disposed in the interior cavity, the core traversing the interior cavity between and bonded to the opposing inner surfaces of the first barrier sheet and the second barrier sheet at a plurality of bonds; wherein the core includes at least one polymeric sheet comprising a plurality of slots extending therethrough from a first side of the at least one polymeric sheet to a second side of the at least one polymeric sheet; wherein the core includes a plurality of strips bordering the slots and decoupled from one another at the slots, each strip bonded to at least one of the first barrier sheet or the second barrier sheet by at least one of the bonds; wherein the first side of the core is bonded to the inner surface of the first barrier sheet at a first set of bonds of the plurality of bonds; wherein the second side of the core is bonded to the inner surface of the second barrier sheet at a second set of bonds of the plurality of bonds; and wherein the bonds of the first set alternate with the bonds of the second set along each of the strips.
Facts
- Company
- Nike (NIKE, Inc.)
- Official title
- CUSHIONING COMPONENT FOR A WEARABLE ARTICLE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SAME
- Publication number
- US20260262790A1
- Application number
- 19659545
- Filed
- Apr 27, 2026
- Published
- Sep 10, 2026
- Inventors
- 5
- Claims
- 19
Classified under
A43B 13/186 Human necessitiesA43B 13/20 Human necessitiesB29D 35/142 Operations & transportMore from Nike in Wearables
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.