1. Field of the Invention
The present system relates generally to a personal clothing-management-system kit and method for the ongoing, self-driven organization of personal clothing items. Particularly, the system and associated method of use relate to the ongoing process of gently determining at one's own time and own comfort level, what pieces of one's clothing items to keep, discard, and/or donate, and separate any kept pieces that require mending or ironing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a culture where more options are haled as better than fewer, and status is heavily influenced by a person's appearance and clothing, home closets are brimming with more options than ever, yet are at an all-time-high state of disarray. The adage “a closet full of clothes with nothing to wear” has never rung truer. With numerous pieces and options, the ordinary person is often overwhelmed with choices and has to try on multiple pieces before finding an outfit that is ironed, mended, and fits just right.
Current clothing management systems are available to tackle the closet chaos ubiquitous in such “closets full of clothes,” but they often prove overwhelming and stressful to their consumer-users. These conventional systems require significant time and energy in a single setting to manage, organize, and decide what pieces to keep, discard, and/or donate. Such systems, even if successfully used to organize one's wardrobe once, do not empower consumers to continuously control their clothing based on its fit, cleanliness, desirability, and overall appearance. These systems do not tap into the emotional or psychological ties to clothing and the need to continuously stay organized while feeling good about one's appearance.
Most current clothing management systems relate to the hanging or storage aspect of clothing, more particularly to different physical systems including hanging devices to utilize all available vertical closet space, and methods of organizing existing closet space to strategically fit more items, such as through vacuum compression or strategic shelving. Existing organizing systems can require significant work to install, and do not aid in the ongoing organization of one's wardrobe. These traditional organizer and management systems do not facilitate easy storage or retrieval of clothing items, and perpetuate the “more options are better” theme. Additionally, systems that do motivate consumer-users to sort and streamline their wardrobes by discarding or donating items that the consumer-user no longer desires or wears are overwhelming and stressful experiences because they require a single-session purge of every item in one's closet, make a daunting, messy pile to sort through, and do not enable the consumer-user to continuously review their wardrobe selections.
Other existing clothing management systems track number of wears and/or the date an item was last worn or cleaned through a numerical monitor affixed to the garment's hanger or otherwise on or near the garment. Some of these types of devices may be programmed to alert the consumer-user to launder the corresponding garment once the monitor indicates a certain number of wears. These systems, while helpful for tracking laundering schedules and helping promote more even wear of garments, fail to address whether certain items should be kept, discarded, or donated.
Other systems purport to help consumer-users sort clothing by type or attribute, enabling them to quickly identify the type of clothes—shirts, skirts, pants, for example—by a hanging identifier in a representative shape of the attribute of the clothes such identifier is separating. Still other wardrobe organization inventions exist in the form of plastic clothes hangers with a unique tag apparatus connected to the central hook and/or each horizontally extending arm of the hanger, for the purpose of a user customizing the identification tag to help sort items. For similar reasons previously mentioned, this invention also falls short of providing an ongoing system enabling consumers to continuously monitor, organize, and optimize their wardrobes.
My Wardrobe Genius, personal clothing management assistant kit, fulfills a market need to enable consumers to manage and organize their clothes continuously, enabling them to look good, feel confident about their clothing choices and overall appearance, and avoid stress by controlling the chaos of their closet space. The system, by gently guiding consumers to discern, decide, donate, and discard at their own pace, clothing article by clothing article, removes the stress and pressure from making many difficult, potentially emotional, decisions at once. It also removes the clutter and mess from tackling closet organization in one sitting, leaving no mess to clean up.
Additionally, it enables consumers to save money by learning to make the wisest clothing selections on future purchases by learning what pieces in their wardrobe consistently work for their lifestyle and bodies.
The present device, as illustrated herein, is clearly not anticipated, rendered obvious, or even present in any of the prior art mechanisms, either alone or in any combination thereof.
The physical product and method encompassing the present invention centers on the innovative concept of providing gentle prodding to streamline and organize one's wardrobe, at one's own time and pace. The overarching benefit of the present invention is peace of mind for the consumer-user. It provides a systematic approach to evaluating one's wardrobe without outside assistance. The invention helps consumer-users transform their wardrobes into ones that make them look and feel their best, while eliminating the often overwhelming stress and time of trying to manage all clothes in one session. The present invention eliminates the angst of having a closet full of clothes but feeling as if you don't have anything to wear, enabling the consumer-user to determine at his/her own pace what he/she likes, what he/she will wear most often, and what makes him/her feel most confident.
