METHOD OF MAKING SIMULATED DENIM GARMENTS

Abstract

A method of making a simulated denim garment which comprises constructing a woven garment using dyeable warp yarns and non-dyeable weft yarns and dying the thus-constructed garment using a reduced liquid indigo dye or cotton dye. Cotton is a preferred warp yarn. Dyeable and non-dyeable materials may also be spun together to form a yarn, which can be dyed either in a yarn form or as constructed into a knitted garment.

Description

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing any knitted or woven textile fabric that, when dyed using reduced liquid blue Indigo dye, or other blue cotton dyes, will appear as the same color of blue indigo dyed denim having the following characteristics: Color fades over time; Fabrics can be chemically washed to achieve an ageing effect; light to deep shades are possible. The outside of the fabric is dyed, the inside is undyed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Woven blue indigo dyed denim fabrics are popular worldwide. The most popular products are jeans or denim jackets. A Wikipedia article refers to denim as follows:

“Denim a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. The twill weaving produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. Denim is available in a range of colors, but the most common denim is blue indigo denim in which the warp thread is dyed blue while the weft thread is left white.”

The denim is characterized by the fact that half of the fabric is blue indigo dyed, while the other half is white or non-dyed. The overall color, from the “exterior” side, shows as a blue color with white specks.

It is known to those skilled in the art that denim is produced using the woven method. The warp is produced by using blue indigo dyed cotton that is processed by feeding cotton rope through an elaborate and expensive indigo dye range using various amounts of dips to achieve the desirable shade. The rope of dyed cotton is separated into individual ends of dried yarn which are taken up on a beam. The beam of blue indigo dyed Cotton yarn is set up as a warp on a weaving machine. The process is completed when an undyed white yarn is used as a “fill” or weft to complete the weaving process.

Before this invention, blue indigo dyeing had to be processed using an indigo dye range. The present invention enables the manufacturing of any popular apparel fabrics or garments as it enables the option of by-passing the conventional indigo range.

Usually, the indigo dyed denim fabric is one-half colored warp yarns and one-half un-colored fill yarns. This can vary depending on the size of the yarn used and the desired weight of the fabric.

Present Indigo Dyeing Requires a High Capital Costs Investment

The conventional process requires expensive equipment, and denim fabric is mostly produced by integrated manufacturing facilities. These contain cotton spinning machines, indigo dye ranges and weaving machines. Refer to U.S. Pat. No. 11,208,559 B2 “Background” for more complete information.

Present Indigo Dyeing Causes Pollution and Great Volumes of Water Usage

Indigo Dye is not water soluble and must be reduced with toxic chemicals before it can be used to dye the cotton warp portion of the denim fabric. The denim industry uses over 45,000 tons of synthetic indigo a year

knitted fabrics, the cotton yarn ends will also equal the ends of polypropylene yarns, or any yarn that will not accept that will not accept reduced indigo dye or cotton dye.

EXAMPLE 2

Fabric Dyeing: When exposed to reduced liquid indigo dye or other cotton or cellulosic dye using conventional dye machines, 50% of the yarn (cotton) will absorb these dyes. The 50% polypropylene or undyeable portion will remain white. The resultant fabric will mimic the colored look of a woven indigo dyed blue denim fabric. Light to deep shades are made possible by varying the amount of dye. The concepts of the invention would include the construction of a knitted or woven greige fabric using dyeable and undyeable yarns as one component (for example warp yarns in a woven fabric), and non-dyeable yarns such as polyester or polypropylene as a second component (for example weft yarns in a woven fabric), and subsequently dyeing the fabric using blue reduced liquid indigo dye or other blue dyes that will dye cellulosic yarns (Cotton).

