Garment with enhanced response characteristics for laser finishing
AssigneeLevi Strauss & Co.
InventorsJennifer Schultz, James Barton Sights, Berke Aydemir, Susanne St Onge-Simpson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fabric has enhanced response characteristics for laser finishing. The fabric can be denim for denim apparel such as jeans. Software and lasers are used to finish apparel made of the fabric to produce a desired wear or distressing pattern or other design. The fabric allows for relatively fast color change in response to the laser, color changes in hue from indigo blue to white, many grayscale levels, and maintains strength and stretch properties. A method used to make the fabric includes spinning, dyeing, and weaving yarns in such a way to obtain the desired enhanced response characteristics for laser finishing.
Claims20
A garment comprising:
- a fabric comprising indigo ring-dyed yarn;
- and
- a finishing pattern on the fabric, wherein the finishing pattern is formed by a laser removing selected amounts of material from the fabric,
- for lighter locations of the finishing pattern, a greater depth of the indigo ring-dyed cotton warp yarn is removed, as compared to darker locations of the finishing pattern where a lesser depth of the indigo ring-dyed cotton warp yarn is removed,
- the fabric comprises yarns that are ring dyed comprising an outer ring and an inner core, the outer ring is indigo colored due to being penetrated through by the indigo dye while the inner core is white or off-white colored due to not being penetrated to by the indigo dye, and
- a cross section of a ring-dyed yarn comprises a total thickness of the outer ring that is at least 23 percent and less than 25 percent of a total thickness of the yarn.
An article of clothing comprising:
- a fabric comprising indigo ring-dyed yarn;
- and
- a finishing pattern on the fabric, wherein the finishing pattern is formed by a laser removing selected amounts of material from the fabric,
- for lighter locations of the finishing pattern, a greater depth of the indigo ring-dyed cotton warp yarn is removed, relative to darker locations of the finishing pattern where a lesser depth of the indigo ring-dyed cotton warp yarn is removed,
- the fabric comprises yarns that are ring dyed comprising an outer ring and an inner core, the outer ring is indigo colored due to being penetrated through by the indigo dye while the inner core is white or off-white colored due to not being penetrated to by the indigo dye, and
- a cross section of a ring-dyed yarn comprises a total thickness of the outer ring that is at least 23 percent and less than 30 percent of a total thickness of the yarn.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.