Wyoming Patent of the Month – April 2022
Many sneakerheads are dead set on not creasing their shoes. For them, shoes are an expression of themselves or a collectible item which need to be preserved. It’s easy to crease a shoe though, as any time you flex your foot or bend down to tie your shoes, you fold and mark the vamp. A vamp is the section of the shoe that covers the front top of the foot. Depending on your gait, even walking can create a crease. But keeping your shoes in their box in your home is no way to show them off.
Shoe-Vital, LLC has designed a wearable insert that maintains the support in your shoe while you walk around. By maintaining this support, creases can be prevented. Existing shoe formers are typically either foam inserts or a shoe tree. These foam inserts usually lack support around the sides of the shoes. The shoe trees are limited in shape and do not align with most shoes.
Shoe-Vital’s design has a toe box and an inner and outer wing. The toe box is formed and contoured to fit inside the shoe and fits over the front of the foot from the toes to the mid foot. The two wing pieces sit on the inner and outer side of the user’s foot, extending further back but ending before the heel. The device provides a level of structural integrity for the fabric material while walking. The shoe shaper is flexible enough to be comfortable but rigid enough to limit creasing. The flexibility also helps to allow it to fit nearly any shoe shape.
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