PROCESS FOR DRUM STAINED SHOES

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention in general relate to a process of manufacturing footwear and more particularly to an improved process of manufacturing footwear from specially treated white crust leather.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the conventional footwear manufacturing process, finished leather of required color is used, for cutting upper components and stitching them together to make footwear. This existing practice of using finished leather in making footwear and/or shoes leads to waste of resources. Firstly, a substantial quantity of finished leather is lost in the process. Further, the associated dyes that are used in making the finished leather are also lost simultaneously with the loss of finished leather. Thus, all the resources that are utilized in finishing the leather, which is wasted, are also wasted as a result. When compared to the amount of production of footwear such loss of resource is quite substantial. Thus, there has always been a need in the Industry to find a process, which will overcome said problem.

Further, reducing the loss of leather is also a need in the Industry for environmental reasons. The electricity and water used in manufacture of finished leather is also wasted and is a cause of concern.

The footwear made out of finished leather by conventional techniques lack the richness and depth of color found in leather after finishing steps. The finished leather loses its soft character during upper making operations like fusing. The shine and shade of the finished leather is also affected by upper making operations and handling making shoes made out of finished leather less attractive to customers.

Accordingly, there is a long felt need to provide a process for manufacturing footwear, which would overcome the above-mentioned concerns in the industry in general and would check the loss of finished leather and dyes as mentioned, in particular. The footwear in accordance with the present invention meets the aforesaid long felt needs and other associated needs.

All through out the specification including the claims, the words "footwear", "shoe", "leather", "dye", "drum", "stain", "tanning", "lasting", "stone washing", "de-lasting", " lacing", and "abrasive brushing" are to be interpreted in the broadest sense of the respective terms and includes all similar items in the field known by other terms, as may be clear to persons skilled in the industry. Restriction/Limitation if any, referred to in the specification, is solely by way of example and understanding the present invention. Furthermore, it should be understood that the term footwear is not limited to shoes only, as referred to in the specification for the sake of understanding.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a process for manufacturing footwear from white crust leather, such that loss of finished leather is substantially reduced with consequential reduction in loss of dyes.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a process for manufacturing footwear, which substantially lowers the loss of valuable resources in finished leather manufacture like water, electricity.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a simplified process for manufacturing footwear.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process for manufacturing footwear, which involves liberty to choose any color for footwear not limited by the color of finished leather.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a process for manufacturing footwear, which helps to preserve it from microbial action.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process for manufacturing footwear, where the requirement for cream application during shoe making is done away with.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a process for manufacturing footwear, which is environment friendly.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a stain burnished footwear manufactured by an improved process, such that the objectives as above are fulfilled.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide softness to the stain burnished footwear in its finished form.

How the foregoing objects are achieved and the other aspects of the present invention will be clear from the following description, which is purely by way of understanding and not by way of any sort of limitation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention discloses an improved process for making a footwear, said process comprising steps of:

- cutting components from white crust leather;

- stitching upper;

- staining said upper in a dye bath, suitably prepared for that purpose;

- controlled drying of upper so stained and

- making final footwear, in the manner such as herein described.

In accordance with preferred embodiments of the process of the present invention:

- said step of making final footwear comprises the steps of staining said upper followed by controlled drying thereof, lasting said upper, wax brushing said upper so lasted, subsequent abrasive brushing said upper, attaching sole to said upper, followed by de-lasting, cleaning and sock attaching, cotton brushing, lacing and woolen brushing, for making finished footwear;

- said staining comprises treating stitched upper in a drum dye bath;

- said dye bath comprises of Dye solution, Fungicide, Softener, Fixing and Burnishing, said staining includes treating the upper in said dye bath, at a suitable drum speed, relative humidity, temperature and for an optimally effective duration;

- said white crust leather is combination tanned applying, Zirconium salt and vegetable tannins prior to cutting components therefrom; said footwear is a shoe.

The present invention further discloses a stain burnished footwear made from white crust leather, the process comprising steps of: cutting components from specially treated white crust leather; stitching upper; staining said upper in a dye bath, suitably prepared for that purpose; controlled drying of upper so stained and making final footwear, in the manner such as herein described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING

The nature and scope of the present invention will be better understood from the accompanying drawing, which is by way of illustration of a preferred embodiment and not by way of any sort of limitation. In the accompanying drawing,

Fig 1 illustrates a flow diagram of the process for manufacturing footwear according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following describes a preferred embodiment of the present invention, which is purely for the sake of understanding the present invention and not by way of any sort of limitation.

The present invention relates to manufacture of footwear from white crust leather by staining only the upper. The starting material for making footwear in the present invention is specially treated white crust leather and not finished leather as existing in the Industry. The upper is cut and dyed separately after suitable cutting operations and thus no wastage of finished leather occurs as in the conventional footwear making process. This process also results in cutting down loss of valuable dye solution along with the wasted finished leather. Further, waste of valuable resources like water, electricity is also saved in the present process.

The conventional footwear manufacturing uses finished leathers of required color for cutting upper components, stitching them together and lasting as shoes. Conventional dyestuff like acid dye, direct dye, metal complex dye etc is used in the leather dyeing process.

The existing practice of using finished leathers for shoe making leads to waste of resources. A casual dress shoe made of buff leather with 12 components had 0.919 sqft of unavoidable leather wastage. For example an existing consumer article has the following attributes:

A - Net area - 2.320 sq. ft.
B - Allowance leather size - 11.69% - 0.2712 sq. ft.
C - Leather Co-eff allowance - 80% - 0.6478 sq. ft.
Norms - A + B+C = 3.239 sq. ft.
Total allowance - 0.919 sq. ft.

The quantity of chemicals used to dye the allowance of 0.919 sq. ft. is also wasted.