Four principles govern the use of the present invention: Discern, Decide, Donate, and Discard. Discern is the driving principle and involves the consumer-user evaluating a clothing item to determine which one of the next three options is appropriate: Decide means the consumer-user decided to keep the item; Donate means the consumer-user is giving away the item, acknowledging that the item was enjoyed, while also feeling a sense of satisfaction in donating the item to someone else; and Discard refers to the consumer-user appreciating the value the item brought to his/her life but acknowledging that the time has come for the item to be retired, and discarded. These guiding principles, coupled with the physical pieces of the present invention, provide a structure for organizing one's wardrobe, but also give enough freedom to the consumer-user to tailor the organization to what personally works for that consumer-user (i.e. grouping shirts by a color, skirts, or pants together, etc.).
The present invention helps consumer-users define a personal, unique style and become a smarter shopper who makes better purchasing choices. As a result, the size of one's wardrobe may decrease, but will consist of better pieces, and may enable the consumer-user to purchase higher quality clothing that fits better and will last longer. The present invention may also eliminate the stress of looking at one's “fat clothes,” glaring reminders of one's unsuccessful weight-loss attempts; it will empower a consumer-user to be able to keep his/her “skinny clothes” close, so when he/she is able to start wearing them again, he/she can reintroduce them back into his/her wardrobe one piece at a time.
Alternatively, if the user does not want to remove their “fat clothes” and/or their “skinny clothes”, they may keep them, however they would simply need to box them up and/or move them to another closet. The main objective of the present invention is to get these clothes out of the mainstream (i.e. out of sight decreases shame and stress). Therefore, ultimately a user of the invention should only have clothes in their closet that a) fits right now; b) he/she likes; c) that makes him/her feel great; and d) that fits the life he/she is living now.
The present invention is packaged as a kit with a plurality of dividers a consumer-user can choose to use. The kit more specifically contains: at least five, two-sided, hanging designation dividers, one each of Discerning/Decided, Ironing to be done, Mending/Alterations, Spare Hangers, and one My Choice customizable Divider that the user can personalize (i.e. “Winter Clothes”); five adjustable designation divider hangers to thread through the top holes of designation dividers to enable hanging on a closet rod; one Donation bag; and one Discard bag with labels specified as Donate and Discard to distinguish one from the other.
To use the present invention, a consumer-user first moves all clothing to one end of the closet clothing rod, then hangs each plastic laminate divider from the clothing rod in the following order, either from left to right, or from right to left, but in the opposite direction from the side where the clothing was pushed: My Choice customizable divider, Discerning/Decided, Ironing to be done, Mending/Alterations, and Spare Hangers. At this point, the consumer-user takes all empty hangers and places them behind the Spare Hangers divider, keeping only a couple of each kind of hanger at any time. Any clothes needing mending or alterations should then be hung between the Mending/Alterations divider and the Spare Hanger divider. Any clean clothes needing ironing should then be hung between the Ironing to be done divider and the Mending/Alterations divider. Next, the consumer-user will begin sorting through all remaining clothes, with an eye towards pulling out of the wardrobe clothes that are too large or too small but still wearable, discarding unwearable clothes, or packing away and relocating any clothes that the consumer-user may wear again.
Now, the consumer-user begins sorting through their clothing that remains hanging. The clothes remaining for discerning may be moved between the Discerning divider and the Decided divider. For clothing that needs to further be discerned, the consumer-user may consider questions such as the last time the item was worn, whether it fits, whether the consumer-user likes it, whether it is stained, torn, or missing buttons, whether the item is still in good condition, whether the item makes the consumer-user feel great, whether the item fits the life the consumer-user is living currently. Then, after discerning and asking the necessary questions, the consumer determines which items they have decided to keep, mend, donate, or discard. For decided clothing, a user may move the article of clothing between the Decided/divider and the Ironing to be done divider. Decided items may be clothing the consumer-user is keeping because it fits, the consumer-user likes it, the item makes the consumer-user feel great, the item fits the life the consumer-user is living currently.
Wearing an item may require laundering it afterwards, and subsequently, ironing; in this case, the consumer-user may hang it between the Ironing to be done divider and the Mending/Alterations divider after laundering. If a worn item does not need ironing, or even laundering, it may be hung between the Decided/divider and Ironing to be done divider. Similarly, if an item needs mending or alteration, it may be hung between the Mending/Alterations and Spare Hangers dividers. The consumer may repeat the process with each piece of clothing he/she selects from between Discerning and Decided of the system until the end of the season or whatever time frame he/she decides on.
Any new items of clothing will always start on the Discerning side of the divider until actually worn. Additionally, if, after wearing any item, the consumer-user decides not to wear an item again, he/she may put it in the Donate bag if it is wearable, or the Discard bag if unwearable. Both bags may be kept inside the closet, on the floor, or wherever is convenient for the consumer-user.
