A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

Related Applications

This application is related to and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/726,228, filed September 1, 2018, the entire contents of which are hereby fully incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to garments and garments manufacture. More particularly, this invention relates to shirts and expandable plackets Background

Garments, especially men’s dress shirts and work shirts, may not flex or expand in accordance with the movements of the wearer’ s upper body. The mid-section of the shirts may become taught and may bulge when the wearer performs physical movements. For example, sitting down while wearing a dress shirt or a work shirt or even a casual shirt may cause the shirt, especially the mid-section, to tighten and become uncomfortable or even tear.

Additionally, the fabrics used for most woven, dress and work shirts are subject to shrinkage from laundering, and so most woven, dress and work shirts may become difficult or uncomfortable to wear after multiple washes. In addition, the wearer of a shirt may gain weight, thereby increasing their mid-section size and making their dress and/or work shirts tight across the wearer's belly.

It is desirable to provide a garment (e.g., a shirt) with a placket that expands along the width of the garment's mid-section, as needed, while keeping its shape, and for it to return to its original width after expansion. It is further desirable to provide a garment with a placket that has expansion and recovery properties. It is further desirable to provide a garment placket that flexes when worn to improve comfort of the garment. Summary

The present invention is specified in the claims as well as in the below description. Preferred embodiments are particularly specified in the dependent claims and the description of various embodiments.

Below is a list of garment embodiments. Those will be indicated with a letter“G”.

Whenever such embodiments are referred to, they will be done by referring to“G”

embodiments.

Gl. A garment comprising:

a placket attached to a garment body;

wherein at least a portion of the placket comprises a material having stretch in at least two distinct non-laterally-opposing directions thereof, and wherein the material comprises a fabric fused with a fusible substrate, and wherein the fusible substrate provides and controls stretch and recovery in said two distinct and non-laterally-opposing directions.

G2. The garment of embodiment Gl, wherein the fusible substrate provides greater stretch in one of said two distinct and

non-laterally-opposing directions.

G3. The garment of embodiments Gl or G2, wherein a portion of the garment body includes an opening with a left side and a right side, and the fabric defines the left side and/or the right side.

G4. The garment of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein fabric includes at least one fold and the fusible substrate is at least partially contained within the at least one fold.

G5. The garment of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the fabric comprises a continuous stream of fabric.

G6. The garment of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the fabric includes at least one fold and the fusible substrate is at least partially contained within the at least one fold.

G7. The garment of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the fusible substrate provides memory to the fabric. G8. The garment of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein said fabric has said stretch properties, at least in part, from being compacted, and wherein said fusible substrate controls said stretch properties of said fabric.

G9. The shirt of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein at least some of the fabric used in the placket is cut on a bias thereof.

G10. The garment of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the fusible substrate comprises a two-way fusible substrate.

Gil. The garment of any of the preceding embodiments wherein the material has stretch and recovery at offset angles with respect to the at least two non-opposing directions.

G12. The garment of any one of the preceding embodiments wherein the fabric is selected from: shirting fabric, denim, cotton, poly-cotton, linen, a compacted woven material, and a compacted knit material.

G13. The garment of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the stretch and recovery is primarily in a horizontal direction of the garment when worn.

G14. The garment of any one of the preceding embodiments, further comprising attachment mechanisms configured with the placket.

G15. The garment of embodiment G14, wherein the attachment mechanisms are selected from: buttons, buttonholes, snaps, studs, and zippers.

G16. The garment of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the garment comprises a shirt.

G17. The garment of any one of the preceding embodiments wherein the garment is a uniform.

The above features along with additional details of the invention are described further in the examples herein, which are intended to further illustrate the invention but are not intended to limit its scope in any way. Brief Description of the Drawings

Various other objects, features and attendant advantages of the present invention will become fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

FIGS. 1-13 show aspects of garments and garment plackets according to exemplary embodiments hereof;

FIGS. 14-17 show aspects of shirt plackets according to exemplary embodiments hereof;

FIGS. 18-27 show aspects of garments and garment plackets according to exemplary embodiments hereof;

FIGS 29-30 show aspects of an attachment mechanism and an extendable tab according to exemplary embodiments hereof;

FIGS 31-39 show aspects of an attachment mechanism, an extendable tab and garment plackets according to exemplary embodiments hereof;

FIGS. 40-41 show aspects of garment plackets according to exemplary

embodiments hereof; and

FIGS. 42A-42B depict an exemplary implementation of a garment with attachment mechanisms having extendable tabs according to exemplary embodiments hereof. Detailed Description of the Presently Preferred Exemplary Embodiments

With reference now to FIGS. 1-29, the expandable plackets according to exemplary embodiments hereof will be described.

For the purpose of this specification, the expandable placket sections according to exemplary embodiments hereof will be primarily described in relation to their use and utility with shirts. However, it will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art, upon reading this description, that the expandable placket sections may also be used with other types of garments such as dresses, blouses, jackets, coats, jumpers, one-piece suits, pants, trousers, skirts, or any other type of garments that may have an opening and that may utilize a placket. It is understood that the scope of the exemplary embodiments described herein are not in any way limited by the type of garment that may include the expandable plackets. Note that for the purposes of this specification, the term“right” and“left” ( e.g right placket section and left placket section), unless expressly specified otherwise, will refer to the directions right and left from the perspective of the person wearing the garment.

