Brassiere cup and method of manufacture

A method for forming a finished brassiere cup, said finished brassiere cup comprising:

• a preformed cup comprising an outer fabric layer and an inner fabric layer, and
• an outermost fabric layer joined to a perimeter of the preformed cup;
• the preformed cup optionally comprising at least one foam layer laminated to at least one of the outer fabric layer and the inner fabric layer;
• said method comprising the steps of:
• placing a fabric layer in contact with at least part of the perimeter of the preformed cup, such that said fabric layer covers at least part of an inner face of the preformed cup;
• using ultrasonic welding to form a welded joint between said fabric layer and said preformed cup along a neckline and/or an underarm-edge of said preformed cup, wherein the process of ultrasonic welding also cuts said fabric layer along a line of the welded joint;
• applying a thin and narrow layer of adhesive over the line of the welded joint;
• folding the now-welded-and-glued fabric layer over to cover and contact the outer fabric layer on an outer side of the preformed cup;
• joining said fabric layer to a remainder of the preformed cup such that it forms an outermost fabric layer;
• and
• trimming the outermost fabric layer to form the finished brassiere cup,
• wherein the adhesive layer is covered by the outermost fabric layer.

A finished brassiere cup comprising:

• a preformed brassiere cup comprising an outer fabric layer and an inner fabric layer;
• and
• an outermost fabric layer joined to a perimeter of said preformed brassiere cup and covering and contacting the outer fabric layer;
• the preformed brassiere cup optionally comprising at least one foam layer laminated to at least one of the outer fabric layer and the inner fabric layer;
• wherein at least part of the joint between said outermost fabric layer and said perimeter of said preformed brassiere cup has been formed by a process of ultrasonic welding, and gluing with an adhesive applied over a weld formed by the process of ultrasonic welding, and the adhesive is covered by the outermost fabric layer.