GARMENT ASSEMBLY SYSTEM AND METHODS

Abstract

Premade garment pieces which may be assembled into a garment or used independently are disclosed herein. A garment piece may comprise one or more fasteners or one or more fastener receivers or a combination of one or more fasteners and one or more fastener receivers. A fastener on one garment piece may preferably be configured to interface with a fastener receiver on another garment piece. The fastener and fastener receiver may interface to form a fastener assembly. One or more garment pieces may be assembled into a garment or may be used independently by a wearer.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/193,091, filed on Jul. 16, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND

Field of the Invention

This disclosure relates to premade garment pieces which may be assembled into a garment or used independently.

Description of the Related Art

Garment waste is a significant global problem. Americans send 10.5 million tons of garments to landfills each year. See www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/where-does-discarded-clothing-go/374613/. Only about 10-15 percent of used clothing is donated. Id. A significant cause of this problem is excess purchasing—consumers simply buy more clothes than they need and discard clothes before the useful life of the clothes has expired. People have various motivations for discarding clothing, though a desire for wardrobe variety and changing fashion trends certainly play a significant role.

Thus there exists a significant need for a garment assembly system which provides significant variety and flexibility using a comparatively small number of garments.

SUMMARY

Premade garment pieces which may be assembled into a garment or used independently are disclosed herein. A garment piece may comprise one or more fasteners or one or more fastener receivers or a combination of one or more fasteners and one or more fastener receivers. A fastener on one garment piece may preferably be configured to interface with a fastener receiver on another garment piece. The fastener and fastener receiver may interface to form a fastener assembly. One or more garment pieces may be assembled into a garment or may be worn independently by a wearer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of sleeve garment pieces and a sleeveless top garment piece that may be worn separately or assembled.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of various top and bottom garment pieces.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of garment pieces that may be worn independently or assembled as a single garment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Premade garment pieces which may be assembled into a garment or used independently are disclosed herein. A garment piece may comprise one or more fasteners or one or more fastener receivers or a combination of one or more fasteners and one or more fastener receivers. A fastener on one garment piece may preferably be configured to interface with a fastener receiver on another garment piece. The fastener and fastener receiver may interface to form a fastener assembly. One or more garment pieces may be assembled into a garment or may be worn independently by a wearer.

The fastener assembly may preferably be covered by fabric from one or more garment pieces to create the appearance that two garment pieces are actually a single garment. A fastener may preferably be covered by fabric from the garment piece of which it forms a part when it is not interfaced with a fastener receiver. A fastener receiver may preferably be covered by fabric from the garment piece of which it forms a part when it is not interfaced with a fastener. Garment pieces comprising one or more fasteners or one or more fastener receivers may thereby be used as independent garments when the fastener is not interfaced with the fastener receiver.

The wearer may attach or remove different garment pieces to create different types of garments. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, two sleeve garment pieces may be fastened to a sleeveless top garment piece to create a top with sleeves, or the sleeveless top garment piece may be worn separately as an independent garment piece. In addition, the sleeves may be worn separately as independent garment pieces. By mixing and matching various sleeve garment pieces with various sleeveless top garment pieces, a wearer may assemble a large variety of top garments using a relatively small number of garment pieces. The same principle may be applied to assemble bottom garments, or to assemble top and bottom garments or garment pieces into garments, or to assemble various other combinations of garment pieces into garments. The wearer thus will have more wardrobe flexibility while maintaining a smaller wardrobe.

Alternatively, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, various combinations of top garment pieces and bottom garment pieces may be assembled into different garments or pairings of garments. Rather than owning several dresses with various styles of hemming, lace, top configurations, and so forth, a wearer may own a small number of garment pieces that may be assembled using a fastener assembly to create a large variety of dresses.

As shown in FIG. 3, top and bottom garment pieces may be worn assembled into a single garment with a fastener assembly or may alternatively be worn separately as independent garments, without assembly with a fastener assembly. This creates additional possible garment configurations for the wearer using the same small number of garment pieces.

A garment piece may comprise a fabric that may be attached to the fabric of another garment piece to generate a finished appearance or also have a finished appearance when worn as an independent garment.

In some preferred embodiments, the fastener assembly may add minimal weight to the assembled garment pieces and may only minimally alter the texture of the assembled garment pieces.

In some embodiments, the fastener assembly may comprise consile seams, wherein the consile seams may be sewn together using conventional stitching, such as a lock stitch or other conventional type of stitch. Consile seams may be sewn whereby the raw edges of fabric along the seams are concealed, thereby providing the garment piece with a finished appearance on both sides of the garment. Since consile seams may be sewn readily using known conventional sewing equipment, garment pieces may be produced with minimum time, effort, and cost.

In some embodiments, the fastener assembly may comprise buttons and button holes, wherein the fasteners are buttons and the fastener receivers are button holes.

In some embodiments, the fastener assembly may comprise a zipper.

In some embodiments, the fastener assembly may comprise velcro.

In some embodiments, the fastener assembly may comprise a string. The string may be pulled by the wearer to loosen or tighten the garment.

In some embodiments, a garment piece may comprise one or more embellishments, one or more trims, one or more decorations, or a combination thereof.

The garment pieces may vary in shape, color, pattern, and thickness. Garment pieces of different shapes, for example, may be worn together to create various outfits. Garment pieces of different shapes may also be combined to form garments.

The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the invention disclosed herein. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein. All references cited herein are expressly incorporated by reference.

Claims

1. A method of assembling a garment comprising thereby forming a garment, wherein the fastener assembly is hidden by fabric of the garment pieces which comprise the garment.

a. providing one or more garment pieces comprising fabric and a fastener;

b. providing one or more garment pieces comprising fabric and a fastener receiver; and

c. interfacing the fastener of one garment piece to the fastener receiver of another garment piece to form a fastener assembly;

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the garment pieces comprise a top garment piece and a bottom garment piece.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the garment pieces further comprise one or more embellishments, one or more trims, one or more decorations, or a combination thereof

4. A first garment piece that may be combined with one or more other garment pieces to form a garment, wherein said first garment piece may also be worn independently as a garment.