Patent ID: 7308928

Claim:
A method, comprising: juxtaposing a first footwear component negative and a first template, wherein the first footwear component negative includes a three dimensional model of a portion of a mold element for molding a lower surface of a right shoe component, and wherein the first template is a three dimensional model of an attachment tab; creating a lower right casting mold based on the juxtaposed first footwear component negative and first template; casting a lower right mold element using the lower right casting mold, the lower right mold element having an attachment tab; juxtaposing a second footwear component negative and a second template, wherein the second footwear component negative includes a three dimensional model of a portion of a mold element for molding an upper surface of the right shoe component, and wherein the second template is a three dimensional model of an attachment tab; creating an upper right casting mold based on the juxtaposed second footwear component negative and second template; casting a metal upper right mold element using the upper right casting mold, the upper right mold element having an attachment tab and further having a first surface defining at least a portion of a mold volume for molding the right shoe component; juxtaposing a third footwear component negative and a third template, wherein the third footwear component negative includes a three dimensional model of a portion of a mold element for molding a lower surface of a left shoe component, and wherein the third template is a three dimensional model of an attachment tab; creating a lower left casting mold based on the juxtaposed third footwear component negative and third template; casting a lower left mold element using the lower left casting mold, the lower left mold element having an attachment tab; juxtaposing a fourth footwear component negative and a fourth template, wherein the fourth footwear component negative includes a three dimensional model of a portion of a mold element for molding an upper surface of the left shoe component, and wherein the fourth template is a three dimensional model of an integrally cast attachment member; creating an upper left casting mold based on the juxtaposed fourth footwear component negative and fourth template; casting a metal upper left mold element using the upper left casting mold, the upper left mold element having the integrally cast attachment member and further having a second surface defining at least a portion of a mold volume for molding the left shoe component and an integrally cast attachment member; joining the attachment tabs of the lower left and lower right mold elements; and permanently joining the integrally cast attachment member of the upper left mold element to a portion of the upper right mold element, said permanently joining including joining the integrally cast attachment member to the attachment tab of the upper right mold element.