Unitary woven fabric construct of multiple zones

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10060054-B2
Application number	US-201515310005-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2015
Priority date	May 9, 2014
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

A fabric construct consists of a woven fabric of weft and warp yarns, and the fabric has an area defined by plurality of zones consisting of at least one zone of a first zone type, optionally, at least one zone of a second zone type; and at least one zone of a third zone type. The third zone is a transition zone disposed adjacent the first and/or second zones. All the zones are formed in a unitary woven construct, with adjacent zones seamlessly joined together. The transition zone includes a plurality of bands of sets of weft and/or warp yarns that collectively provide a progressive transition for an attribute of the first zone type through at least the transition zone and to the second zone type, if present. The fabric construct may be used in various end products and is particularly suited for use in apparel applications.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An end product comprising an article of apparel or footwear that includes a fabric construct, comprising:
a woven fabric of weft and warp yarns, the fabric having a plurality of zones comprising at least one zone of a first zone type representing a first selected functional attribute; at least one zone of a second zone type representing a second selected functional attribute; and at least one zone of a third zone type, the third zone being a transition zone disposed between the first and second zones, all the zones being formed as a unitary woven construct with adjacent zones seamlessly joined together, at least a portion of the third transition zone being adjacent and in between at least a portion of each of the first and the second zones;
wherein the portion of the transition zone comprises at least five different bands of sets of weft yarns that are arranged to collectively provide a progressive and smooth transition of the selected zone-type attributes from the first zone, through the transition zone, to the second zone;
wherein in the fabric construct the height of a given band in a transition zone is 0.001% to 20% or thereabout the height of the transition zone to provide for the progressive, smooth transition of the attributes; and
wherein the functional attributes represent material differences in durability, breathability, elasticity, comfort, waterproofness, and/or flame retardancy.

2. The end product of claim 1 wherein the first selected attribute for the first zone is dependent on a first yarn type in the first zone and the second selected attribute for the second zone is dependent on a second yarn type in the second zone, the bands of the transition zone comprise yarns of the first type and the second type, and the percent of the first yarn type in the bands progressively and smoothly decreases going from the bands adjacent the first zone to the bands adjacent the second zone.

3. An end product that includes a fabric construct, comprising:
a woven fabric of weft and warp yarns, the fabric having a plurality of zones comprising at least one zone of a first zone type representing a first selected functional attribute and a first selected visual attribute; at least one zone of a second zone type representing a second selected functional attribute and a second selected visual attribute; and at least one zone of a third zone type, the third zone being a transition zone disposed between the first and second zones, all the zones being formed as a unitary woven construct with adjacent zones seamlessly joined together, at least a portion of the third transition zone being adjacent and in between at least a portion of each of the first and the second zones; and
wherein the transition zone comprises at least five different bands that progressively transition the selected first functional and visual attributes of the first zone to the second functional and visual attributes of the second zone based on the weft and/or warp yarns being selectively floated in a progressive band-to-band transition of the selected functional and visual attributes within the transition zone.

4. The end product of claim 3 wherein the selective float defines the progressive transition of attributes by (1) in a first portion of the transition zone proximate the first zone, preferential placement of weft yarns that are reflective of the first zone at the face of the fabric construct, and/or (2) in a second portion of the transition zone proximate the second zone, preferential placement of weft yarns reflective of the second zone at the face of the fabric construct.

5. The end product of claim 3 wherein in the fabric construct the selective floats comprise a Jacquard weaving configuration that represent a progressive transition of the attributes.

6. The end product of claim 5 wherein in the fabric construct grouped sets of the selective floats are provided in successive bands of the transition zone to define a plurality of discrete shapes, the discrete shapes collectively forming a pattern that represents the progressive change of at least the visual attributes across the transition zone.

7. The end product of claim 6 wherein in the successive bands each discrete shape serves as a pixel and, the progressively changing pattern comprising a change in pixel size, shape and/or spacing moving within and across the portions of the transition zone.

8. The end product of claim 1 wherein in the fabric construct the portion of the transition zone is configured with a progressive change in yarn denier to provide the progressive, smooth transition from first zone to the second zone.

9. An end product that includes a fabric construct, comprising:
a woven fabric of weft and warp yarns, the fabric having a plurality of zones comprising at least one zone of a first zone type representing a first selected attribute; at least one zone of a second zone type representing a second selected attribute; and at least one zone of a third zone type, the third zone being a transition zone disposed between the first and second zones, all the zones being formed as a unitary woven construct with adjacent zones seamlessly joined together, at least a portion of the third transition zone being adjacent and in between at least a portion of each of the first and the second zones; and
wherein the portion of the transition zone comprises a plurality of bands of sets of weft and/or warp yarns that collectively provide a progressive and smooth transition of the selected zone-type attributes from the first zone, through the transition zone, to the second zone; and
wherein the portion of the transition zone comprises a plurality of bands of sets of weft and/or warp yarns that collectively provide a progressive and smooth transition of the selected zone-type attributes from the first zone, through the transition zone, to the second zone wherein in the fabric construct the height of a given band in a transition zone is 0.001% to 20% or thereabout the height of the transition zone to provide for the progressive, smooth transition of the attributes.

10. The end product of claim 9 wherein in the fabric construct each zone has a width of at least 4 inches or thereabout.

11. The end product of claim 10 , wherein in the fabric construct each zone has a height of at least 4 inches or thereabout.

12. The end product of claim 9 , wherein in the fabric construct the relative height of the first zone and the second zone (first zone/second zone or second zone/first zone) is within 16% to 100% or thereabout of each other.

13. The end product of claim 1 wherein in the fabric construct the relative height of the transition zone to: (i) the first zone and/or (ii) the second zone is within 16% to 10,000% or thereabout of one another.

14. The end product of claim 1 further comprising in the fabric construct a fourth zone with a fourth zone type representing a selected attribute different from the first or second zone types, and at least a portion of a transition zone being adjacent the fourth zone that provides for a progressive, smooth transition for the fourth selected attribute from the fourth zone to another zone of a zone type different from the fourth zone, the portion of the transition zone being adjacent and between the fourth zone and the other zone.

15. The end product of claim 1 wherein in the fabric construct the selected attribute of the first zone type is relatively high elasticity and the selected attribute of the second zone type is relatively high durability, the first zone and second zones thereby differing in elasticity and durability.

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Assignees

• North Face Apparel Corp

Inventors

• Weening Dheen
• Yip Andrew
• Pettitt Allie
• Uy Sunshine

Classifications

• D10B2501/043

  Footwear · CPC title

• D03D13/004

  with weave pattern being non-standard or providing special effects · CPC title

• D10B2505/18

  Outdoor fabrics, e.g. tents, tarpaulins (D10B2507/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A41D31/00

  Materials specially adapted for outerwear · CPC title

• D10B2501/04

  Outerwear; Protective garments · CPC title