Patent ID: 8677656

Claim:
An athletic shoe with a heel counter for maintaining a shape of a heel section of an upper, wherein: the upper is formed by layering together a plurality of layers of a material; the upper includes a medial side covering a medial surface of a foot, a lateral side covering a lateral surface of the foot, a back side covering a back surface of the foot, and an opening defined by upper edges of the medial side, the lateral side and the back side; in a vicinity of the opening of the upper, the medial side of the upper covers a front end portion of a talus bone and a front end portion of a subtalar joint, and the lateral side of the upper covers the front end portion of the talus bone and the front end portion of the subtalar joint; the heel counter is formed as an integral synthetic resin part, the heel counter comprising: a support section extending in a forward direction of the foot along a lower edge of the medial side of the upper from the back side of the upper to a position forward of a rear end of the talus bone, and extending in the forward direction along a lower edge of the lateral side of the upper from the back side of the upper to a position forward of the rear end of the talus bone; a rib extending in the forward direction along the medial side generally in parallel to the support section at a position above the support section from the back side of the upper to a position forward of a position directly under a rear end of a medial malleolus, and extending in the forward direction along the lateral side generally in parallel to the support section at a position above the support section from the back side of the upper to a position forward of the rear end of the talus bone; one or more first bridge means provided on the medial side so as to bridge between the support section and the rib; and one or more second bridge means provided on the back side or the lateral side so as to bridge between the support section and the rib, wherein: the first and second bridge means, the support section and the rib form at least a through hole therebetween through which the upper is exposed; a foremost one of a plurality of connection portions by which the rib and each of the bridge means are connected to each other is provided on the medial side of the upper; and a front end of the foremost connection portion is located forward of a position directly under the rear end of the medial malleolus.