Patent Application
20220378133
The present invention relates to methods of accessorizing articles of clothing and, more particularly, a method of threading an elongated cord through an elongated internal passageway of a wearable article.
Threading an elongated cord or drawstring through an elongated internal passageway of an article of clothing, especially the channel associated with upper garments with hoods (colloquially known as “hoodies”) can be tedious, time-consuming, and prohibitively frustrating.
Thus, losing the drawstrings can be a death sentence for the hoodie, unless the user chooses to wear the garment without the drawstring (which is a critical component of the article's aesthetic, and also functions to tighten the face-opening of the hood), buy a new hoodie, or borrow another drawstring or devise a makeshift drawstring and suffer through the aforementioned frustration of threading the drawstring through the elongated internal passageway of the hoodie.
Additionally, as social distancing and mask-wearing imposed by COVID-19 restrictions has taught, non-verbal expression is something to be valued and promoted. Accordingly, the inventor realized that using different drawstrings on one's hoodie can be an effective method of broadcasting one's mood. The inventor surmises the effect that varying one's hoodie drawstring has on observers is a function of how notoriously tedious it is to thread the drawstring through the hood' cord passageway. As a result, continuously interchanging or swapping out the drawstring of a hood is an effective way of conveying one's changing mood; for instance, one color of drawstring conveys a happy mood, while other colors convey other feelings, including possibly complex feelings that are hard to articulate. Unfortunately, heretofore it would be an unenviable chore to repeatedly interchange the drawstring or cord through any elongated channel of any wearable article (be it an article of clothing or wearable pack), due to the article being made out of fabric or material that has inherent ‘give’ or slack and having intrinsic pliability or stretch.
As can be seen, there is a need for a method of threading an elongated cord through an elongated internal passageway of a wearable article. The method embodied in the present invention includes an elongated threading instrument selectively engageable near or with one end of the drawstring. The instrument has an elongated stem and an arcuate head, wherein the arcuate head engages the leading end of the drawstring threaded, stem-first, through the elongated passageway.
Thereby facilitating the threading process and thus facilitating interchanging drawstrings expeditiously, enabling a wearer to quickly swap out different drawstrings to express themselves differently from time to time.
The present invention allows wearers of hoodies or other wearable articles with elongated internal channels for slidably receiving elongated cords, in effect, the freedom to design their own hoodie, expressing their personal mood several times a week or day. Furthermore, the present invention enables hoodie wears to not have to buy new hoodies when they lose a drawstring as the present invention may be configured as a kit with the threading instrument combined with a plurality of differently colored and/or designed drawstrings that can replace missing drawstrings.
In one aspect of the present invention, a method of threading an elongated cord through an elongated internal passageway of a wearable article, the method includes the following: engaging a threading instrument with a leading end of the elongated cord, wherein the threading instrument has the following: an elongated stem extending between a distal end and a proximal end; the proximal end having an arcuate head, the arcuate head having a discontinuous eyelet defining a slot; the slot and the elongated cord mutually dimensioned so a portion of a length of the elongated cord is prevented from sliding through the slot in an absence of urging; and sliding said portion of the length of the elongated cord through the slot; and the method further includes threading the distal end through a first aperture of the elongated internal passageway, wherein the engagement of the threading instrument with the leading end is form between the discontinuous eyelet and a knot of the leading end, wherein the knot and the discontinuous eyelet are mutually dimensioned in such a way to prevent the knot sliding through an opening defined by the discontinuous eyelet, wherein the elongated internal passageway has a length-to-width ratio of greater than ten.
In another aspect of the present invention, a threading assembly provides the following: an elongated cord having a leading end; an elongated stem extending between a distal end and a proximal end; the proximal end having an arcuate head, the arcuate head having a discontinuous eyelet defining a slot; and the slot and the elongated cord mutually dimensioned so a portion of a length of the elongated cord is prevented from sliding through the slot in an absence of urging, wherein the discontinuous eyelet and a knot of the leading end are engaged, wherein the knot and the discontinuous eyelet are mutually dimensioned in such a way to prevent the knot sliding through an opening defined by the discontinuous eyelet, wherein the elongated cord has a length-to-width ratio of greater than ten.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a kit for threading one of a plurality of elongated cords through an elongated internal passageway of a wearable article, the kit includes the following: a threading assembly providing the following: an elongated stem extending between a distal end and a proximal end; the proximal end having an arcuate head, the arcuate head having a discontinuous eyelet defining a slot; and the slot and the elongated cord mutually dimensioned so a portion of a length of the elongated cord is prevented from sliding through the slot in an absence of urging; and the plurality of elongated cords, wherein each elongated cord has a design indicium distinguishable from one or more of the plurality of elongated cords, wherein the wearable article is an upper garment, and wherein the elongated internal passageway is along a periphery of a hood of the upper garment.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims.
The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.
Broadly, an embodiment of the present invention provides a threading instrument for sliding an elongated cord or drawstring through an elongated internal passageway of a wearable article, and a method of using the same. The present invention incorporates the threading instrument in a kit along with a plurality of different design drawstrings(and possibly the wearable article). In the kit, each drawstring is adapted to be threaded through the elongated internal passageway by way of the threading instrument. The kit enables a user to more efficiently than the prior art to interchange the drawstrings through the elongated internal passageway of the wearable article, thereby enabling an expeditious and selectively swap out of the drawstring, whereby they can use the different drawstrings to convey different messages/moods when desired.
Referring now to
Referring to
Critically, the threading instrument 12b engages a leading end of the cord 12 through the above-mentioned sliding of a portion of the length of the cord 12 therethrough and then sliding the eyelet 20 up to a knot 12c at the end of the cord 12. The knot 12c and eyelet 20 are dimensioned and adapted so that the knot 12c cannot slide through the eyelet 20. This combination and/or arrangement is the threading assembly 10.
Referring to
The wearable article 10 may be a hooded sweatshirt having a garment body with sleeves, and a neck opening communicating to a face opening by way of a hood. Again, it being understood that the wearable article 10 could be a lower garment wherein the elongated internal passageway 11c is along, say, a waist-opening of a waistline. Or the wearable article 10 could be a backpack or the like.
The threading instrument 12b may be made out of any sufficiently rigid and durable material. The stem 16 may be one or more inches long and have a cross sectional width of one inch or less. The arcuate head 18 may have a cross sectional width of one inch or less. The eyelet 20 may define an opening having a diameter of one inch or less. The slot 22 may be one-quarter of an inch or less and/or complimentary of the width of the cord 12 so as to function as disclosed herein. The elongated internal passageway 11c may have a length of two or more inches and have a finite cross-sectional width.
The present invention may be configured as a kit 14 comprising a plurality of differently designed cords 14a, each with different design indicia 14b, and the threading instrument 12b.
As used in this application, the term “about” or “approximately” refers to a range of values within plus or minus 10% of the specified number.
It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.
