Skechers U.S.A., Inc. II has secured a major milestone in the Textiles, Clothing and Footwear industry with a newly patented design for easier foot entry. This innovation focuses on the patent titled ‘Footwear heel counter for easier foot entry or removal’. The patent describes a shoe featuring a unique “S” wave shaped heel cup and a specialized compressible material layer designed to facilitate effortless foot insertion.

Overcoming Footwear Accessibility Challenges

Because it is an outstanding invention in the Textiles, Clothing and Footwear industry, this technology has proudly won Swanson Reed’s Patent of the Month for February 2026.

Patent Abstract

The shoe includes a sole and an upper having a foot-receiving shoe opening. The shoe includes a heel cup in a heel region, the heel cup having a central region, peripheral portions, and a top portion, mid-portion, and lower portion extending through the central region and the peripheral portions. The top portion, mid-portion, and lower portion form a vertical cross-sectional “S” wave shape through the central region of the heel cup. The shoe includes a compressible material layer positioned along regions of an inner wall of the heel cup facing an interior of the shoe upper corresponding to a portion of the central region of the heel cup. The compressible material layer protrudes into the shoe opening along the central region corresponding to the top portion and tapers towards the portion of the central region corresponding to the lower portion.

How it Meets U.S. R&D Tax Credit Rules (The 4-Part Test)

• Permitted Purpose: The research aimed to create a new or improved business component. In this case, improving the functionality, accessibility, and ease of use of a shoe by creating a novel hands-free entry mechanism.
• Technological in Nature: The development process relied fundamentally on the hard sciences—specifically materials science, physics, and mechanical engineering—to calculate compression rates, deformation, and the structural integrity of the heel cup.
• Elimination of Uncertainty: At the project’s inception, there was technical uncertainty regarding the optimal geometric shape of the heel cup, the exact taper angle required, and which specific compressible materials could withstand repeated use without degrading.
• Process of Experimentation: The engineering team iteratively created prototypes, systematically tested different material densities, and subjected the “S” wave structure to repetitive stress and fatigue testing to finalize the patented design.

3 Practical R&D Applications Meeting Tax Credit Rules

1. Material Science Testing for the Compressible Layer: Engineering and testing various proprietary polymer foams or elastomeric materials. Researchers had to conduct repetitive compression, shear, and fatigue tests to find a material that compresses properly under foot pressure but rebounds instantly without structural collapse over the life of the shoe.
2. Structural Prototyping of the “S” Wave Heel Cup: Utilizing CAD software and 3D printing to iteratively design and evaluate the vertical cross-sectional “S” wave geometry. This involves stress-testing different rigid and semi-rigid plastics to achieve the precise balance of flexibility for comfortable entry and rigidity for structural support.
3. Manufacturing Process Development: Designing, prototyping, and validating custom tooling and molding processes. The R&D team would need to experiment with new manufacturing techniques capable of reliably producing the complex “S” wave geometry while simultaneously adhering the tapered compressible material layer at scale.