GB2413476A

GB2413476A - Infant garment with improved fastener system

Info

Publication number: GB2413476A
Application number: GB0508985A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Simon Binns
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-04-30
Filing date: 2005-05-03
Publication date: 2005-11-02
Also published as: GB0508985D0; GB0409805D0

Abstract

An infant garment with an improved system for fastening together portions of the garment is disclosed. Visual and/or tactile indicia are applied to corresponding fastener portions 6, 8 to allow a user to identify which fastener portion 6 on the first portion of fabric (4a, fig.1) corresponds with which fastener portion 8 on the second portion of fabric (4b, fig 2).

Description

241 3476 - 1

INFANT GARMENT WITH IMPROVED FASTENER SYSTEM

The present invention relates to infant garments. In particular, the invention relates to an infant garment with an improved system for fastening together portions of fabric. Infant garments have particular requirements for fastening, in particular the fasteners must not present a substantial risk of harm to the infant, which generally requires them to be small if solid and discrete.

Known fastener systems for infant garments generally comprise a plurality of first fastener portions, e.g. a button, a male portion of a press-stud, etc., each having a respective corresponding second fastener portion, e. g. a button-hole, a female portion of a press-stud, etc. However, such known fastener systems suffer from the disadvantage that it can be easy to "cross-fasten" fasteners, i.e. to attach a first fastener portion to an incorrect second fastener portion. This mistake may not be noticed until several fasteners have been fastened, with the result that time is wasted in unfastening and refastening the fasteners correctly. A baby may not remain still while the fasteners are fastened, which operation is often undertaken when a parent or other carer is not fully awake and/or in low light conditions or if the carer is visually impaired, greatly increasing the likelihood of the cross-fastening of fasteners, which in turn increases the time required for the operation and distress to both baby and carer.

It is an aim of the invention to overcome or alleviate the problems with known infant garment fastener systems.

Accordingly, a first aspect of the invention provides an infant garment having a fastening system for fastening together portions of the garment, comprising on a first portion of the garment a plurality of first fastener portions including an end first fastener portion and at least one intermediate first fastener portion, and on a second portion of the garment a plurality of second fastener portions including an end second fastener portion and at least one intermediate second fastener portion, each second fastener portion corresponding to and engageable with a respective first fastener portion, and at least one pair of first and second ) intermediate fastener portions having corresponding tactile and/or visual indicia for enabling a user to distinguish said pair of first and second fastener portions from neighbouring first and second fastener portions.

Such a system may allow a user readily to identify which first fastener portion should be fastened to which second fastener portion, thereby reducing the likelihood of inadvertent cross fastening.

For example, a system may comprise a tactile and/or visual indicium applied to alternate pairs of first and second fastener portions. The application of a single indicium to alternate pairs of fastener portions may reduce the likelihood of the cross-fastening of a first fastener portion with a nearest neighbour of the corresponding second fastener portion, while providing for relatively simple and/or cheap manufacture.

Other systems may comprise a plurality of mutually distinguishable tactile and/visual indicia applied in sequence to pairs of first and second fastener portions. This may serve to reduce the likelihood of the inadvertent cross-fastening of a first fastener portion to a next nearest (or still more distant) neighbour of the corresponding second fastener portion.

The tactile and/or visual indicia may, for example, comprise a colour, which is preferably luminous, increasing its visibility in low light conditions.

The use of a tactile indicium may also aid a user readily to fasten the an article to which the system is applied in low light conditions. In particular, it may assist visually impaired users to identify corresponding fastener portions.

The tactile may be a textured and/or shaped portion, e.g. circular, triangular, square, or in the shape of a number or a letter.

The pairs of fastener portions may be press-studs, for example.

The first and second portions of garment may be portions of a single strip of fabric. - 3

The fasteners may form a branched configuration (e.g. having a row of fasteners extending down the torso of the garment and separating at a junction into two branches which extend part-way down the legs of the garment). Such configurations increase the likelihood of confusion in fastening the fasteners. In such cases therefore, preferably at least one pair of first and second fastener portions adjacent the node have corresponding indicia.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows an infant garment comprising a system for fastening together sides of the garment; Figure 2 shows a first detail of the fastening system of the garment shown in Figure 1; and Figure 3 shows a second detail of the fastening system of the garment shown in Figure 1.

