Patent ID: 8533976

Claim:
An article of footwear having an upper and a lower, comprising: a one-piece block of material to receive a foot therein and shaped to form part of the lower, where the lower is configured to be substantially positioned on an underside of the foot, and where the block of material extends upward at a front edge of the foot and terminates at a position on top of the toes of the foot to form a toe cap which at least partially encloses the toes of the foot; and a harness forming the upper and mounted on the lower, the harness comprising: a plurality of straps configured to maintain the foot on and in the lower, the plurality of straps comprising a medial strap coupled to the toe cap, a heel strap configured to maintain a heel of the foot in a lateral position by traversing the article of footwear at a position behind the heel, and a plurality of side straps attached to the lower, where the side straps include two side heel straps, one on each side of the article of footwear to connect the heel strap, the plurality of side straps further comprising at least six mid-section side straps, with three outside mid-section side straps extending from the lower along an outer side of the foot and three inside mid-section side straps extending from the lower along an inner side of the foot; and a plurality of lace-throughs to accommodate a lace, a lace-through coupled to the medial strap, a lace-through coupled to an inside mid-section side strap and one lace-through coupled to an outside mid-section side strap.