A placket refers, without limitation, to an opening or slit in a garment, covering fastenings or giving access to a pocket, or the flap of fabric under such an opening. The term placket may also refer to the double layers of fabric that hold the buttons and buttonholes in a shirt. Plackets can also be found at the neckline of a shirt, the cuff of a sleeve, or at the waist of a skirt or pair of trousers.

A placket may include sections of fabric that may be configured on either side of an opening or slit in a garment. The placket may hold fastening mechanisms (e.g., buttons and button holes, snaps, zippers, studs, etc.) that may be used to generally secure the opening at least partially closed. Plackets may be found extending down the front of a shirt or blouse, at the neckline of a shirt, blouse or dress, extending down from the collar of a shirt or blouse, on the cuff of a sleeve, at the waist of a skirt or pair of trousers, or in other areas of a garment that may include an opening or slit.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a shirt 100 viewed from the front with a right front shirt section 102-R and a left front shirt section 102-L. In the example depicted, the shirt 100 may be a button-down shirt 100 that may completely open in the front. Given this, the right front shirt section 102-R may be joined with the collar stand 103 on the right at the junction Tl, and may generally extend from the collar stand 103 down to the bottom right B1 of the shirt 100. Similarly, the left front shirt section 102-L may be joined with the collar stand 103 on the left at the junction T2, and may generally extend from the collar stand 103 down to the bottom left B2 of the shirt 100.

The right front shirt section 102-R may be configured with a right placket section 104-R that may generally extend from the top of the right front shirt section 102-R (at Tl) to the bottom right B1 of the shirt 100. The left front shirt section 102-L may be configured with a left placket section 104-L that may generally extend from the top of the left front shirt section 102-L (at T2) to the bottom left B2 of the shirt 100. The placket sections 104-R and 104-L, individually and collectively, may be referred to as a placket 104. A front shirt opening 106 may exist between the right placket section 104-R and the left placket section 104-L as shown in FIG. 1. The opening 106 may facilitate the putting on of the garment 100. Note that other types of shirts 100 may not completely open in the front, but instead may only partially open (e.g., open from top down to an intermediary location on the garment 100 but not all the way down to the bottom of the garment). In such cases, the placket sections 104-R, 104-L may extend at least a portion of the length of the opening, as required. These plackets 104 may be referred to as partial plackets 104. In addition, the plackets 104 may be located in other areas of the shirt 100 such as on the side(s) of the shirt 100, at offset positions on the front of the shirt 100, or in any other locations or

combinations of locations on the shirt 100 as required by the shirt 100.

The shirt 100 may be made with a general fabric, or a self-fabric that may be any general shirt fabric, including denim, cotton, poly-cotton, linen, polyester, etc. The self-fabric may also be rigid material, mechanical stretch material, stretch material (e.g., Lycra or Spandex), or other types of materials.

The right placket section 104-R may include fastening mechanisms 108-1, and the left placket section 104-L may include fastening mechanisms 108-2.

The fastening mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 may include, but are not limited to, buttons, buttonholes, snaps, studs, zippers, and other types of attachment mechanisms. To close the garment 100, that is, to hold the opening 106 of the garment 100 at least partially closed, one or more fastening mechanism 108-1 on the right placket section 104-R may engage with one or more corresponding fastening mechanisms 108-2 on the left placket section 104-L. In the example depicted in FIG. 1, the right side fastening mechanisms (e.g., buttons) 108-1 may engage with the left side attachment mechanisms (e.g., buttonholes) 108-2 to secure the right placket section 104-R to the left placket section 104-L. The result may be the combined placket 104-3 as shown in FIG. 2. It can be seen that in this example the left placket section 104-L may overlap the front surface of the right placket section 104- R when forming the combined placket 104-3 so that the fastening mechanisms (e.g., buttons) 108-1 on the right placket section 104-R may align (be positioned underneath) and properly engage (e.g., pass through) the attachment mechanisms (e.g., buttonholes) 108-2 in the left placket section 104-L. Note that while FIG. 2 shows each fastening mechanism (e.g., button) 108-1 engaged with a corresponding attachment mechanism (e.g., buttonhole), this may not be necessary, and only a portion of fastening mechanisms (e.g., buttons) 108-1 may be engaged with only a portion of the corresponding buttonholes 108-2 to form the combined placket 104-3. With the opening 106 generally held closed, the garment 100 may be generally held in place on the body of the person wearing it. When a placket 104 may include buttons 108-1, the placket 104 may be referred to as a button stand.

Although shown in the drawings in FIGS. 1 and 2 with buttons on the right and button holes on the left, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate and understand, upon reading this description, that the buttons may be on the left, with the button holes on the right. In general, an attachment mechanism has two engaging parts (e.g., buttons and button holes), and the scope hereof is not limited by the side(s) on which the various engaging parts are located.