EXAMPLE 3

The dyeable and undyeable yarns of this invention, with an appropriate size such as 30/1, are knitted or woven on a conventional knitting or weaving machine to create a textile fabric. The fabric, or apparel garment made from the fabric, is dyed using reduced liquid indigo dye or other blue dye used to dye cellulosic in dye systems such as Garment dye, Beck Dye, Continuous dye machines. Note: blue reduced liquid indigo dye and cotton dyes are available from most major dye suppliers such as Archroma or DyStar.

EXAMPLE 4

Package Dyeing: A yarn of 50% cotton 50% polypropylene by weight is wound on a conventional dye spring. One skilled in the art of package dyeing will introduce a reduced liquid indigo dye, or conventional cotton dyes, into the package dye machine containing the yarn. The appropriate low temperature procedure is followed. The cotton portion of the yarn is dyed, and the polypropylene portion of the yarn remains white. This results in a “ring dyed” yarn like ring dyeing cotton on a conventional indigo dye range system. Package dyeing is commonly practiced by one skilled in the art.

EXAMPLE 5

An undyed yarn of this invention, comprising cotton (dyeable) and non-dyeable portions, is used to manufacture fabric. The fabric roll is fed to a continuous dye machine containing reduced liquid indigo dye. The cotton portion of the fabric will absorb the reduced indigo dye. The resultant fabric will contain the characteristics of a blue indigo dyed fabric.

EXAMPLE 6

Drying Temperatures: The last step of finishing a knitted or woven apparel fabric is drying using a tenter frame oven or a tumble-drying technique. The temperature must not exceed 295° F. This will ensure that the softness and bulk of the fabric will be retained. This step is performed by one skilled in the art of fabric drying & finishing.

While the example percentages of dyeable to non-dyeable components are frequently mentioned herein as being in equal (50-50) percentages, one skilled in the art may vary these percentages to suit desired outcomes. For example, either component may be increased to as much as 65% or reduced to as little as 35%, to achieve desired results, with the percentage of the other component being correspondingly reduced or increased.

EXAMPLE 7

A Denim Woven Fabric: Many ends of Cotton yarn are taken up on a beam and used as warp yarns to be fed to a conventional weaving machine. The fill yarn is a white polyester or polypropylene yarn. The machine is set to weave a 3×1 warp up. The resultant fabric is an undyed denim fabric. One skilled in the art of weaving would select yarn sizes necessary to create the desired weight and texture of the fabric. The fabric is fed to a conventional fabric dyeing machine. One skilled in the art of fabric dyeing would subject the fabric to a blue dye that will dye the cotton portion of the fabric. The synthetic portion will not dye and will remain white. The resultant denim fabric will appear as if it was constructed using the indigo dye range system. It could be used to manufacture Jeans, Jackets, or other desirable blue denim apparel items.

EXAMPLE 8

Black Dyed Denim: A popular Color for Denim apparel is black. This is achieved by one skilled in the art of dyeing. The fabric of the invention is introduced into a standard piece dying machine. Standard dye procedure for piece dyeing is followed using 5% OWG Remazol Black B 133% (Dystar). The result is a Denim fabric where the warp cotton portion is dyed black, and the polyester fill remains undyed. This simulates a conventional denim fabric produced using an expensive indigo dye range system.

EXAMPLE 9

Deep Blue Dyed Denim: Another popular color for Denim apparel is Blue. In fact, most jeans are blue in color. The fabric of this invention is introduced into a standard piece dyeing machine. Standard dye procedure for piece dyeing is followed by one skilled in the art of piece dyeing using 1.25% OWG Remazol Black B 13% combined with 1.25% OWG Levafix Royal Blue E-FR (Dystar) The result is a denim fabric where the warp cotton portion is dyed blue, and the polyester fill remains undyed. This simulates a conventional denim fabric produced using an expensive indigo dye range system.

The above dyes are suggested but one skilled in the art of dying could choose from a wide selection of dyes that will only dye cellulose fibers. These dyes are available from all major dye suppliers.

The following table shows the yarn sizes necessary to weave fabrics at different weights. Oz is weight per square yard. The warp contains 50% of the yarns in the fabric and the weft is the other 50%.

