Patent Application
20070246490
The present invention relates generally to the field of garments and more particularly to a hanger for suspending a garment top during handling, transport, and for display on a retail sales floor.
In the area of retail garment sales, so-called Garment-On-Hanger (GOH) programs have become preferred to retailers. In a GOH program, garments are suspended from hangers by the manufacturer at the manufacturing site, and are shipped as such to retail merchants. Whereupon arrival at the retail location, the garments may immediately be placed on display for sale. Formerly, retailers accomplished the task of hanging garments from hangers with labor provided at their own expense.
At least one drawback of the GOH program is the fact that garments may become inadvertently dislodged from their respective hangers during handling, transport, shipment or display. Such dislodged garments naturally fall to the floor, ground, or bottom of their shipping container, and may become soiled, damaged, or otherwise unfit for sale. Therefore, a hanger that securely retains the garment suspended therefrom is desirable.
Towards this end, and particularly with respect to a hanger for a garment top, e.g., shirt, blouse, sweater, jacket, coat, or the like, certain hangers have been proposed that have integrated features to improve retention of the garment. This is particularly demanding when dealing with inherently heavier garments, for example a knitwear sweater. One such hanger is disclosed in United States Patent Application Publication US 2005/0139625, published 30 Jun. 2005, entitled “Knitwear Hanger”, filed 12 Nov. 2004 under Ser. No. 10/987,716 by the present inventor and commonly assigned with the present application. The complete disclosure of the foregoing application is hereby incorporated by its reference for all purposes.
On the other hand, hangers such as the Knitwear Hanger must be manufactured with their defining features in order to be effective. It would be advantageous to have a system for improving the retention of garments on hangers where the great number of hangers without adequate provisions for garment retention may be retrofitted to improve their characteristics. Moreover it would advantageous to have a system for improving the retention characteristics of garments on hangers where the components of such system are inexpensive and simple to manufacture, handle, and assemble.
Therefore, in order to overcome these and other deficiencies in the prior art, provided according to the present invention is a garment retention system including a garment hanger having a body, a hook extending from the body for suspending the hanger from a support, first and second arms extending laterally from the body to respective first and second distal ends. At least one arm has an attachment retention surface with a surface normal directed generally towards the body and in a generally opposite direction from the distal end of the at least one arm. A garment retention attachment extends between the attachment retention surface and the distal end of the at least one arm. The garment retention attachment includes a first means for engaging the attachment retention surface, and a second means for engaging the distal end of the at least one arm.
The garment retention system is enhanced by providing the garment retention attachment with friction-increasing surface features on an upwardly facing side of thereof. The friction-increasing surface features may include either recesses in or raised structure on the upwardly facing side of the garment retention attachment. The friction-increasing surface features may be ribs, ridges, or dimples and arranged any of transverse, longitudinal, diagonal, echelon, chevron, herringbone or dimple patterns, at regular, semi-regular or random spacing. The garment retention attachment may also include a lower flange extending downward from the attachment along either or both lateral edges.
These and other features, benefits and advantages of the present invention will be made apparent with reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like structures across the several views, and wherein:
Referring now to
Each of arms 26, 28 includes a recess 30 in an upwardly facing surface, and may include some overhang 32 at least partly covering the recess 30, and extending proximally towards the body 24 from a distal side of the recess 30. More generally, each arm 26, 28 presents an attachment retention surface 34 having a surface normal 36, i.e., a vector extending perpendicularly from that surface, which is oriented generally in the direction of the body 24 and in an opposite direction from a respective distal end 27, 29. In the preferred embodiment, the surface 34 is a wall of recess 30 to avoid any projections above the upper surface of arms 26, 28. A garment hanger 20 generally as above described is known in the art, for example from U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 507,419, issued 19 Jul. 2005 to the present inventor and commonly assigned with the present application, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by its reference for all purposes.
However, if applicable, for example for hanging a garment top having a particularly wide neck, or of a material of the garment top being hung is such that an upward projection would not pose a problem, and where no recess 30 is provided in the arms 26, 28 of hanger 20, the attachment retention surface 34 can be formed by an upward projection 62 (See,
In the exemplary embodiment hook 22 includes an upward flange 37 having a retention clip 38 to receive and retain a top-mounted indicator (not shown). However, other indicator configurations, e.g., side indicators, lower neck indicators, or no indicator at all, may be employed.
Referring now to
As is typical in the industry, garment hanger 20 may be formed of an injection molded plastic, more commonly a rigid plastic such as polystyrene, SAN, ABS, PPO, nylon, polypropylene (PP), polyethylene, PET, polycarbonates (PC), acrylics, K resin, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) among others. Such rigid plastic materials present relatively low-friction surfaces unless specifically molded to enhance friction. Therefore, where, as in a preferred embodiment, the attachment 40 comprises a material having some degree of elasticity, for example ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), low density polyethylene, PVC, thermoplastic elastomer, or thermoplastic rubber (for example the material sold under the trade name KRATON), the elastic material of the attachment 40 presents a higher coefficient of friction than the base hanger 20. This higher friction material of itself improves the retention characteristics of the garment hanger 20.
Alternately or additionally, attachment portion 40 can include surface features 46 on an upwardly facing side to further enhance the friction of the attachment 40. In the embodiment shown, raised ribs 48 either partly or completely traverse the width of the attachment 40. Additionally, ridges 50 run the length of the attachment 40 along either lateral edge thereof. In alternate embodiments, surface features 46 may comprise recesses in place of or in addition to the raised structure of the exemplary embodiment. The surface features 46 may be arranged as any geometric shape or configuration desired, including without limitation transverse, longitudinal, diagonal, echelon, chevron, herringbone or dimple patterns, arranged with regular, semi-regular or random spacing.
In the exemplary embodiment, the attachment 40 has as an optional feature a first width 52 at it distal portion wider than a second width 54 at its proximal portion, to accommodate hangers 20 that are similarly shaped. Referring now to the longitudinal cross-section view of
Preferably, flanges 56 extend from both lateral edges of the attachment 40, to form a channel 58 in an underside of the attachment 40. Channel 58 receives the lateral arm 26, 28 within itself and more preferably centers the attachment 40 on the lateral arm 26, 28. Accordingly, the attachment is stably attached to the lateral arm 26, 28 and resists relative movement.
In an alternate embodiment of the garment retention attachment 40a, illustrated for example in
The present invention has been described herein with reference to certain exemplary embodiments. Various alterations and/or modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the present disclosure. Therefore, these embodiments are offered as merely illustrative, and not limiting, of the scope of the present invention, which is defined solely with reference to the appended claims.
Under 35 U.S.C. §119(e), this application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/775,316 filed Feb. 21, 2006, entitled Shoulder Support for Hangers, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60775316 | Feb 2006 | US |