A placket 104 may include reinforcement. The reinforcement may include multiple layers of fabric or other materials (e.g., fusible substrates and/or interfacing) secured together, and the fastening mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 may be generally attached in the area of the reinforcement. This may provide support and strength to the placket 104 and to the fastening mechanisms 108, both of which are often subjected to stress when the garment 100 may be worn.

The expandable placket 104 according to exemplary embodiments hereof may generally include fabric that may include stretch properties, joined with a fusible substrate(s) that may include recovery properties. In this way the fabric may allow the expandable placket 104 to stretch and expand when stretched, and the fusible substrate may facilitate recovery of the fabric to its generally original state once the stretch may be over. The term“stretch and recovery” may be used in this specification to describe this phenomenon. The manner in which the fabric and the fusible substrates may be formed and combined to form the expandable placket 104, and how the expandable placket 104 may be configured with the garment 100, may vary. For example, the placket 104 may be formed by folding portions of the shirt 100 and joining (e.g., fusing and/or stitching) the folded portions with the fusible substrate(s). The placket 104 may also be formed using sections of fabric separate from the shirt 100 that may be joined (e.g., fused and/or stitched or otherwise attached) with the fusible substrate(s) and then configured with the shirt 100.

Given this, aspects of the expandable placket 104 and the shirt 100 will be described by way of several detailed examples. The examples provided below are chosen to illustrate various configurations, types, or combinations of expandable plackets 104 configured with garments 100, according to exemplary embodiments hereof. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate and understand, upon reading this description, that the examples are not limiting and that the plackets 104, placket sections 104-R, 102-L, and the shirt 100 may be constmcted, made, or otherwise formed in ways described in the examples, in different ways, or in any combination thereof.

Note that this specification may sometimes describe aspects of the placket sections 104-R, 104-L with reference to figures that may show both the right and left placket sections 104-R, 104-L, or only the right placket section 104-R, and/or only the left placket section 104-L. In the cases where the aspects of the placket sections 104-R, 104-L are described with reference to one or more figures that only depict one of the placket sections 104-R, 104-L, it is understood that the aspects described with reference to the shown placket section 104 also pertain to the placket section 104 that may not be shown in the figure(s).

Example One

In some exemplary embodiments hereof, the expandable placket sections 104-R, 104-L may each be formed by folding over the edge material of the right and left front shirt sections 104-R, 102-L respectively, and fusing the folded section with a fusible substrate (also referred to herein as a fusible). In one exemplary embodiment hereof, the placket sections 104-R, 104-L may be formed by making a single fold of the sections 104-R,

102-L

FIG. 3 shows the cross sections of the right and left front shirt sections 104-R, 102-L taken from the perspective along cutline Al-Al in FIG. 1, prior to forming the placket sections 104-R, 104-L. As shown, the right front shirt section 102-R may include an edge region 110-R, and the left front shirt section 102-L may include an edge region 110-L. The opening 106 may be formed between the edge regions 110-R and 110-L.

As shown in FIG. 4, according to exemplary embodiments hereof, the self-fabric of the edge regions 110-R, 110-L may each be joined (e.g., fused and/or stitched) with a section of fusible substrate 112 (e.g., with a one-way, two-way, a four-way or an «-way fusible substrate where an «-way fusible substrate is a fusible substrate that provides stretch and recovery in « directions, where « may be any whole number). The material formed by fusing a self-fabric with a fusible substrate 112 may be referred to as performance material.

Using the front shirt section 104-R as a reference example, the section of fusible substrate 112 may be positioned on the front shirt section 104-R between dashed reference lines X-X’ and Y-Y’ and may generally extend from the top of the shirt section 104-R (e.g., at T1 in FIG. 1) to the bottom right B1 of the shirt section 104-R (also shown in FIG. 1). The right edge region 110-R of FIG. 3 may correspond to the region of fabric between the dashed reference lines X-X’ and Z-Z’ in FIG. 4 depicted as having a width Dl. The width of the fusible substrate 112 may be depicted as D2. In one preferred

implementation, the width D2 of the fusible substrate 112 may equal about 2.0- 3.0 cm. However, other widths D2 may also be used.

It may be preferable that the fusible substrate section 112 be placed on the underside of the shirt sections 104-R, (i.e., on the surface of the shirt section 104-R that may face towards the body of the person wearing the garment when worn), but the fusible substrate section 112 may also be placed on the outward facing surfaces of the shirt section 104-R instead.

FIG. 5 shows the cross-sectional view of the right shirt section 104-R with the fusible substrate section 112 placed on its underside surface as described above, taken from the perspective of cutline A2-A2 in FIG. 4. As shown, it may be preferable for the fusible substrate 112 to be placed at a distance D3 from the edge Z-Z’ of the right shirt section 104- R. It may also be preferable that the distance D3 be approximately equal to the width D2 of the fusible substrate 112. The reason for this will be described below.

