GB2520640A

GB2520640A - Display wrapper for garments hung on a garment hanger

Info

Publication number: GB2520640A
Application number: GB1423198.9A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Edward Jones; Holly Elizabeth Nugent
Original assignee: Mainetti UK Ltd
Current assignee: Mainetti UK Ltd
Priority date: 2011-01-05
Filing date: 2011-01-05
Publication date: 2015-05-27
Anticipated expiration: 2031-01-05
Also published as: GB2487057B; GB201100093D0; GB2487057A; GB2520640B

Abstract

A wrapper, formed of a rectangular sheet 10 has a tab 62 extending from its long side. The tab can be a cut out formed by cutting along three sides of a rectangle, which is longer than the distance between it and the edge of the sheet, and then folding it out over the long edge of the sheet. The fold 70 can be parallel to the long edge or inclined at 45 degrees. The sheet can include a slit 174, 176 through which the tab can be threaded.

Description

Display wrapper for garments hung on a garment hanger The present invention relates to a method of mounting a garment on a hanger and wrapping a display wrapper around the garment and to such a wrapper and relates particularly, but not exclusively, to a method and card wrapper for use with the display of multiple small garments such as socks.

It is well known for in-store display of small garments, such as socks, boxer shorts and the like, to hang multiple garments on a small hanger and to retain all of the garments together by wrapping them in a card wrapper. An example of such a device is disclosed in International application publication number W02008/129273.

It is of course important that the garment, hanger and wrapper are all retained together during transportation and display of the garments before sale. However, it is also important that the packaging of the garments can be easily recycled, in order to encourage recycling to take place.

This can be ensured by removing all packaging as soon as a garment is purchased. However, customers prefer to take items at home with at least some of their packaging.

Domestic recycling readily allows customers to recycle cardboard material but small plastic articles, such as the small plastic hanger, are not readily recyclable as part of domestic refilse collection and are far more likely to be correctly recycled if the hanger is removed whilst the garment is still in the shop. Furthermore, items such as socks, which do not include a tag for washing instructions, often display this information on the packaging. As a result, it is desirable for the garment hanger to be easily removable from the garment allowing the hanger to be recycled and the customer to take the garment home wrapped in the cardboard packaging.

The device disclosed in W02008/129273 attempts to address this problem but unfortunately the solution disclosed therein makes the separation of hanger and packaging quite difficult. As a result, retail staff are disinclined to remove the hanger from the garment, especially when they are busy, thereby reducing the amount of recycling that takes place. Furthermore, the packaging is easily damaged by the hook tearing the cardboard wrapper as it is removed.

Other examples of the prior art that address similar problems in the hanging of multiple garments, particularly socks, are disclosed in Patent nos 5JS658l765, US6349863, US6170679 and Patent application publication nos JP11-l69268, JP9-143811, GB2041744, GB2423975 and FR2700460.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention seek to overcome the above described disadvantages of the prior art.

According to an aspect of the present invenrion, there is provided a method of mounting at least one garment on a hanger and wrapping a display wrapper around the or each garment, comprising the steps of:-engaging at least one garment with a garment hanger the hanger having at least one garment supporting arm for supporting at least one said garment thereon; folding at least one wrapper, formed of a sheet material and having at least one tab extending therefrom, at least partially around the or each garment; folding at least one said tab over at least one snpporting arm of said banger; folding the or each garment over the or each supporting arm into a display position and so as to cover said tab; and folding said wrapper around the or each garment and fixing a portion of said wrapper to itself thereby forming a loop around said garment.

By providing a tab that is folded over the arm of the garment hanger, the advantage is provided that the wrapper is prevented from accidentally sliding off the garments but the hanger is still able to be fairly easily removed from engagement with the garment. This encourages the recycling of the garment hangers in store. The method of the present invention therefore balances the need to maintain the connection between hanger and wrapper but allows easy removal of the hanger from the garment. Furthermore, this removal occurs without the need to damage the wrapper and therefore if the hanger does become accidentally separated from the garment, it can be easily reinserted. It is also the case that the tab, the additional feature that assists in maintaining the wrapper in position on the garment and garment hanger, is hidden within the folds of the or each garment. As a result, the packaging of the present invention takes up no further space than that of the prior art.

Furthermore, the wrapper of the present invention works with any garment hanger of the prior art. As a result, it is not necessary to create new moulding tools to produce new garment hangers that take advantage of the present invention.

In a preferred embodiment the garment hanger has a plurality of garment supporting arms and a garment is hung on each supporting arm.

In another preferred embodiment the tab is folded over said support arm to engage said garment supporting arm.

Folding the tab over the support arm so as to engage the arm allows a direct connection between the tab and the garment hanger.

In a further preferred embodiment the tab is folded over a portion of a said garment which is itself folded over said supporting arm.