Ultimately, the consumer-user can continuously address the clothing that is between the Discerning side of the divider of the system at their own time and pace, with confidence and a peace of mind that they can let go of anything that will not be worn, and with satisfaction that he/she is helping someone else to enjoy an item, or that he/she has reaped the best value and most possible use out of an item. Once the consumer-user has no more items left on the Discerning side of the divider and everything is between the Decided an Ironing to be done dividers, the consumer-user can move the items back to the Discerning side of the divider to repeat the process and keep any clothing clutter at bay.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of a personal clothing management system and associated use that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the device that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the device in detail, it is to be understood that the device is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The device is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways, including applications involving the art discussed herein. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
These together with other objects of the device, along with the various features of novelty, which characterize the device, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the device, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated preferred embodiments of the system.
Advantages of the present device will be apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, which description should be considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated mode of carrying out 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.
The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description of presently preferred embodiments of the invention and does not represent the only forms in which the present device may be construed and/or utilized. The description sets forth the functions and the sequence of the steps for producing the device. However, it is to be understood that the same or equivalent functions and sequences may be accomplished by different embodiments also intended to be encompassed within the scope of the invention.
The present invention is generally embodied in a personal clothing management system kit 90, depicted as a whole in
The recommended method of using the present invention 90 first involves a consumer-user moving all clothing to one end of the closet clothing rod 601. Next, the consumer-user will insert one end of the coiled adjustable divider hanging mechanism 600 through one hole 101 of each divider (200, 201, 300, 301, 400, 401, 500, 501, 700, 701), over the newly created empty space on closet clothing rod 601, and back through the second hole 101, which is located at a distance far enough away from the first hole 100 to accommodate the girth of a closet clothing rod 601.
The dividers should be placed in the following order, but can be ordered from either left to right or from right to left: My Choice customizable divider 700, 701, Discerning/Decided divider 200, 201, Ironing to be done divider 300, 301, Mending/Alterations divider 400, 401, and Spare Hangers divider 500, 501.
Next, the consumer user may apply the Donate label 802 and Discard label 902 to their respective bags 800, 900.
The consumer-user may then take all empty hangers 502 and place to the right of the Spare Hangers divider 500,501 if clothes are pushed to the left side of the closet, as shown in
Now, the consumer-user is able to address all remaining clothing 202. For clothing that has not been worn in a while, the consumer-user can take time to discern and decide, considering questions such as the last time the item was worn, whether it fits, whether it is stained, torn, or missing buttons, whether the item is still in good condition. In addition, the following questions are imprinted on the Discerning side of the divider to give the consumer-user visual cues with each item under consideration: Does it fit? Do I like it? Does it make me feel great? Does it fit the life I'm living now? The answers to these questions will drive the consumer to keep, mend, donate, or discard the item. Once a consumer-user has worn a piece of clothing and determines he/she will wear it again:
Repeat the process with each piece of clothing you select. If clothing needs further discerning, place the clothing on the Discerning side of the divider 200 until a decision is made based on the time frame the consumer-user decides on.
Any new items of clothing will always start between Discerning side of the divider 200, until actually worn. If, after wearing any item, the consumer-user decides not to wear an item again, he/she will put it in the Donate bag 800 if it is wearable, or the Discard bag 900 if unwearable. Both bags 800, 900 may be kept inside the closet, on the floor, in a supporting container 806, 906, or wherever is convenient for the consumer-user.
Ultimately, the consumer-user can continuously address the clothing that is on the Discerning side of the divider 200, 201 at their own time and pace, with confidence and a peace of mind that they can let go of anything that will not be worn, and with satisfaction that he/she is helping someone else to enjoy an item, or that he/she has reaped the best value and most possible use out of an item. Once the consumer-user has no more items left on the Discerning side of the divider and everything is between the Decided an Ironing to be done dividers, the consumer-user can move the items back to the Discerning side of the divider to repeat the process and keep any clothing clutter at bay.
In conclusion, herein is presented a personal clothing management system and associated method of use. The invention is illustrated by example in the flow diagrams and figures, and throughout the written description. It should be understood that numerous variations are possible, while adhering to the inventive concept. Such variations are contemplated as being a part of the present invention.
This application takes priority from and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/924,853 filed on Jan. 8, 2014.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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1422973 | Hertzberg | Jul 1922 | A |
2176713 | Hendrix | Oct 1939 | A |
2288071 | Cohen | Jun 1942 | A |
5002183 | Okano | Mar 1991 | A |
20070084145 | Scheerer | Apr 2007 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20150191300 A1 | Jul 2015 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61924853 | Jan 2014 | US |