The portion of the edge region 110-R between dashed lines Y-Y’ and Z-Z’ with a width D3 (also designated as 116 in FIG. 5) may be folded in the direction of arrow FI about the fold line represented as Y-Y’ such that the portion 116 may generally overlay the fusible substrate 112. Because the distance D3 may approximate the width D2, the portion 116 may generally overlay and cover the outer (exposed) surface of the fusible substrate 112. This is shown in FIG. 6. Note also that the portion 116 may not necessarily entirely cover the fusible substrate 112, and that a portion of the fusible substrate 112 may remain exposed. In addition, the portion 116 may extend over and beyond the fusible substrate 112

The resulting folded combination may be joined and held together to form the placket section 104-R using any means known in the art. In one exemplary embodiment hereof, the folded combination may be fused together under adequate heat and pressure as is known in the art to form the expandable placket section 104-R as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The placket section 104-R may also be stitched along stitch lines SI and S2 as shown in FIG. 7 to reinforce the placket section 104-R and to help hold the fused layers of self-fabric and fusible substrate 112 together. It may be preferable that the stitches pass through the folded layers of the shirt self-fabric as well as the fusible substrate 112 to secure the layers together. The location of the stitches SI and S2 are also shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 6 for further clarification. Note however that this is shown for conceptual purposes and the stitching may be implemented in any location or locations along or otherwise on the placket section 104-R. Note that the stitching may not be necessary. In general, the placket section 104-R may also be joined and held together using stitching, adhesives, fabric welding and/or other methods of attachment, alone or in combination.

In one presently preferred implementation, the width of the resulting placket section 104-R may be generally equal to the width D2 of the fusible substrate 112, e.g., about 2.0 - 3.0 cm. However, other widths D2 may also be used.

It is understood that the left placket section 104-L may be formed by following the same or similar procedure as described above with regards to the forming of the right placket section 104-R.

The attachment mechanisms 108-2, 108-2 may be attached or otherwise configured with the right and left placket sections 104-R, 104-L, respectively. This may result in the expandable placket sections 104-R, 104-L configured with the shirt 100 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

As will be described in more detail below, the edge regions 110-R, 110-L that may be folded and fused with the fusible substrate sections 112 to form the expandable placket sections 104-R, 104-L may include stretch properties, and the fusible substrates 112 may provide stretch and/or recovery, thereby controlling the underlying stretch of the fabric used for placket sections. The fabric used for edge regions 110-R 110-L may be cut on the bias, or may be compacted to give the regions 110-R, 110-L stretch properties, and then combined with the fusible substrate sections 112 to control and give memory to the stretch imposed by the bias cut and/or the compaction. In these cases, it may be preferable for the fusible substrate sections 112 to be fused with the compacted edge regions 110-R, 110-L of the front shirt section 104-R, 102-L fabric to form the placket sections 104-R, 104-L in order to best provide memory and recovery to the shirt 100 in the region of the placket sections 104-R, 104-L.

The entire front shirt sections 104-R, 102-L (or portions thereof) may initially be compacted to give the sections 104-R, 102-L stretch properties prior to the end regions 110-R, 110-L being fused with the fusible substrates 112 to give the end regions 110-R, 110-L recovery properties. The shirt sections 104-R, 102-L may then be washed to relax the un-fused portions leaving the fused portions with the imposed stretch and recovery properties.

It is understood that the description above is meant for conceptual and demonstrative purposes, and that the acts and/or procedures described to generally form and configure the placket sections 104-R 102-L with the shirt 100 may be performed in any order. For example, the placket sections 104-R, 104-L may be configured with the front shirt sections 104-R, 102-L prior to configuring the front shirt sections 104-R, 102-L with the shirt 100.

Example Two

In exemplary embodiments hereof, the placket sections 104-R, 104-L may be formed by making a double fold of the right and left front shirt sections 104-R, 102-L, respectively.

FIG. 8 shows the cross sections of the right and left front shirt sections 104-R,

102-L taken from the perspective along cut line A-A in FIG. 1, prior to forming the placket sections 104-R, 104-L. As shown, the right front shirt section 102-R may include an edge region 110-R, and the left front shirt section 102-L may include an edge region 110-L. The opening 106 may be formed between the edge regions 110-R and 110-L.

As shown in FIG. 9, according to exemplary embodiments hereof, the self-fabric of the edge regions 110-R, 110-L may each be joined (e.g., may be fused and/or stitched) with a section of fusible substrate 112 (e.g., with a one-way, two-way, a four- way or, in general, an «-way fusible substrate, where n may be any whole number). Using the front shirt section 104-R as a reference example, the section of fusible substrate 112 may be positioned on the front shirt section 104-R between dashed reference lines V-V’ and W-W’ and may generally extend from the top of the shirt section 104-R (e.g., at K in FIG. 1) to the bottom right M of the shirt (also shown in FIG. 1).

The right edge region 110-R of FIG. 8 may correspond to the region of fabric between the dashed reference lines V-V’ and Z-Z’ in FIG. 9 depicted as having a width D4. The width of the fusible substrate 112 may be depicted as D5. In one preferred

implementation, the width D5 of the fusible substrate 112 may equal about 4.0- 6.0 cm. However, other widths D5 may also be used.

It may be preferable that the fusible substrate section 112 be placed on the underside of the shirt sections 104-R, (i.e., on the surface of the shirt section 104-R that may face towards the body of the person wearing the garment when worn), but the fusible substrate section 112 may also be placed on the outward facing surfaces of the shirt section 104-R instead.

