Patent Application
20140259279
Athletes look for every edge possible to compete at a higher level. Advances in sports clothing and equipment technology provide numerous advantages on the playing field. Basketball players stay agile on the court with better gripping shoes, lineman wear tighter jerseys so their opponents cannot easily control them, and soccer players opt for jerseys made of lightweight fabrics that keep them drier during games. By providing physical advantageous like being agile, harder to graph, and drier, athletically optimized clothing incidentally helps players remain calm and confident during competition. Sports often require just as much psychological intensity as physical, so anything that keeps an athlete calm under pressure can go a long way in helping the athlete compete.
Collars and seams on athletic apparel present unique opportunities for improvement. When jerseys are worn, collars typically rest in the bottom groove of an athlete's neck, an area prone to collect and pool sweat flowing down the athlete's neck. As a result, collars generally absorb larger amounts of athlete sweat than other portions of a jersey—like the baggier area in front of the stomach. Jerseys and pants are conventionally manufactured by sewing different portions of fabric together at a seam. Resultant seams can be uncomfortable or irritable, especially around the neck and shoulder regions.
Athletic apparel can be a fiercely competitive area of business, so designers strive to develop brand recognition as their technologies advance. Placing a company's logo on shirts and jerseys is commonplace today. The collar and seams of a shirt, however, are somewhat more difficult areas to showcase logos or advertisements because collars may wrinkle and seams do not always lay flat. Today's sporting events may be watched by millions, but much of an athlete's clothing, when worn, is not ideal for placing a logo or advertisement because the clothing's material is not very rigid. Collars, for example, do not always lie flat so anything printed thereon becomes difficult for a fan to see when the player's moving. As brand-recognition becomes more important to every business, advertiser, manufacturer, and team, clothing becomes another place for marketing.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. Instead, it is provided to explain several different examples of the present invention, but not all examples possible. Thus, this summary should not be relied on to limit claimed subject matter.
One aspect of the invention is directed to a shirt with multiple with multiple connectors attached, using, for example, a heat-transfer technique, around the neck and shoulder regions. Connectors are positioned atop or beneath portions of the shirt, and either a heat or cold press is used to infuse the connectors to the shirt around the collar and/or shoulder regions. A front neck connector spans the perimeter of the shirt's collar around the front. A back neck connector follows the perimeter of the collar around the back of the shirt. Two shoulder connectors traverse the tops of the shirt's shoulder regions along seams and meet with the front and back neck connectors to form a continuous collar of connectors around the collar. The connectors meet, in one example, by arcuately convex ends of the front and back neck connectors being received—or abutting against—arcuately concave ends of the shoulder connectors. Other examples may form a continuous collar with the connectors using shapes, cuts, or configurations of the connector ends, as well as interlocking pieces—e.g., tongue-and-groove, dovetail, or the like. Collars in various embodiments of the invention provide a smooth contact with a wearer's skin, as well as tantalizing visual appeal.
Connectors may include different materials that, when heated-pressed or cold-pressed, meld with fabric of a shirt to become a permanent affixation. For example, the connectors may be cut, molded, or fashioned out of silicone, thermoplastics polyurethane (“TPU”), thermoplastic, elastomer, rubber, plastic, foam, or some other heat-sensitive material. Additionally, connectors may include electrically conductive or piezoelectric materials capable of generating voltage and current from a wearer's kinetic movement.
Another aspect of the invention deals with affixing shirt portions to connectors and thus alleviating shirt seams that would be formed by sewing or stitching the two portions together. Fabric of a shirt's front portion is attached to a shoulder connector, as is fabric from the shirt's back portion. Using a heat-transfer technique, attaching both portions to the shoulder connectors creates the shirt from the two portions of fabric in a way without seams from stitching or sewing.
The present invention is described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:
The subject matter described herein is presented with specificity to meet statutory requirements. The description herein, however, is not intended to limit the scope of this patent. Instead, it is contemplated that the claimed subject matter might also be embodied in other ways, to include different steps or combinations of steps similar to the ones described in this document, in conjunction with other present or future technologies.
In general, the present invention is directed to a shirt with a specialized collar and trims that are attached using a heat-transfer technique. The shirt may be manufactured in several portions that are then assembled together. Front and back portions of the shirt are attached to connecters that follow the perimeter of the shirt's collar and also along the left and right shoulders from the neck to arm regions. The connecters may include different materials, such as silicone, for example but without limitation, TPU, thermoplastic, elastomer, rubber, plastic, foam, or the like. Different indicia (e.g., company or team logos, advertisements, names, etc.) may be added to the connecters along the shoulders or collar to provide rigidly flat surfaces for effective display.
Attaching the collar and trim using a heat-transfer technique produces a smoother surface along the collar and trim for contacting a wearer's skin. For example, other traditional collars may some sort of stitching or sewing that can scratch, rub, or otherwise irritate a wearer. The collars and trim of the present invention, when attached, lie flat across wearers' skin, providing a more comfortable fit. The collars and trim also provide an enhanced visual effect by giving a place for logos, advertisements, and other indicia to be prominently displayed. For instance, a collar may include a particular team logo, city, or other indication synonymous with the wearer's team.
