SHIRT WITH WOVEN PLEATS

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/947,507, filed July 2, 2007, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to pleated fabrics, and in particular to pleated fabrics in which the pleats are integrally woven into the fabric.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Conventional shirts having pleats (such as, but not limited to, tuxedo shirts) are typically formed by taking a fabric to be used as the front panel of the shirt, folding and creasing the fabric to form adjacent pleats, and then sewing the folded and creased portion of the pleat to hold each in its desired location on the front panel of the shirt. Unfortunately, these sewn pleats suffer from several deficiencies. They have a tendency to fold over during use and after being washed. Repeated and tedious ironing is required in order to get the pleats to lay flat on the shirt. Moreover, the process of sewing the pleats to maintain the folds can cause the fabric to pucker adjacent the seam. Additionally, pleats have traditionally been formed by an operator using a sewing machine. This process is time consuming and thus expensive and subject to human error.

It would therefore be desirable to provide a pleated shirt with more favorable wash and wear properties, that is less prone to puckering, and that can be formed more efficiently than previously known pleated shirts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to methods for forming pleated fabrics in which the pleats are integrally woven into the fabric. In one method, warp yarns are advanced in a first direction and weft yarns are interweaved with the warp yarns. The

advancement of the warp yarns is halted while the weft yarn continues interweaving with the warp yarns to form a pleat. When the desired pleat width and thickness is achieved, advancement of the warp yarns is restarted and then stopped again at the next desired pleat location. The pleated fabrics can be incorporated into a garment, e.g., in a man's tuxedo shirt or pleated woman's blouse.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for forming a fabric according to the present application. Figure 2 illustrates a garment having pleats formed according to a method of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention provides for woven pleats that are not folded, creased and sewn according to previously known methods. Rather, the pleats are integrally-woven into a fabric, which can then be incorporated into a garment.

The woven pleats in this embodiment can be formed using a double beam and air jet loom, an example of which is illustrated in Fig. 1.

The apparatus 100 includes a warp beam 110 and a fabric beam 120. The warp beam 110 feeds the warp yarn 115 into the loom. The fabric beam 120 takes up the finished woven fabric. An air jet 125 propels the weft yarn (also known as fill yarn)

130 in the cross-machine direction, i.e., in a direction that is generally perpendicular to the direction of movement of the warp yarn. In this way, the weft yarns 130 are interwoven with the warp yarns 115 to form a woven fabric. In traditional weaving, both the warp beam and fabric beam as well as the weft yarn are in constant motion. The warp and weft yarns are thus woven together to form a uniform fabric.

In one embodiment of this invention, the warp beam 110 and fabric beam 120 are intermittently stopped while the weft yarn 130 continues in motion. Because the warp yarn is not moving, the continual feed of the weft yarn 130 across the same location on the warp yarn creates a thickened portion at that location to thereby form a

pleat 140 (depicted in Fig. 1 as the darker/thicker lines in the fabric). In addition, the weft yarn position can be moved laterally to provide additional width to the pleat. When the desired pleat thickness and width is obtained, the warp beam 110 and fabric beam 120 are re-activated and then halted again at the next desired location for a pleat. A woven pleated fabric is thus formed according to this method.

The width of the pleats as well as the separation between adjacent pleats on the resulting fabric can be varied by controlling various factors including, e.g., the time that the warp beam 110 and fabric beam 120 are stopped and the interval between stoppages. In addition, the weft yarn position can be moved laterally to provide additional width to the pleat. Typically, pleat widths can range from about 1/8 inch to about 3/4 inch. For a garment intended to have iron-free properties, narrower pleats will generally be less likely to fold or bend and will generally look smoother and more presentable and are therefore preferred. A skilled artisan could adjust these factors to achieve a desired pleat width. Pleat thickness depends on the gauge of the thread, the density of the pleat, and the amount of time that the warp beam is stopped. Typical pleat thicknesses can be from about 1/16 inch up to about 1/8 inch, but can be thicker or thinner depending on the desired fabric properties. The pleated fabric typically varies from about 3.5 oz/yd to 4.25 oz/yd as these are generally the desired weights for top weight shirtings. It will be understood, however, that any fabric weight can be achieved by varying, e.g., the warp beam stoppage time and interval between stoppages. Pleat uniformity can be achieved by adjusting the tensions on the warp beam 110 and fabric beam 120. Such adjustments can be made by a skilled artisan.