FIG. 10 shows the cross-sectional view of the right shirt section 104-R with the fusible substrate section 112 placed on its underside surface as described above, taken from the perspective of cutline A3-A3 in FIG. 9. As shown, it may be preferable for the fusible substrate 112 to be placed at a distance D8 from the edge Z-Z’ of the right shirt section 104- R. It may also be preferable that the distance D8 be approximately equal to one-half the width D5 of the fusible substrate 112. For example, D8 may equal D6 and/or D7 which may each equal one-half the width D5 of the fusible substrate 112. The reason for this will be described below.

The portion of the edge region 110-R between dashed reference lines W-W’ and Z-Z’ with a width D8 (also designated as 118 in FIG. 10) may be folded in the direction of arrow F2 about the fold line represented by W-W’ such that the portion 118 may generally overlay the half of the fusible substrate 112 defined by width D7. Because the distance D8 may approximate the width D7, the portion 118 when folded may generally overlay and cover the half of the fusible substrate 112 defined by the width D7. Accordingly, approximately one-half of the outer (exposed) surface of the fusible substrate 112 may be covered by the portion 118. This may form a first folded section 120 as shown in FIG. 11. Note however that other amounts of the fusible substrate 112 may also be covered.

The first folded section 120 may be folded in the direction of the arrow F3 in FIG.

11 such that the first folded section 120 may generally overlay the half of the fusible substrate defined by the width D6. Because the width of the first folded section 120 may approximate the width D6, the first folded section 120 may generally overlay and cover the outer and remaining exposed surface of the fusible substrate 112 defined by the width D6. This may form a second folded section 122 as shown in FIG. 12. Note that while FIG. 12 may depict the complete width of the fusible substrate 112 as covered up, a portion of the fusible substrate 112 may remain exposed.

The second folded section 122 may be joined together to form the placket 104-R using any means known in the art. In one exemplary embodiment hereof, the second folded section 122 may be fused together under adequate heat and pressure as is known in the art to form the expandable placket section 104-R as shown in FIG. 13. The placket section 104-R may also be stitched along stitch lines SI and S2 as shown in FIG. 13 to reinforce the placket section 104-R and to help hold the fused layers of self-fabric and fusible substrate 112 together. It may be preferable that the stitches pass through the folded layers of the shirt self-fabric as well as the fusible substrate 112 to secure the folded layers together. The location of the stitches SI and S2 are also shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 12 for further clarification. Note however that this is shown for conceptual purposes and the stitching may be implemented in any location or locations along or otherwise on the placket section 104-R. Note also that the stitching may not be necessary. The placket section 104-R may also be joined and held together using adhesives, fabric welding or other methods of attachment.

In one presently preferred implementation, the width of the resulting placket section 104-R may be generally equal to one-half the width D5 of the fusible substrate 112, e.g., about 2.0- 3.0 cm. However, other widths may also be used.

It is understood that the left placket section 104-L may be formed by following the same or similar procedure as described above with regards to the forming of the right placket section 104-R.

The attachment mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 may be attached or otherwise configured with the right and left placket sections 104-R, 104-L respectively. This may result in the expandable placket sections 104-R, 104-L configured with the shirt 100 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

As will be described in more detail below, the edge regions 110-R, 110-L that may be combined, folded, and fused with the fusible substrate sections 112 to form the expandable placket sections 104-R, 104-L may include stretch properties, and the fusible substrates 112 may provide recovery. The edge regions 110-R 110-L may be cut on the bias, or may be compacted to give the regions 110-R, 110-L stretch properties, and then combined with the fusible substrate sections 112 to control and give memory to the stretch imposed by the bias cut and/or the compaction. In this case, it may be preferable for the fusible substrate sections 112 to be fused with the compacted edge regions 110-R, 110-L of the front shirt section 104-R, 102-L fabric to form the placket sections 104-R, 104-L in order to best provide memory and recovery to the shirt 100 in the region of the placket sections 104-R, 104-L.

The entire front shirt sections 104-R, 102-L (or portions thereof) may initially be compacted to give the sections 104-R, 102-L stretch properties prior to the end regions 110-R, 110-L being fused with the fusible substrates 112 to give the end regions 110-R, 110-L recovery properties. The shirt sections 104-R, 102-L may then be washed to relax the un-fused portions leaving the fused portions with the imposed stretch and recovery properties.

It is understood that the description above is meant for conceptual and demonstrative purposes, and that the acts and/or procedures described to generally form and configure the placket sections 104-R 102-L with the shirt 100 may be performed in any order. For example, the placket sections 104-R, 104-L may be configured with the front shirt sections 104-R, 102-L prior to configuring the front shirt sections 104-R, 102-L with the shirt 100.

Example Three

In exemplary embodiments hereof, the placket sections 104-R, 104-L may be formed separate from the shirt 100 using other materials, and then combined with the shirt 100 to provide the placket sections 104-R, 104-L.

