EP1087050A1

EP1087050A1 - Band with differentiated regions to obtain semi-finished underwear products

Info

Publication number: EP1087050A1
Application number: EP99830607A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Angelo Letizia; Renato Rondini
Original assignee: MICHELE LETIZIA SpA
Current assignee: MICHELE LETIZIA SpA
Priority date: 1999-09-27
Filing date: 1999-09-27
Publication date: 2001-03-28

Abstract

A band to obtain semifinished clothing items is continuously woven on a Raschel loom so as to consist of a plurality of regions (P, L, T, S) having different characteristics as to thickness and/or elasticity and/or material and/or texture and/or type of processing and arranged mutually adjacent so as to correspond to the various portions of an item. This band allows to reduce the number of members which make up the item and therefore the number of sewings, resulting in time and labour savings and greater structural continuity of the item.

Description

The present invention relates to the bands used in the clothing industry, and in particular to a band with differentiated regions used in the manufacturing of underwear. Reference will specifically be made hereafter to this kind of application, but it is clear that the band according to the present invention can be advantageously used also in the manufacturing of any other clothing item including regions with different characteristics, e.g. a sportswear item or casual item.
It is known that in the manufacturing of underwear use is made of continuously woven bands of various types which may be different in processing, thickness, texture, elasticity, material and so on according to the application for which they are intended. For example, in order to manufacture female panties with a lace insert there is required a lace band from which said insert is cut by means of a suitable punch, as well as a plain fabric band from which the rear region is cut and a reinforced fabric band from which the reinforced crutch piece is cut.
Once the various members which make up the item have been cut from the relevant bands, it is necessary to assemble them by sewing so as to obtain a semifinished product. This semifinished product will then be finished by hemming and by adding possible accessories such as elastic ribbons, shoulder-straps, hooks, tags and so on.
It is clear that said operations involve a significant labour and a considerable working time for assembling the semifinished product, both for cutting several pieces of band and for subsequently sewing them together.
Moreover, when assembling members from various bands it is possible that each band has a different shade of color, whereby the resulting item does not have a perfectly homogeneous color.
The use of several different bands also implies the need to have stocks of each type of band and of calculating the consumption of the various bands so as to prevent the risk of blocking the production due to the lack of one of the item members.
The only alternative which allows to obtain a monolithic semifinished product is that of making it on circular machines. However, this type of machines is mainly intended for the manufacturing of plain fabric whereby it is quite complicated to produce items with patterned fabric or particular processings such as open lace. Moreover, some items such as brassieres and loin-cloths are difficult to manufacture on said machines.
Therefore the object of the present invention is to provide a band which allows to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks.
This object is achieved by means of a continuous band produced by a Raschel warp knitting machine and consisting of a plurality of differentiated regions as disclosed in claim 1. Other advantageous features are disclosed in the dependent claims. Further claims relate to the process for obtaining the items from said band and to the underwear items produced through said process.
The fundamental advantage of the band according to the invention is that it allows to obtain monolithic semifinished products including regions with different characteristics, whereby considerable savings as to time and labour are achieved.
Another significant advantage of the present band is that it provides a greater structural continuity to the item, by decreasing the number of seams which reduce the overall elasticity.
A further advantage of this band is that it assures the uniformity of the color of the item obtained therefrom.
Still another advantage stems from the fact that it is not necessary to have several bands available, which results in a great simplification in managing the stocks of material.
These and other advantages and characteristics of the band with differentiated regions according to the present invention will be clear to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of some embodiments thereof, with reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
Fig.1 is a diagrammatic plan view showing a length of a first continuous band according to the invention;
Fig.2 is a view similar to the preceding view and showing a length of a second continuous band according to the invention; and
Fig.3 is a view similar to the preceding view and showing a length of a third continuous band according to the invention.
With reference to fig.1, there is seen that the band in a first embodiment is made up of a longitudinally repeated transverse module consisting in the contour C of female panties with front lace panel and crutch reinforcement piece.
In practice, the band is continuously woven on a Raschel loom so as to be made up of a first longitudinal strip F1 of lace worked fabric which is adjacent to a second longitudinal strip F2 of plain reinforced fabric which is in turn adjacent to a third longitudinal strip F3 of plain fabric.
The width of each strip F1, F2, F3 is selected according to the model and size of the item to be obtained. For example, widths could be provided of 17 cm for strip F1 from which the front panel is obtained, 16 cm for strip F2 from which the crutch piece is obtained and 20 cm for strip F3 from which the rear panel is obtained. The band may also be provided with edges B made of elasticized and reinforced fabric which may act as waist-band.
From the figure above it is clear that in order to obtain the semifinished panties it is sufficient to cut the band along the panties contour C and carry out only two sewings at the hips. It should be noted that the contour C illustrated in the figure for explanatory purpose could also not be present, each strip F1-F3 being then uniform in the longitudinal direction. In this instance, the operator may use a cutting punch rather than following the contour C present on the band.
However, the presence of the contour C is advantageous since it allows to do without the punch and to minimize the process waste, thanks both to the greater cutting precision and to the lower waste of material in the waste regions S (hatched areas). In other words, strip F2, for example, is not made of reinforced fabric along its whole length but just in the lengths corresponding to the item, whereas in the lengths corresponding to the waste regions S it is made only of a thin fabric intended to connect two adjacent modules.
Fig.2 shows a second embodiment of the present band which is different from the above-described band in that the repeated module, still relating to female panties similar to the preceding ones, is arranged in the longitudinal direction. Therefore in this case the band is not made up of three longitudinal strips with two elasticized edges but just of two strips with a single elasticized edge.
More specifically, in the first strip there is an alternation of plain fabric regions L for the rear panel and reinforced fabric regions T for the crutch piece, spaced out by waste regions S (hatched areas). The latter extend transversely also to the adjacent second strip of lace P which is in turn adjacent to the single reinforced and elasticized edge B.
From the figure above it is clear that also in this case in order to obtain the semifinished panties it is sufficient to cut the band along the panties contour and carry out only two sewings, namely one rear vertical sewing and a lower transverse sewing at the crutch.
The choice of arranging the module in the transverse direction as in the first case or in the longitudinal direction as in the second case is based on various factors, such as the shape and size of the module or the type of elasticity desired for the item.
Figure 3 shows a third embodiment of the present band relating to a brassiere completely made of lace. Also in this case the repeated module is arranged in the longitudinal direction and a single reinforced and elasticized edge B is present to act as chest-band. The semifinished product obtained from this band obviously does not require any sewing but just the addition of the shoulder-straps and of the hooks for the rear fastening.
It should be noted that the above-described and illustrated bands are actually part of a much larger stripe including a plurality of bands arranged side by side. For example, a Raschel loom usually processes a stripe of about 330 cm in width from which 6 bands of the first type, or 8 bands of the second type or 12 bands of the third type may be obtained. Obviously, the width of each band, and therefore the number of bands obtained from the stripe, depends on the desired type of item, on the size, on the orientation of the repeated module and so on.
It is clear that the above-described and illustrated embodiments of the band according to the invention are just examples susceptible of various modifications. In particular, as previously mentioned, it is possible to produce bands for other items such as vests, shirts, loin-cloths, etc. Furthermore, the various regions which make up the band may be different in number from those illustrated, starting from a minimum of two (lace P and waste S) as in the third band described, and may be differentiated as to one or more characteristics such as thickness, elasticity, material texture or type of processing.

