Patent ID: 8359769

Claim:
An article of footwear, comprising: an outsole; an upper attached to the outsole, the upper defining a cavity for receiving a wearer's foot and including a tongue; and a chimney structure disposed along the tongue of the upper, the chimney structure comprising a series of chimneys, each of the chimneys including a pair of sidewalls, a continuous endwall connecting the sidewalls and an open side opposite the endwall, wherein the sidewalls, the endwall and the open side define an elongated pathway between first and second ends of the respective chimney, the open side of the pathway facing into the cavity and disposed generally adjacent the wearer's foot during wear, wherein the first end of the chimney pathway is disposed at a lower end of the tongue and the second end of the chimney pathway is disposed at an upper end of the tongue, wherein the chimneys ventilate heat or moisture from within the cavity upward along the lengths of the respective chimneys and out of the respective second ends thereof to outside the article of footwear, and wherein the series of chimneys is a first series of chimneys and the chimney structure further comprises a second series of chimneys, each of the second series of chimneys including a pair of sidewalls, an endwall connecting the sidewalls and an open side opposite the endwall, wherein the sidewalls, the endwall and the open side define a pathway between first and second ends of the respective chimney, and wherein the second series of chimneys faces away from the cavity.