In exemplary embodiments hereof, a section of fabric (e.g., shirting self-fabric or other material) may be combined with a fusible substrate section, folded and fused to form a placket section, and joined with the edges of the front shirt sections to provide placket sections to the shirt. The section of fabric may be formed from a single-ply of material (a single-ply piece), from a double-ply of material (a double-ply piece), or from any other number of plies or types of materials or pieces.

FIG. 14 shows a fabric section 126 according to exemplary embodiments hereof with a width D9. The fabric section 126 may be a shirt self-fabric or other type of fabric or material. The fabric section may be provided as a continuous piece of material (e.g., from a spool) or it may be formed by joining pre-cut sections together, end-to-end (thereby to form a continuous piece of material). The latter approach may preferable when color matching of plackets to garment may be desired, as the individual pre-cut plackets may be cut from the same material as the rest of the garment. This latter approach lends itself to a system in which plackets are processed in smaller batches (e.g., 10-20 at a time), although it can be used for larger batches.

In another exemplary embodiment, the fabric sections 126 may be formed individually and may have a length that may be equal to or similar to the desired placket 104, e.g., the vertical length of the front shirt section 104-R measured from T1 to the bottom right M of the shirt 100 as shown in FIG. 1.

The fabric used to form the section 126 may be any general fabric or shirting fabric, including, for example, denim, cotton, poly-cotton, linen, etc. The self-fabric may also be rigid material, mechanical stretch material, stretch material (e.g., Lycra or Spandex), or other types of materials. The fabric may, but need not be, the same fabric as that of the garment. The fabric 126 may initially be with or without stretch (e.g., a compacted woven or compacted knit material), and may be cut in any way, including, e.g., along its length, breadth, or on a bias. In a preferred implementation as described in later sections, the fabric 126 may be compacted and/or cut on the bias to include stretch properties.

A fusible substrate 112 of width DIO may be positioned on the fabric section 126 as shown. The fusible substrate 112 may be a one-way, two-way, a four-way or, in general, an «-way fusible substrate, where n may be any whole number. The fusible substrate 112 may preferably be placed on the underside of the fabric section 126, but the fusible substrate 112 may also be placed on other surfaces of the fabric section 126. It may be preferable that the width DIO of the fusible substrate section 112 be generally centered along the width D9 of the fabric section 126 so that the length of the fusible substrate section 112 may generally run along the center of the fabric section 126 the length of the section 126. In this way the fusible substrate 112 may be preferable positioned between dashed lines R-R’ and S-S’. However, the fusible substrate 112 may also be positioned in other positions such as positions that may be offset from the center of the width D9 or in other positions with respect to the fabric section 126. The direction of the length of the fabric section 126 and the fusible substrate 112 is depicted as arrow LI in FIG. 14.

If the fabric section 126 may be provided as a continuous piece of material, it may be preferable that the fusible substrate section 112 also be provided as a continuous piece (e.g., from a spool). On the other hand, if the fabric section 126 may be provided as individual sections of fabric, it may be preferable that the fusible substrate section 112 also be provided as individual sections of fusible substrate in lengths that may generally match the lengths of the fabric sections 126. However, it is understood that the fabric section(s) 126 and/or the fusible substrate section(s) 112 may each be provided as continuous pieces and/or as individual pieces, or as any combination thereof.

It may be preferable that the widths Dll and D12 may each equal approximately one-half the width D10 of the fusible substrate 112. It may also be preferable for the distance D13 to be approximately equal to the width Dll, and for the distance D14 to be approximately equal to the width D12. The reason for this will be described below.

FIG. 15 shows the cross-section of the fabric section 126 and fusible substrate section 112 taken from the perspective along cutline A4-A4 in FIG. 14 and rotated 90° counter-clockwise (for visual presentation). The fabric section 126 of FIG. 15 may include a portion 128-1 that may correspond to the region of fabric between the dashed reference lines S-S’ and T-T’ in FIG. 14, and a portion 128-2 that may correspond to the region of fabric between the dashed reference lines Q-Q’ and R-R’ in FIG. 14. Given this, the portion 128-1 may generally have a width of D13 and the portion 128-2 may generally have a width of D14. In one preferred implementation, the width DIO of the fusible substrate 112 may equal about 4.0- 6.0 cm. However, other widths D10 may also be used.

The portion 128-1 may be folded in the direction of arrow F4 about the fold line represented by S-S’ such that the portion 128-1 may generally overlay and cover the portion of the fusible substrate defined by width Dll. The portion 128-2 may be folded in the direction of arrow F5 about the fold line represented by R-R’ such that the portion 128-2 may generally overlay and cover the portion of the fusible substrate defined by width D12. Accordingly, the portion 128-1 may generally overlay one-half of the fusible substrate 112, and the portion 128-2 may generally overlay the other one-half of the fusible substrate 112. This may form a combined folded section 130 that may include side-by-side folded sections 130-1, 130-2, as shown in FIG. 16. Note that while FIG. 16 may depict the fusible substrate 112 as completely covered by the portions 128-1, 128-2, a portion of the fusible substrate 112 may remain exposed.

The folded section 130 may be joined together (e.g., by fusing, stitching or other means). In one exemplary embodiment hereof, the folded section 130 may be fused together under adequate heat and pressure as is known in the art to form a fused folded section 130.

