WIG, ADJUSTMENT MEANS THEREFOR AND METHOD OF SIZE ADJUSTMENT

Abstract

This invention provides a wig having means for adjustment of the cap size of the wig for fitment to individual users and to reduce the stock numbers necessary to be carried by retailers to fit the variety of head sizes and still provide a full range of hair colors. The adjustment means can be an engageable strip of material to engage along the ribbon of a machine-made wig cap by engaging at the connection points of the ribbon and wefts of hair. The circumferential band of the wig may also be adjusted through the provision of such items as hook and eye fasteners.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to wigs and, in particular, although not necessarily solely, machine-made wigs. Aspects of this invention may also be applicable to handmade wigs only if of a suitable construction.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

[0002] Wigs are provided for a variety of purposes such as in the case of hair loss or for fashion purposes.

[0003] Generally wigs are made by two different methods being a machine-manufactured wig or a hand-made wig.

[0004] A machine-made wig usually includes a cap that has a circumferential band and a series of ribbons running generally along a longitudinal axis of the substantially hemispherical cap. The hair to form the wig is formed into a series of wefts. Each weft is a line of hair that is stitched together along a base of the weft. This weft is then attached substantially transverse to the ribbons and a series of such wefts are placed to provide layers of hair over the entire cap.

[0005] One of the difficulties in providing wigs is the need to accommodate different head sizes as well as providing users with a variety of colour choices. If the wigs are to be pre-made rather than manufactured in response to an individual order, it is usual to provide wigs in at least three or sometimes five different cap sizes to accommodate different head sizes for the consumer. If a wig is provided in a single size, the wig may be difficult to place to ensure secure fitment to the head of the consumer.

[0006] Even the provision of three or sometimes five different cap sizes still provides difficulty in ensuring a snug fit to all head sizes and aside from the size issue, heads are not all of a regular shape and may require some variation to accommodate individual needs.

[0007] Naturally, the provision of a variety of wigs to fit all these different requirements and still provide a range of colour choices requires the manufacture and stocking of a large number of such wigs so that they may be immediately available.

[0008] Hand-made wigs are generally made from a different construction utilizing a fishnet type material for the cap of the wig and small portions of hair are individually tied to the net to form the final product. Again, if manufactured to a specific order, the individual head size and shape can be considered prior to manufacture. However, some specific adjustment may still be necessary and the availability of adjustment would also allow many such wigs to be pre-made without redundancy to accommodate the variations in head size and shape.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

[0009] It is an object of the present invention to provide a wig, an adjustment means therefor and a method of size adjustment which allows alteration of the sizes of manufactured wigs to accommodate different head sizes or shapes so as to overcome some of the disadvantages of the prior art or at least provide the public with a useful choice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Accordingly, in the first aspect, the invention may be said to consist in a wig including a cap portion having a plurality of strips of material and a plurality of wefts of hair connected with said strips of material and wherein adjustment means are provided to engage along or between said strips of material to adjust the cap size.

[0011] Accordingly, in a second aspect, the invention may broadly be said to consist in adjustment means for adjusting the cap size of a wig comprising a strip of material and engagement means at distal ends of said strip of material, said engagement means being suitable to engage along or between strips of material in the cap of a manufactured wig.

[0012] Accordingly, in a third aspect, the invention may broadly be said to consist in a method adjusting the size of a manufactured wig comprising the steps of providing a wig with an internal cap formed from a plurality of strips of material inter-engaged with wefts of hair and engaging adjustment means along or between said strips of material to reduce the length of or distance between said strips of material such that the cap of the wig is adjusted to an individual's needs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] A preferred embodiment of this invention will now be described with reference to the following drawings in which:

[0014] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a manufactured wig turned inside out from its “in use” configuration to show the construction of the cap;

[0015] FIG. 2 shows an elevational view of a plurality of adjustment means in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention;

[0016] FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the fitment of the adjustment means of FIG. 2 to the cap of the wig of FIG. 1; and

[0017] FIG. 4 shows the wig of FIG. 1 in an adjusted form with the adjustment means in place.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0018] A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the form of a wig 1 as shown in FIG. 1. It can be seen that this particular wig is a machine-made wig which has been turned inside out from its normal “in use” configuration for the purposes of describing and showing the application of the essence of this invention.