In the conventional footwear manufacturing process, certain amount of finishing is required at the end of footwear making process due to loss of shine/gloss during handling and processing, adding to the dye chemical consumption. Hence the total potential dye chemical consumption is very high. Further, the richness and the depth of the color found in the finished leathers are not retained in the final product.

Figure 1 illustrates a flow diagram of the process for manufacturing footwear from white crust leather according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure the starting element of the process for making footwear according to the present invention is specially treated white crust leather. There is no technology available for manufacturing stain burnish shoes from white crust leather, according to the best of information available to the applicant.

Components are cut out in shape from white crust leather which needs to be specially tanned. The upper is then stitched in an appropriate manner with the white crust lining leather. After the completion of the stitching, the upper is made ready for dyeing.

The dye bath of desired colour is prepared by using the relevant dyes mix with water and then it's added on top with a burnish wax and then fixing done in the final stage.

A typical dye bath has the following composition:

Water - 10 liters
Dye solution - Depends on the final colour
Fungicide - 100 gm
Softener - 150 ml
Fixing - 150 ml
Burnishing - 200 ml

The leather used for the said footwear is combination tanned using Zirconium salts and Vegetable tannins. The Zirconium and Vegetable extracts are used to get the desired result. These are the natural tanning agents and unlike the regular chrome tanning agents and environmental friendly.

The process used for tanning the white crust leather is as follows:

Buff Wet Blue - Split and shave for 1.4 -1.6 mm

Wet blue to Crusting as follows:

Wet drum - Wet back, Degreasing, Bleaching, Rechroming, Neutralization, White retanning (Retanning agent which gives burnishing effect and whitening effect), Fatliquoring, Fixing.

Machinery Operation - Samming, Grain Setting, Hook Dry, Staking, Trimming Assortment, Measuring.

White leather used as the starting material is manufactured by the above mentioned process. The white crust leather needs to be specially tanned by the above mentioned process prior to cutting out in shape.

The white crust leather prepared by the above process is cut and stitched as uppers as stated before. The stitched uppers are drum stained in the dye bath consisting of dye solution, fungicide, softener, burnish at a drum speed of approximately 9 r.p.m., with temperature of around 38°C to 40°C and for an optimally effective duration of around 5 to 10 min. The stated data are exemplary in nature and should not be considered to be limiting as would be understood by persons skilled in art.

Subsequent to dyeing, the upper is dried at room temperature in a controlled manner. The upper undergoes controlled natural drying. The drum stain burnished upper is lasted within 24 hours. The lasted upper is passed through a heat chamber. The lasted upper is roughed in preparation for sole attaching. Before attaching, wax brushing of the upper is carried out. A combination of wax and abrasive brushing is used to enhance the richness of the tone and the burnish effect.

The various processes are carried out as disclosed in the non-limiting figure 1.

The steps are followed by subsequent sole attaching and sole pressing of the footwear. The footwear is then chilled and de-lasted. Cleaning and socks attaching steps follows to result in near finishing of the footwear. In the final finishing steps the footwear is cotton brushed, laced and woolen brushed to be brought in to ready to be packed state and/or the final finished footwear.

The dye composition is suitably selected to impart the desired colour to the finished shoe/footwear.

The starting material being while crust leather, wastage of finished leather is substantially reduced. Further, the stain dyeing of upper is done during the course of the manufacturing process, so that cutting finished upper from finished leather is not required. Additionally, the application of the dye according to the invention substantially reduces wastage of dye during the dyeing process as known in conventional methods.

The following are the non-limiting advantages of the present invention:

1. Prevents loss of finished leather and loss of dye.

2. Production of footwear with richness in color from white crust leather.

3. Imparts softness and fullness to white crust leather.

4. Environment friendly due to lesser dye / chemical consumption.

5. Environment friendly due to less electricity and water consumption.

6. Requirement for finishing the end product to revive its shine and aesthetic look is done away with.

7. Shoe of desired colour can be obtained starting from white crust leather, thus the requirement for starting with desired coloured finished leather for making shoes, is done away with.

From the description hereinbefore and from the appended claims it would be clear to persons skilled in the industry that all the objectives of the invention are achieved.
The present invention has been described with reference to some drawings and a preferred embodiment, purely for the sake of understanding and not by way of any limitation and the present invention includes all legitimate developments within the scope of what has been described herein before and claimed in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An improved process for making a footwear, said process comprising steps of:

cutting components from white crust leather;

stitching upper;

staining said upper in a dye bath, suitably prepared for that purpose;

controlled drying of upper so stained and making final footwear, in the manner such as herein described.

2. The process for making footwear as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said step of making final footwear comprises the steps of staining said upper followed by controlled drying thereof, lasting said upper, wax brushing said upper so lasted, subsequent abrasive brushing said upper, attaching sole to said upper, followed by de-lasting, cleaning and sock attaching, cotton brushing, lacing and woolen brushing, for making finished footwear.

3. The process for making footwear as claimed in claim 1, wherein said staining comprises treating stitched upper in a drum dye bath.

4. The process for making footwear as claimed in claims 1 to 3, wherein said white crust leather is combination tanned applying, Zirconium salt and vegetable tannins prior to cutting components therefrom.

5. The process for making footwear as claimed in claim 3, wherein said dye bath comprises of Dye solution, Fungicide, Softener, Fixing and Burnishing, said staining includes treating the upper in said dye bath, at a suitable drum speed, relative humidity, temperature and for an optimally effective duration.

6. A stain burnish footwear made from white crust leather, the process comprising steps of:

cutting components from specially treated white crust leather; stitching upper;

staining said upper in a dye bath, suitably prepared for that purpose; controlled drying of upper so stained and making final footwear, in the manner such as herein described.

7. The footwear as claimed in claim 6 wherein said footwear is a shoe.