The folded portion 130-1 of the fused folded section 130 may be folded in the direction of the arrow F6, and the folded portion 130-2 of the fused folded section 130 may be folded in the direction of F7. This may result in the front surfaces of folded sections 130-1, 130-2 generally abutting against each other to form a placket 104 as shown in FIG.

17.

If the fabric 126 and/or the fusible substrate 112 are provided as continuous pieces (e.g., from spools), the resulting placket 104 may be a continuous stream of plackets 104 that may be equivalent in length to large quantities of individual plackets 104. Individual plackets 104 may then be cut from the continuous stream of plackets 104 to form individual plackets 104 to the exact specifications as required by the garment 100. This may reduce the cost of manufacturing as well as the amount of wasted material. If the fabric 126 and/or the fusible substrate 112 are provided as individual sections, the resulting placket 104 may be an individual placket 104. Other lengths of fabric 126 and fusible substrates 112 may result in other lengths of plackets 104.

The placket 104 may be configured with the front right shirt section 102-R or the front left shirt section 102-L by inserting the edge (e.g., the edge portion 110-R, 110-L of front shirt section(s) 102-R, 102-L shown in FIGS. 3 and 8) into the open end of the folded fused section 130 of FIG. 17 (i.e., between the abutted front surfaces of folded sections 130-1, 130-2). This may result in the placket 104 configured with the shirt 100 as shown in FIGS. 18 and 19. Note that the edges of shirt sections 102-R, 102-L may be inserted into the placket 104 at any adequate depth, and the depth depicted in FIG. 18 is meant for conceptual purposes.

The placket section 104-R may be stitched along stitch lines SI and S2 as shown in FIG. 19 to secure and hold the placket 104-R to the shirt sections 102-R, 102-L, to reinforce the placket section 104-R and to help hold the fused layers of fabric 126 and fusible substrate 112 together. It may be preferable that the stitches pass through the folded layers of the fabric 126 as well as the fusible substrate 112 to secure the folded layers together. The location of the stitches SI and S2 are also shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 18 for further clarification. Note however that this is shown for conceptual purposes and the stitching may be implemented in any location or locations along or otherwise on the placket section 104-R. Note also that the stitching may not be necessary.

In one presently preferred implementation, the width of the resulting placket section 104 may be generally equal to one-half the width D10 of the fusible substrate 112, e.g., about 2.0- 3.0 cm. However, other widths may also be used.

It is understood that both a right and a left placket section 104-R, 104-L may each be formed using a fabric section 126 and a fusible substrate 112 using the procedure as described above.

As will be described in more detail in later sections, the fabric section 126 that may be folded and fused with the fusible substrate sections 112 to form the expandable placket sections 104-R, 104-L may include stretch properties, and the fusible substrates 112 may provide recovery. The fabric section 126 may be cut on the bias, or may be compacted to give the fabric section 126 stretch properties, and then combined with the fusible substrate section(s) 112 to control and give memory to the stretch imposed by the bias cut and/or the compaction. In this case, it may be preferable for the fusible substrate sections 112 to be fused with the fabric section 126 to form the placket sections 104-R, 104-L in order to best provide memory and recovery to the shirt 100 in the region of the placket sections 104-R, 104-L

The attachment mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 may be attached or otherwise configured with the right and left placket sections 104-R, 104-L respectively. This may result in the expandable placket sections 104-R, 104-L configured with the shirt 100 as shown in FIGS.

1 and 2.

It is understood that the description above is meant for conceptual and demonstrative purposes, and that the steps and/or procedures described to generally form and configure the placket sections 104-R, 104-L with the shirt 100 may be performed in any order.

Details Regarding the Provided Examples

The details below may pertain and may be applicable to any elements described in this specification and shown in any of the figures, whether the elements and figures are described in sections prior to this section, or in sections after this section.

It will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art, upon reading this specification, that the examples provided herein are meant for conceptual and

demonstrational purposes. Some of the examples demonstrate how portions of the shirt itself may be combined with fusible substrates to form the expandable plackets 104, and some of the examples demonstrate how expandable plackets 104 may be formed using fabric separate from the shirt 100, combined with fusible substrates, and then configured with the shirt 100 to provide the plackets 104. In any event, the examples are presented to show that, fundamentally, the expandable placket 104 may be formed by combining a fabric with stretch properties with a fusible substrate with recovery properties, regardless whether the fabric with stretch properties is a portion of the shirt 100 and/or if the fabric is separate from the shirt 100 and/or any combination thereof. The expandable placket 104 may comprise a fused fabric composite having one or more layers of fabric with stretch properties and one or more layers of fusible substrate with recovery properties. The number of layers and/or folds of fabric and/or fusible substrates used to form the expandable placket 104, and the forms that the layers or folds may take, do not limit the scope of the expandable placket 104 in any way.

In addition, it is understood that fundamentally the expandable placket 104

according to exemplary embodiments hereof may be formed in any way that combines one or more sections of fabric that include stretch properties with one or more sections of fusible substrate that include recovery properties.

