The Outsole: The Ronnie Woods of shoe construction?

In part 3 of our series deconstructing the shoe, we look at the outsole, the poor cousin to the upper and midsole.

The outsole is kinda like Ronnie Woods of the Rolling Stones. He has all the chops and does all the hard work, but Keith Richards gets the credit! I bet most people think of the outsole as primarily the shoe component responsible for grip. Granted this is a big and important role, but the humble outsole is, and can be a lot more than that.