Claims

A band produced by continuous weaving to obtain semifinished clothing items, in particular underwear items, characterized in that it is woven on a Raschel loom so as to consist of a plurality of regions (P, L, T, S) having different characteristics as to thickness and/or elasticity and/or material and/or texture and/or type of processing and arranged mutually adjacent so as to correspond to the various portions of an item, said regions (P, L, T, S) making up a module which is longitudinally repeated along the band.
A band according to claim 1, characterized in that the different regions (P, L, T, S) are bounded by a contour (C) which defines the profile of the item to be obtained from the band.
A band according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it is provided with at least one edge (B) of elasticized and reinforced fabric suitable to act as waist-band or chest-band or the like.
A band according to one or more of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the repeated module corresponds to panties arranged in the transverse direction and whose semifinished product is obtained by means of two sewings at the hips.
A band according to one or more of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the repeated module corresponds to panties arranged in the longitudinal direction and whose semifinished product is obtained by means of a rear vertical sewing and a lower transverse sewing at the crutch.
A band according to one or more of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the repeated module corresponds to a brassiere arranged in the longitudinal direction.
A process for the production of a clothing item, in particular an underwear item, characterized in that it includes the following operating steps:

a) cutting from a band with differentiated regions according to one or more of the preceding claims, of a profile corresponding to the item to be obtained;

b) sewing, if any, of the flat cut profile so as to obtain a closed semifinished product; and

c) finishing the semifinished product by hemming and by adding possible accessories such as elastic ribbons, shoulder-straps, hooks, tags and so on.
A clothing item, in particular an underwear item, characterized in that it is obtained from a band according to one or more of claims 1 to 6 so as to have a plurality of regions differentiated as to thickness and/or elasticity and/or material and/or texture and/or type of processing, without any discontinuity between said regions.