[0019] A machine-made wig of this type is provided with a cap 2 being the construction of portions of material on the inner surface of the wig to which the hair is attached. Although this may be provided in a variety of forms, the normal construction is to use a plurality of strips of material 3 in the form of ribbons which are arranged to form the backbone of the cap 2.

[0020] To support the ribbons and provide extra support around the edge of the hemisphere, a circumferential band 4 may be provided. Often this circumferential band 4 may be provided with its own adjustment means 5 in the form of strips of inter-engaging hook and eye fasteners to allow some adjustment of the circumference of the wig 1. Typically, the fasteners comprise inter-engaging portions of VELCRO and co-operating material.

[0021] The ribbons 3 may be provided from a variety of materials although generally an elastic fabric is utilized. The elasticity of the fabric allows some natural movement of the wig in response to movement of a user's head and also allows the cap to stretch over the head during fitment.

[0022] Also shown in FIG. 1, only some of the major ribbons 3 may be arranged longitudinally on the hemispherical cap 2. Additional side ribbons 9 and 10 may progress around the sides to still provide a general form of support in those regions.

[0023] The hair 6 may be arranged into individual wefts 7 which are connected to and progressed across the ribbons 3. Each weft is formed by arranging a line of hair 6 and providing a stitching, binding or similar adjacent an end of the hair 6 to form the single weft 7. These may then be attached to the ribbons in a variety of forms although the wefts 7 are generally stitched to the ribbons in keeping with the remainder of the construction of the wig.

[0024] Referring to FIG. 2, a plurality of adjustment means 11 are shown. Each adjustment means has a strip of material 12 and engagement means 13 and 14 at distal ends of the strip 12. In this preferred form, those engagement means comprise simple hooks.

[0025] To provide adjustment of the wig, the adjustment means 11 may be fitted as shown particularly in FIG. 3. As can be seen in FIG. 3, the adjustment means 11 can be fitted on the inside of the cap 2 when in its “in use” configuration. The adjustment means 11 are engaged along the ribbons 3 to adjust the length of those ribbons and thereby adjust the size of the cap. In some instances, it may be desirable to connect the adjustment means between adjacent ribbons although the majority of this adjustment can be performed by the adjustment means 5 around the circumferential band 4.

[0026] To fit the adjustment means 11, an engagement means at one end of the strip 12 is hooked to the ribbon 3 adjacent a connection between the ribbon 3 and a weft of hair 7. The substantially transverse connection between the weft 7 and the ribbon 3 and the associated stitching at that point provides a juncture through which the hook 14 may be engaged underneath the ribbon and supported against further movement along the ribbon 3 by the adjacent weft 7.

[0027] The distal end of the adjustment means 11 being the engagement means 13 can be connected further up the ribbon 3 again hooking onto the ribbon 3 adjacent a weft 7. By connecting the adjustment means 11 between wefts of hair 7 which are spaced further apart than the length of the strip of material 12, the adjustment means shortens the distance along the ribbon to adjust the size.

[0028] An adjusted wig is shown in FIG. 4. In this case, the adjustment means 11 have been provided along each of the major longitudinal ribbons 3 to substantially reduce the size of the wig from its original form in FIG. 1.

[0029] The adjustment means 11 can be provided in a variety of forms. In keeping with the ribbons 3, it is preferred that the strip of material 12 is also made from an elastic material to still allow some movement throughout the cap 2 as may be required both in use and during the fitment procedure.