The yarns of an embodiment of this invention may be made for any type of fiber or blends thereof, including but not limited to cotton, polyester, rayon, silk, lastol and combinations thereof. The resulting pleated fabric may have any thread count. The thread count will vary based on the yarn gauge, which could be, but is not limited to single-ply and double-ply gauged yarns between about 40 to 100 English cotton count. A thread count between about 120 to 290 threads per inch in the warp direction and about 90 to 160 threads per inch in the weft direction is preferable but not required. For example, a thread count of about 190 threads per inch in the warp

and about 120 threads per inch in the weft has proven particularly suitable. Suitable yarn gauges can be selected by a skilled artisan to provide desirable luster, weight, and cost per yard.

Once formed, the woven pleated fabric can be incorporated into a shirt or any other type of garment, such as a tuxedo shirt or pleated woven woman's blouse. For example, Figure 2 illustrates the pleated fabric 210 incorporated as a pleat bib into a tuxedo shirt 200. It will be apparent that the vertical pleats 210 in the shirt 200 are formed by taking the horizontally-pleated fabric off fabric beam 120 of Figure 1, cutting the fabric to a suitable size, and arranging the pleats vertically to incorporate them into the shirt.

Prior to such incorporation, the pleated fabric (as well as the other, non-pleated fabric in the garment) may be, but do not have to be, treated with certain chemicals to impart a wrinkle-free property to the fabric. For example and by way only of example, the pleated fabric may be padded with a cross-linking agent (including, but not limited to, dihydroxy dimethylol ethylene urea (DMDHEU)) to prevent subsequent fiber movement to thereby impart a permanent press appearance. A catalyst for the cross-linking agent, such as, but not limited, to a magnesium-based catalyst, may also be applied to the fabric. Moreover, it may also be preferable (but certainly not required) to use a liquid ammonium mercerization process as a precursor to render the fibers more absorptive to the cross-linking agent and impart luster and strength to the fabric.

After such treatments, if any, the fabric can be cut and constructed into a garment. An adhesive, such as an adhesive tape, is preferably, but not necessarily, used in the garment seam construction to prevent puckering at the seams, as is disclosed in U.S. Patent Nos. 5,568,779; 5,590,615; 5,713,292; 5,775,394; 5,782,191 ; 5,950,554; 6,037,949; 6,070,542; and 6,079,343, the entirety of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Any creases in the garment are preferably pressed into the garment at this time.

In one embodiment, the resulting garment is then introduced into an oven. The cross-linking catalyst and heat activate the cross-linking resin, which cures the fibers and fixes in place the threads used to sew the garment components together.

A stain-resistant interlining can also be applied to the neck band, collar, placket, waist band, lining and/or cuffs of the garment. Such interlining is formed and applied to the shirt as described in U.S. Patent Application No. 11/590,690, filed October 31, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. It is apparent that the process for forming the woven pleats described above results in the pleats being integrated into the fabric itself. The pleats and fabric can thus be treated and finished together in the fabric and garment stage.

Processing of the pleated fabric and garment as described herein results in a garment having pleats that resist bending, folding and other deformation after laundering and thus do not require ironing. Moreover, the seams in the resulting garment preferably do not pucker and the finished garment is generally wrinkle-free and ring-free. The garment thus preferably does not require ironing after multiple wears and laundering.

A tuxedo shirt manufactured in accordance with this methods described above was tested pursuant to the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) standard 143. AATCC 143 is used to rate the after- wash appearance of a garment. The test provides ratings for fabric smoothness and seams using replica cards which represent ratings on a scale of one (worst) to five (best). The general industry standard for an iron-free garment is 3.5 or greater for a single component and/or 4.0 or greater for an average of all components. The results are produced in Tables 1 and 2 below and illustrate that the body of the shirt (the portion having the woven pleats) maintained a rating of 3.5 for 20 washes:

Table 1

Table 2

The foregoing is provided for the purpose of illustrating, explaining and describing embodiments of the present invention. Further modifications and adaptations to these embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art and may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.