Nike patents shoe fabric that blends softness with durability
Nike has filed a patent for a new type of shoe upper made from a composite textile. This material combines a nonwoven fiber web with a mesh layer and a protective polymer film to balance softness, stretch, and strength.
In the filing’s own words
This disclosure relates to a footwear article with a composite textile, which imparts a balance of various properties, such as softness, flexibility, stability, stretch and recovery, breathability, durability, and weight. In at least one example, the composite textile includes a nonwoven fiber web that is coupled to a mesh material layer. The nonwoven fiber web and the mesh material layer can function as a substrate or other type of base layer that can be coupled with one or more other layers. For example, the composite textile can include a polymer film that is coupled (e.g., via hotmelt) to the substrate and that functions as a protective outer layer of the footwear article.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A footwear article comprising: an upper that is coupled to a sole and that comprises a composite textile; and the composite textile comprising: a first layer comprising a nonwoven staple-fiber web, which comprises first fibers, wherein the first fibers comprise a solid dispersion comprising at least one synthetic polymer and a silicone polymer; a second layer that is positioned adjacent the first layer and that comprises a material panel having a first side oriented towards the first layer and a second side oriented away from the first layer, wherein the first fibers include at least some first fiber segments positioned in the first layer and at least some second fiber segments that extend from the first layer and entirely through the material panel; and a third layer comprising a polymeric film, wherein the second layer is positioned between the third layer and the first layer; and wherein the polymeric film is coupled to the second side of the material panel, to the second fiber segments, or to both the second side of the material panel and to the second fiber segments.
Facts
- Company
- Nike (NIKE, Inc.)
- Official title
- FOOTWEAR ARTICLE WITH COMPOSITE TEXTILE
- Publication number
- US20260294042A1
- Application number
- 19578511
- Filed
- Mar 25, 2026
- Published
- Oct 1, 2026
- Inventors
- 3
- Claims
- 28
Classified under
A43B 23/0235 Human necessitiesA43B 1/0009 Human necessitiesA43B 1/028 Human necessitiesA43B 1/04 Human necessitiesA43B 1/05 Human necessitiesA43B 23/025 Human necessitiesMore from Nike in Clothing & sport
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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.