The invention relates to a sole for footwear having a structure for minimizing injury to the wearer from twisting or turning movements which may occur during sporting activities, and/or for enhancing performance by assisting rotational movement of the foot. A first invention is a shoe sole comprises a turntable within the sole and connected thereto by a resilient web which provides a seal between the periphery of the turntable and sole. The web is resiliently deformable in response to rotation of the turntable in either direction from a rest position to apply resilient bias to restore the turntable towards it rest position. There may be additional biasing means. There are ten further disclosures of the turntable involving: using glue to fix the turntable and to provide the seal and resilient bias; a separate turntable having a wiper seal with the sole and additional biasing means; means for limiting the extent of the rotational movement; coil and leaf springs and interengaging portions of the sole and turntable to provide the resilient bias; a circular race of ball bearings to support the turntable; multiple turntables; means for fixing cleats or studs to the turntable. A second invention is a sole having annular rows of deformable fins which permit limited rotation of the sole.

Method 10 discloses a process for creating a pair of athletic shoes having cleats thereon. The process is comprised of taking a first pair of athletic shoes 14 and removing a portion of the sole having cleats therein, the selectively removed portion hereinafter referred to as the cleat plate 22. Then taking a second pair of shoes 18 designated by the user for which shoes they desire to have cleats thereon and creating a cavity 30 within the soles of the second pair of shoes, the cavity conforming substantially to the dimensions of the cleat plate 22, and fixedly attaching the cleat plate to the respective sole by means of fasteners 24, 26 such as screws and/or adhesive 28 that bonds to rubber and plastic surfaces.

A shoe having a selectively rotating cleat assembly mounted to the sole of the shoe below the ball of a wearer's foot. The rotating cleat assembly includes a core that mates with and is held in rotatable engagement by a recess in the sole of the shoe. The rotating cleat assembly is free to rotate relative to the sole when the force of impact with a playing surface is substantially normal to a central rotation axis of the cleat assembly. The rotating cleat assembly locks relative to the sole of the shoe when the force of impact with a playing surface is a predetermined angle from the central rotation axis for a given force.

A shoe sole includes a rotatable pivot assembly to allow easy pivoting of a ball region of a shoe. The shoe sole includes a pivot cavity defined by an upper plate support surface and a lower plate support surface having an aperture therein. A rotatable pivot assembly includes a pivot plate and a sole element attached thereto. The pivot plate is pivotally constrained within the pivot cavity and the sole element extends through the aperture in the pivot cavity to define an exterior contact surface. Preferably contacting surfaces of the pivot plate and upper plate support surface are formed of a low coefficient of friction material to allow easy rotation of the pivot plate within the cavity. Because the assembly can be made thin with minimal parts, it results in a structure that substantially retains the look, feel and balance of a normal shoe while being able to achieve improved pivot action. The shoe sole is particularly advantageous when incorporated into an athletic shoe or a work shoe for activities that require repeated pivotal movement.

A binding includes an upper attachment connected to a boot, a lower attachment connected to a board, a coupler attached to one of the upper and lower attachments, and a coupling mount attached to the other of the upper and lower attachments. The coupling mount and the coupler are configured to automatically engage with each other to lock the upper attachment to the lower attachment when a user wearing the boot steps onto the lower attachment and to permit rotation of the upper attachment relative to the lower attachment when the upper attachment is locked to the lower attachment. A release actuator is actuated to disengage the coupler and the coupling mount. A lock locks the boot in a selected rotary position relative to the board. The coupler includes a collar and a sleeve positioned within the collar. The collar is rotatable relative to the sleeve.