Assembling the front and back portions to each other may be done in various ways. Some examples of the present invention may use a heat press to meld, or infuse, the connectors to the front and back portions of the shirt. Other portions of the shirt may be sewn or stitched together. Additionally or alternatively, the connectors may be melded to the front and back portions of the shirt using a cold heat transfer or other low-temperature transfer—such as the vinyl heat transfers created by Avery Dennison®, or the like. The topmost edges (i.e., the edges covering the top of a person's shoulder) of the front and back portions may be melded using a heat-transfer technique to connecters spanning the neck of the shirt to the sleeve, as well as to the front and back portions. While the examples described herein mention a shirt's front and back portions that are separate pieces, some examples may simply use one piece that is connected along one side.
Heat-transfer techniques refer to the use of different temperatures to heat or cool connector materials and/or shirt material so that the two bond to each other. In other words, fusion of the two materials occurs as either or both of the materials are heated or cooled while placed in contact with one another. Some embodiments may also apply pressure in addition to heating or cooling to meld the connectors to the shirt material. Also, while embodiments discussed herein refer to the connectors being heated or cooled, some embodiments may alternatively apply a heat-transfer technique directly to the shirt's material instead of directly to the connectors to fuse the two together.
For the sake of clarity, it should be noted that examples described herein reference different locations or areas of a shirt as if a person were wearing the shirt. The “inside” refers to the internal surface of the shirt that would touch a wearer's skin when the shirt is on. Conversely, the “outside” refers to the surface of the shirt facing away from the wearer's body. The “back” of the shirt is the side that would typically include a shirt tag. While the “front” is the side opposite the shirt tag.
While shirt 100 illustrates an example of the present invention where connectors are attached to the outside of a shirt or jersey, other examples may position connectors to the inside using the heat-transfer technique. In one example, back neck connector 106, front neck connector 108, right shoulder connector 110, and left shoulder connector 112 are positioned inside shirt 100. Alternatively, only some of the connectors (e.g., back neck connector 106 and front neck connector 108) are inside shirt 100 while others (e.g., right shoulder connector 110 and left shoulder connector 112) are outside. In other words, any of the connectors may be positioned inside or outside in different examples of the present invention.
Connectors may be attached to shirt 100 using a heat-transfer technique and a other traditional ways for manufacturing a shirt, such as sewing, stitching, using an adhesive, pressing, or otherwise adhering the connectors to shirt 100. To attach connectors, fabric of shirt 100 may be overlapped over an edge of the connectors. For example, back portion 102 may overlap back neck connector 106 to the inside, and front neck connector 108 may overlap front portion 104 to the outside. Alternatively, connectors may be attached such that edges of the connectors parallel edges of the shirt 100. For example, back neck connector 106 may be pressed onto shirt 100 and then trimmed to parallel the top of shirt 100's collar.
Each of the illustrated connectors (back neck connector 106, front neck connector 108, right shoulder connector 110, and left shoulder connector 112) may be made out of different materials that aid the heat-transfer process. Examples include, without limitation, silicone, TPU, vinyl, thermoplastic, elastomers, rubbers, plastics, foams, or the like. Such materials help make heat transferring possible, and using a heat transfer instead of methods for connecting shirt 100 together—e.g., solely sewing or stitching—can streamline the shirt-manufacturing process by not requiring specialized personnel and machinery to sew or stitch items together.
Although different materials of connectors 106, 108, 110, and 112 have been described, it should be understood and appreciated that other materials may alternatively be used, and that the present invention is not limited to materials described herein. For instance, examples of the present invention contemplate connectors with reflective materials or different types of taping. It should therefore be understood that the materials mentioned herein are not an exhaustive list.
Equally important to note is the fact that different examples may include additional connectors positioned at various locations as well. While
Any of the connectors may be marked with an indicia 114, which may illustrate a team, logo, company, brand, advertiser, or the like. Indicia 114 may have just as easily been positioned on any of the other connectors. The connectors are ideal places for image or indicia marking because the connectors are generally rigid, flat-laying surfaces relative to the fabric of shirt 100.
While ends of connectors are illustrated as arcuately convex and concave ends, other ends may alternatively or additionally used. The ends may be straight, angled, interlocked, interleaved (e.g., dovetail, tongue-and-groove, or the like), or otherwise connected to create the continuous collar. Many different types of interlocking connective protrusions and receptacles may be used, too many in fact to discuss herein at length. Other examples may not have ends actually intersect or touch one another, instead leaving gaps between different connectors. It should therefore be understood and appreciated that different examples will position the connectors in different orientations using various ends, while other examples may connectors that do not touch or intersect with each other.
As shown at 702, a first portion of a shirt is oriented adjacent to a second portion. For example, the shoulder edge of a front portion of a shirt may be lined up with the shoulder edge of a back portion, either by a human or by a mechanized device. A connector is placed either atop or below the first and second portions of the shirt where the two meet, as shown at 704. A heat-transfer is performed to meld the connector to the shirt, as shown at 706. As previously mentioned, the heat-transfer may apply heat, cold, pressure, or a combination thereof to ensure fusion of the connector with the first and second portions of the shirt. Decision box 708 indicates that connectors may need to be melded to the shirt at different connection points (e.g., the opposite shoulder, along side portions, etc.), and if so, steps 702-706 are repeated for each connection point. If no more connection points are needed, the shirt is removed from or passed along to other production areas, as shown at 710.
The present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments, which are intended in all respects to illustrate rather than restrict. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art that do not depart from its scope. Many alternative embodiments exist, but are not included because of the nature of this invention.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Instead, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