By folding the tab over the supporting arm but with the garment placed between the tab and the supporting arm provides the advantage that the tab is contained between two garments, or two portions of a garment, thereby further maintaining the connection between the garment and the wrapper. As a result, even when the hanger has been removed, the wrapper is unlikely to slide from engagement with the garment.

The method may further comprise forming said wrapper from a first substantially rectangular piece of sheet material and cutting a portion of material and folding said cut portion to form said tab.

By cutting the tab as a portion of the material that forms the wrapper, the advantage is provided that there is no additional waste in producing the wrapper of the present invention compared to those of the prior art. Furthermore, the production of the wrapper of the present invention requires only modification of the existing apparatus that

outs the wrappers of the prior art.

In a preferred embodiment the tab is formed by cutting three sides of a second rectangle parallel to a short side said first rectangle of sheet material and folding said tab along a fourth side of said second rectangle.

In a preferred embodiment the tab is formed by cutting three sides of a second rectangle parallel to a long side of said first rectangle of sheet material and folding said tab at 45 to a long side of said second rectangle.

By cutting the tab as described above, the advantage is provided that a long tab can be produced without increasing

the waste cardboard compared to the prior art.

The method may further comprise cutting at least one slit in said sheet material and feeding said tab through said slit.

By providing a slit in the material and teeding the tab through the slit, the advantage is provided that the slit provides additional support for the tab making it less likely to become damaged.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wrapper for wrapping around at least one garment hung on a garment hanger, the wrapper comprising a substantially rectangular section of sheet material having long sides and short sides and a tab in use extending beyond one of said long sides so as to be folded over a garment supporting arm of said garment hanger.

In a preferred embodiment the tab is formed by cutting a portion of material and folding said cut portion to form said tab.

In another preferred embodiment the tab is formed by cutting three sides of a second rectangle parallel to a short side said first rectangle of sheet material and folding said tab along a fourth side of said second rectangle.

In a further preferred embodiment the tab is formed by cutting three sides of a second rectangle parallel to a long side of said first rectangle of sheet material and folding said tab at 45 to a long side of said second rectangle.

The wrapper may further comprise at least one slit in said sheet material and feeding said tab through said slit.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, and not in any limitative sense, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-Figure 1 shows the wrapper of the present invention being used with a garment and hanger in the steps of the method of the present invention; Figure 2 contains three front views of the wrapper of the present invention; Figure 3 contains two front views including a different embodiment of the wrapper of the present invention; and Figure 4 shows two front views of a further embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, a wrapper 10 is used in conjunction with a garment hanger 12 to display at least one garment, in the example shown a pair of socks 14. The garment hanger 12 is typically formed from a thermoplastic material, although could be made from any suitably strong material. The hanger 12 has a hook 16, a body portion 18 and a garment supporting arm 20. The hook 16 is formed in a single moulding with the body 18 and arm 12 but could egually be formed as a separate metal hook. The body portion 18 extends between the hook 16 and supporting arm 20 providing connection therebetween. A label area 22 is provided as part of hook 16, although this could be provided on any part of the hanger 12 that is visible when the hanger is in use or can be omitted.

Wrapper 10 is a substantially rectangular piece of sheet material cut from a larger sheet of the material. This material is most commonly cardboard but could equally be a laminated or coated cardboard, a plastic sheet material or any other suitable sheet material. The substantially rectangular portion has long sides 24 and 26 and short sides 28 and 30. Short side 30 has a tab 32 that engages a slot 34 to effect closure of the wrapper 10 when it is in use wrapped around the socks 14. The wrapper 10 is provided with folds 36, 38, 40, 42, 44 and 46 that define a series of panels. These panels include an external tab panel 48, a side panel 50, a front panel 52, a second side panel 54, a rear panel 56, an internal side panel 58 and an internal tab panel 60. In use, the internal side panel 58 is covered from view by first side panel 50 and is smaller in width than this panel (that is the distance between folds 44 and 46 is less than the distance between folds 36 and 38) Internal tab panel 60 has a rectangular tab 62 formed therein. Tab 62 is formed by making three cuts 64, 66 and 68. A fold 70 forms the fourth side of the rectangle that defines tab 62 and a further fold 72 is provided part way along tab 62. However, it should be noted that the tab could be another shape other than rectangular.

Use of the wrapper 10 will now be described with particular reference to Figure 1, in which it can be seen in Figure la that socks 14 are brought into engagement with hanger 14. Socks 14 initially remain in an unfolded position. The wrapper 10 is brought into engagement with the lower portion of socks 14, which is the part situated below hanger 12. Wrapper 10 is positioned such that the internal tab panel 60 is laid in engagement with the portion of socks 14 that will be covered when the socks are folded over support arm 20, this also helps keep the wrapper from slipping as it grips the wrapper between tolds ot the socks 14. Folds 44 and 46 form internal side panel 58 that engages the edges of socks 14 and the rear panel 56, not seen in Figure la, engages the surface of socks 14 that is opposite the surface engaged by internal side panel 58.