Figure I shows an infant garment 2, known as a baby-grow, having pressstud fasteners for allowing the garment to be closed around the wearer. The fasteners may be seen more clearly in Figure 2. A first portion of fabric (the strip 4a of fabric at one side of the opening at the front of the garment 2) carries a plurality of first fastener portions in the form of male-press studs 6 and a second portion of fabric (the strip 4b of fabric at the other side ofthe opening at the front of the garment 2) carries a plurality of second fastener portions in the form of female press-studs 8. Each female press-stud 8 corresponds to and is releasably engageable with a respective male press-stud 6 to allow the opening in the front of the garment 2 to be closed around the wearer.

As shown in the figures, each pair of male and female press-studs 6, 8 carries corresponding visual indicia (in the embodiment shown, coloured paints applied to the press-studs) to allow corresponding male and female press-studs 6, 8 to be distinguished from neighbouring male and female press-studs.

When fastening such a garment, a user is able easily to identify which male press-stud corresponds with which female press-stud with reference to the colours applied to them. For ) - 4 example, with reference to Figure I, a luminous blue paint has been applied to the upper male and female press-studs 6a, 8a, a luminous green paint has been applied to the second male and female press-studs 6b, 8b, a luminous yellow paint has been applied to the third male and female press-studs 6c, 8c and so on. The sequence of colours is repeated from the fifth pair of press-studs be, Be. In this way, even if the user is commences fastening press-studs from part-way along the row, he or she may easily identify which male press-stud corresponds to which female press-stud.

Figure 3 shows a detailed view of the groin area of the garment shown in Figure 1. At this location (or node), the row of fasteners separates into two branches which extend part-way down the legs of the garment. In order to reduce the likelihood of confusion at this location, pairs of fastener portions adjacent the node have corresponding indicia which enable them to be distinguished from adjacent fasteners portions and from fastener portions on the other branch. In addition, it may be seen here that the portions of fabric 4a, 4b carrying the male and female press-studs are in fact portions of a single strip of fabric 4. Again, mutually distinguishable colours are applied to neighbouring pairs of press-studs to allow them easily to be distinguished from one another.

While the invention has been exemplified above in relation to an infant garment, it is equally applicable to other flexible items in which a plurality of fasteners is used, for example, duvet or quilt covers, coats and jackets, etc. Furthermore, while visual indicia in the form of luminous paints have been used to exemplify the invention, other indicia are possible. Examples include tactile indicia such as shapes (e.g. circular, triangular and square and the shapes of numbers and letters) and textures, etc. Combinations of visual and tactile indicia may be used as appropriate. Furthermore, indicia may be applied only to selected (e.g. alternate) press-studs, which may then be distinguished from their neighbours by the presence/absence of indicia. Finally, the invention is equally applicable to other types of fasteners such as buttons and buttonholes, hooks and eyes, etc. r) - 5

Claims

1. An infant garment having a fastening system for fastening together portions of the garment, comprising on a first portion of garment a plurality of first fastener portions including an end first fastener portion and at least one intermediate first fastener portion, and on a second portion of garment a plurality of second fastener portions including an end second fastener portion and at least one intermediate second fastener portion, each second fastener portion corresponding to and engageable with a respective first fastener portion, and at least one pair of first and second intermediate fastener portions having corresponding tactile and/or visual indicia for enabling a user to distinguish said pair of first and second fastener portions from neighbouring first and second fastener portions.

2. An infant garment as claimed in claim 1, comprising a tactile and/or visual indicium applied to alternate pairs of first and second fastener portions.

3. An infant garment as claimed in claim 1, comprising a plurality of mutually distinguishable tactile and/visual indicia applied in sequence to pairs of first and second fastener portions.

4. An infant garment as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the tactile and/or visual indicia comprise a colour.

5. An infant garment as claimed in claim 4, wherein the indicia are luminous.

6. An infant garment as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the tactile and/or visual indicia comprise a shape.

7. An infant garment as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the pairs of fastener portions are press-studs.

8. An infant garment as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the first and second portions of garment are portions of a single strip of fabric.

J - 6

9. An infant garment according to any preceding claim wherein the garment has a torso section and two leg sections and a crotch region at the intersection of the leg sections and the torso section wherein at least one pair of indicia is provided in the crotch region.

10. A garment as claimed in claim 10, wherein the fastener portions are arranged to enable the garment to be fastened in a branching configuration having a node and a number of branches, at least one pair of first and second fastener portions adjacent the node having corresponding mica.

11. An infant garment substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, andlor as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.