Weaving System: The percentage by weight depends on the size of the yarn contained in the fabric.

	Warp spun	Weft spun	Warp Filament	Weft Filament
Lt Weight
5-7 oz	15/1, 20/1, 30/1	15/1, 20/1. 30/1	350/1, 265/1, 177/1	350/1, 265/1. 177/1
Med Weight
7-11 oz	8/1, 10/1. 12/1	8/1, 10/1, 12/1	664/1, 531/1, 443/1	664/1, 531/, 443/1
Heavy Weight
11-16 oz	6/1, 8/1, 10/1	4/1, 6/1, 7/1	880/1, 664/1, 531/1,	1300/1, 900/1. 750/1

Knitting: The knitter can choose the proportion of yarn. He can alternate every other needle with dyeable and undyeable. Or put dyeable on every third end, etc.

The advantages of the invention are many and significant.

Reduced water and pollution: It is reported that it takes between 50 to 100 liters of water just to dye 1 pair of jeans. This water is full of toxic chemicals and is released into the environment. Proceeding according to the invention involves the use of only 1 to five liters of water per pair of jeans. This greatly reduces the use of water and results in much less hazardous pollutants.

Global Manufacture: Any textile manufacturer located anywhere in the world can manufacture and dye the fabric of this invention. The invention eliminates the need for special indigo dye range systems. The new denim simulation can be produced using existing fabric forming machines, eliminating the need for expensive specialty equipment. Various existing dye systems can be used, and various cut and sew systems are available. The fabric can be dyed using existing dye machines, and dyes that dye cotton are readily available from local dye sources. In the fabric of the invention, only the cotton portion dyes. Most cotton dyes are inexpensive and readily available. Fabric can be cut and sewn before color is applied, enabling Garment Dye systems to be employed. All fashion colors are achievable economically at low volumes.

Garment Dyeing: The advantages of Garment Dyeing previously cut and sewn apparel using the fabric of this invention is the fact that this method reduces inventories of finished products. For example, S, M, L, XL sizes for garments such as Jeans, Jackets, Shorts can be cut and sewn and then be Garment Dyed together in the proportion desired by each individual store. This is especially useful when supplying multiple stores in a big box chain. This substantially reduces requirements for finished goods inventories that have to be kept on hand.

Claims

1. The process of making a simulated denim fabric, which comprises providing a first set of yarns formed of cotton or other dyeable fiber,providing a second set of yarns formed of polyester, polypropylene or other non-dyeable fiber, andconstructing a fabric comprised of 35% to 65% of one of said yarns and 65% to 35% of the other of said yarns.

2. The process of claim 1, in which the thus-constructed fabric is thereafter dyed with a reduced liquid blue indigo dye.

3. The process of claim 1, in which said first set of yarns comprises warp yarns and said second set of yarns comprises weft yarns, andsaid yarns are woven to form said fabric.

4. The process of claim 3, in which the thus woven fabric is thereafter dyed using a reduced liquid blue indigo dye or a cotton dye.

5. The process of claim 1, in which said first and second sets of yarns are knitted to form a fabric.

6. The process of claim 5, in which the thus knitted fabric is thereafter dyed using a reduced liquid blue indigo dye or cotton dye.

7. The process of making indigo-dyed yarns which comprises, combining 65% to 35% by weight of cotton fiber with 35% to 65% by weight of non-dyeable fiber, anddyeing the combined yarns with a reduced liquid blue indigo dye.

8. The process of claim 7, in which said combined yarns, before dyeing are constructed into a garment, andthereafter the garment is dyed with said reduced liquid blue indigo dye.

9. The process of claim 7, in which said non-dyeable fiber is polypropylene,said cotton fiber and said polypropylene fiber are carded separately to form separate slivers if cotton and polypropylene,the separate slivers are combined at a draw frame and thereafter spun into a yarn.