Referring to Figure lb, tab 62 is lifted from internal tab panel 60 and fold 70 is folded back on itself such that tab 62 extends above long side 26. Tab 62 is tucked under arm 20 of hanger 12 and folded over the arm 20 using fold 70.

Referring to Figure ic, the upper end of socks 14 are folded over arm 20. This traps tab 62 in a folded position over arm 20 and also covers tab panel 60. The wrapper 10 is then folded around the socks 14 by first folding fold 42, as seen in Figure lb, and then folds 40, 38 and 36 as seen in Figure ld. The tab 32 is inserted into slot 34 (not shown in Figure 1) and fixed. This fixing can be by the use of a glue or self adhesive tape or by some other mechanical fixing between the tab and slot of a type known to those skilled in the art. The wrapper 10 is now wrapped entirely around the socks 14 and holds them in the folded position with the hanger 12 in place. Because tab 62 is folded over arm 20, the wrapper 10 cannot move relative to wrapper 12 without causing further bending to tab 62 or ripping of the wrapper 10. The socks 14, with wrapper 10 and hanger 12, are now ready for display.

When a customer purchases the socks 14, the hanger 12 can be easily slid from engagement with the socks 14 by pulling it in the direction shown by the arrow in Figure le.

This then allows the hanger to be recycled and the socks remain in wrapper 10 and are given to the customer. The customer is then able to recycle the cardboard wrapper themselves.

It is also possible for tab 62 to only engage the arm 20 indirectly through one of the socks 14. Tn order for this to be achieved when the socks are placed in engagement with hanger 12, one of the socks is folded back in the opposite direction to the fold shown in Figure ft. The internal tab panel 60 then engages one of the socks and the tab 62 is fed up between the socks and between the hanger arm 20 and body 18. When the upper portion of the socks is folded over into the display position, as shown in Figure lc, the fold 72 folds around arm 20 whilst remaining between the two socks 14. The remainder of the steps of wrapping the wrapper around the socks 14 remains as previously described.

Referring to Figure 3, and in particular Figure 3b, which shows an alternative eribodiment of the present invention in which the tab 72 is not formed from part of the rectangle that forms wrapper 10 but is simply formed as an extension to that rectangle. This produces a large amount of waste material. Figure 3b shows how the wrappers 10 might be cut from a larger sheet with considerable waste between each wrapper. In contrast, Figure 3a shows a significant reduction in waste which is identical to that for wrappers of

the prior art.

Referring to Figure 4, in which parts in common with Figures 1 to 3 have been labelled with like referenced numerals increased by 100, the wrapper 110 has a significantly longer tab 162 that is out parallel to the long sides 124 and 126 (as opposed to parallel to the short sides 28 and 30 as shown in the embodiment in Figure 2) . The fold 170 is at 450 to the cut 164 thereby causing the tab 162 to extend in the same direction as tab 162 and perpendicular to the cuts 164 and 168. Two slits 174 and 176 are provided and, in order to provide tab 162 with additional strength, the tab is slotted through the slits. Once tab 162 is in the -"-position shown in Figure 4b, uploading of the wrapper 110 is the same as previously described.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the above embodiments have been described by way of example only and not in any limitative sense, and that the various alterations and modifications are possible without departure from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. For example, the wrapper of the present invention can be used garments other that sock. This type of wrapper can be used with other small items, either individually or in multi packs, such as tights and boxer shorts and could be used on any item of clothing that can be folded and hung on a hanger.

Claims

Claims 1. A wrapper for wrapping around at least one garment hung on a garnent hanger, the wrapper comprising a substantially rectangular section of sheet material having long sides and short sides and a tab in use extending beyond one of said long sides so as to be folded over a garment supporting arm of said garment hanger.
2. A wrapper according to claim 1, wherein said tab is formed by cutting a portion of material and folding said cut portion to form said tab.
3. A wrapper according to claim 2, wherein said tab is formed by cutting three sides of a second rectangle parallel to a short side said first rectangle of sheet material and folding said tab along a fourth side of said second rectangle.
4. A wrapper according to claim 2, wherein said tab is formed by cutting three sides of a second rectangle parallel to a long side of said first rectangle of sheet material and folding said tab at 45) to a long side of said second rectangle.
5. A wrapper according to any one of claims 2 to 4, turther comprising at least one slit in said sheet material and feeding said tab through said slit.
6. A wrapper for wrapping around at least one garment hung on a garment hanger substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.