[0030] The engagement means 13 and 14 can be any suitable engagement to engage along the ribbon 3. This preferred form uses a hook to engage between the connections to wefts 7 along the ribbon 3 although any form of direct attachment to the ribbon 3 is also possible. Furthermore, this preferred form uses a releasable adjustment means so that the hooks may be engaged and disengaged as required for multiple adjustments. However, permanent adjustment of the strip 12 along or between the ribbons may also be utilized. As most wigs 1 are provided for a single user, the adjustment means 11 could be permanently attached if desired. It is preferred that the attachment means can be easily attached to the cap 2 such as in the form of an engageable fastener so that adjustments may be made during the fitting operation prior to a more permanent attachment if this is desired.

[0031] It should also be noted that the adjustment means 11 does not necessarily require separate attachment to the wig during fitment should it be provided in alternative forms. In this preferred form, the amount of adjustment is determined by the connection points of the engagement means 13 and 14. By moving one of those engagement means to a connection point with a more distal weft 7, the ribbon 3 with which it is associated may be further shortened.

[0032] In an alternative embodiment, the adjustment means 7 may be engageable with the strips of material 3 or permanently attached to those strips of material 3. The adjustment may be provided by a length adjustment to the strip of material 12 forming part of the adjustment means 11. For example, a strip of material 12 may be permanently attached as part of the cap 2 along or between the ribbons 3 and have adjustment means intermediate of its connection points to shorten or lengthen the distance between those connection points. The strip of material 12 may incorporate a buckle or similar to allow this adjustment intermediate of its length. It may also be possible to incorporate the length adjustment into the ribbons 3 although this is not preferred. Adjustment at a single point along the ribbon 3 may bunch adjacent wefts of hair and create an uneven appearance. The adjustment means 11 preferable operates to shorten a plurality of wefts so that the distance between each weft is only marginally shortened and there is less disturbance to the shape of the wig at any one single point. This may be a preferred alternative should it be desired to permanently engage the adjustment means 7 to the wig cap 2 and perform this permanent engagement during the machine making process.

[0033] Thus it can be seen that the invention provides means for the adjustment of wig sizes to reduce the need for numerous wig sizes for each colour range to be held in stock so that a particular wig is available on demand. Aside from reducing stock quantities, the adjustment means may also provide further fine adjustment between the normal cap sizes to allow individual fitment of the wigs for particular users.

Claims

1. A wig including a cap portion having a plurality of strips of material and a plurality of wefts of hair connected with said strips of material and wherein adjustment means are provided to engage along or between said strips of material to adjust the cap size.

2. A wig as claimed in

claim 1 wherein said adjustment means comprise at least one length of material with engagement means at distal ends of said length of material.

3. A wig as claimed in

claim 2 wherein said engagement means engage junctures of said strips of material and said wefts of hair.

4. A wig as claimed in

claim 2 wherein said length of material comprises a strip of elastic material.

5. A wig as claimed in

claim 1 wherein said plurality of strips of material comprise a plurality of strips of elastic material.

6. A wig as claimed in

claim 3 wherein said engagement means comprise hooks to engage under said plurality of strips of material and are retained against further movement along said strip of material by said interconnection with an adjacent weft of hair.

7. A wig as claimed in

claim 1 wherein a plurality of said adjustment means are provided, each said adjustment means adjusting the length of one of said plurality of strips of material.

8. A wig as claimed in

claim 1 wherein said cap portion includes a circumferential band and said band is provided with a further adjustment means to adjust the length of the circumference of said cap portion.

9. Adjustment means for adjusting the cap size of a wig comprising a strip of material and engagement means at distal ends of said strip of material, said engagement means being suitable to engage along or between strips of material in the cap of a manufactured wig.

10. A method adjusting the size of a manufactured wig comprising the steps of providing a wig with an internal cap formed from a plurality of strips of material inter-engaged with wefts of hair and engaging adjustment means along or between said strips of material to reduce the length of or distance between said strips of material such that the cap of the wig is adjusted to an individual's needs.