Patent 6898870 was granted and assigned to Nike, Inc. on May, 2005 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The invention is an article of footwear having one or more support elements disposed in the sole. At least one of the support elements includes an aperture that increase the compliance of the sole. By selecting a specific aperture configuration for each support element, the compliance of each area of the footwear may be adjusted to conform to the demands of a particular application for the footwear. In addition, the footwear may include one or more plugs that are removably-received by the apertures to provide the wearer with control over the compliance characteristics of the sole.