US Patent 7703221 Sole assembly

A sole assembly suitable for use in footwear, the sole assembly including a flexible base (12) having an underside surface (13) which includes a forward region (31), a rearward region (32) and an intermediate region (33) therebetween. The sole assembly further includes a plurality of individual sole elements (14) on the underside surface, each element including a body section (15) and a connecting section (17) which is operatively secured to the underside surface (13) of the flexible base (12), the sole elements (14) being arranged on the underside surface of the flexible base such that at least some of the body sections (15) of adjacent sole elements have overlapping sections.