For example, while some of the examples provided herein may describe portions of the shirt 100 (e.g., the front and left front shirt sections 102-R, 102-L) that may be folded once and/or twice and combined with a fusible substrate to form the expandable placket 104, any number of folds of the shirt portions may be employed. In addition, no folding of the shirt portions may be necessary and the edge portions 110-R, 110-L may be combined with the fusible substrate 112 without any folds.

In addition, while some examples may depict sections of fabric 126 separate from the shirt 100 that may be folded and combined with a fusible substrate 112 to form the expandable plackets 104, the fabric 126 may be folded in different sequences than those described, in different manners, into different shapes or forms, using different numbers of folds, not folded at all, or any combination thereof. For example, the fabric 126 may be a single-ply of fabric, with no folds, that may be combined with the fusible substrate 112 and configured with the shirt 100 to provide an expandable placket 104.

It will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that examples provided herein do not limit the scope of the shirt 100 or the expandable plackets 104 in any way. It is also understood that the shirts 100, the front shirt sections 102-R, 102-L, the expandable placket sections 104, and any other element of the garment 100 that may be configured with the placket sections 104, may be formed and configured using any of the details described in relation to the examples described above, using any combinations of the examples described above, or using any other methods that may result in the placket sections 104 being formed and adequately configured with the garment 100. In one example, self-fabric used to form the front shirt sections 102-R, 102-L may be provided on spools as continuous streams of front shirt sections. The appropriate edges of the continuous stream of front shirt sections may be compacted, folded and fused with a fusible substrate (preferably also provided on spools) to form a continuous stream of front shirt sections that includes a continuous stream of plackets attached thereto. The continuous stream of shirt sections may then be cut to length using a pattern for the shirt sections 102-R, 102-L to form individual shirt sections 102-R, 102-L each with corresponding individual placket sections 104-R, 104-L.

It is clear that the scope of this disclosure includes the shirt 100, the front shirt sections 102-R, 102-L, the placket sections 104, and any other element of the garment 100 that may be configured with the placket sections 104, being formed or generally constructed and configured together in any manner known in the art or otherwise, whether or not the shirt 100, the front shirt sections 102-R, 102-L, the placket sections 104, and any other element of the garment 100 that may be configured with the placket sections 104, include the sections, elements, forms or steps of construction described herein.

Note that the steps described in the examples above for forming the placket sections 104-R, 104-L may be performed in different orders. Some steps may be eliminated and other and/or additional steps may also be added, or taken, to form the placket sections 104- R, 104-L. For example, in Example One and/or Example Two, the fusible substrate sections 112 may be fused to the self-fabric of the shirt sections 102-R, 102-L prior to the folding of the self-fabric over the fusible substrate sections 112. In this way, the fusible substrates 112 may be held in place during the folding procedure. The folded combination may be fused again after the folding procedure to further fuse the folded section to the fusible substrate 112 as required.

In another example, one or both stitches SI and S2 of FIGS. 7, 13 and 19 may eliminated in the left placket section 104-L. This may result in the shirt 100 as shown in FIG. 20. Note that this placket 104 may be referred to as a French front.

In another example, the shirt 100 may include an additional piece of fabric that may cover up the placket 104 and the attachment mechanisms 108-2, 108-2 that may be configured thereto. This may be provided for aesthetic reasons to provide a formal appearance to the garment. However, it should be understood that this may not interfere with the stretch and recovery properties of the placket 104 underneath. This is shown in FIG. 24 and may be referred to as a covered placket or a fly front.

In another example as shown in FIG. 22, the expandable right placket 104-R

(including the fusible substrate 112) may extend laterally to the reference line XX-X1’ and the expandable left placket 104-L may extend laterally to the reference line YY-YY’. In this case, the combined expandable placket 104-3 may extend from XX-XX’ to YY-YY’. It can be seen that this may result in a wider combined expandable placket 104-3 that may provide additional stretch and recovery to the garment 100 due to the additional width. This may preferably be implemented in formal wear such as a tuxedo shirt that may include seam lines along XX-XX’ and YY-YY’, but it may also be implemented in any other type of garment. A person of ordinary skill in the art will also recognize that the elements, shapes, pieces and/or forms shown and/or described, e.g. the right front shirt section 102-R, the left front shirt section 102-L, the right placket section 104-R, the left placket section 104-L, the opening 106 and any other elements, sections, pieces or forms, shown and/or described herein with reference to any or all embodiments and/or figures, that may represent the various elements of the embodiments described, are shown for conceptual purposes and are not meant to represent the shapes, sizes, dimensions or forms of the actual elements, sections, pieces or forms. In addition, the shapes, elements, pieces and forms shown are not to scale. The shapes, sizes, forms and dimensions of the actual elements, sections and pieces of the embodiments may be any shapes, sizes, forms and dimensions that may be adequate for the embodiments and may depend on the type of garment that the elements and pieces may ultimately form.

In addition, any aspects described in relation to the right placket section 104-R may also apply to the left placket section 102-L, and vice versa. For example, the attachment mechanisms 108-1 (e.g., buttons) may be configured with the left placket section 104-L and the attachment mechanisms 108-2 (e.g., button holes) may be configured with the right placket 104-R. In this case, the combined placket 104-3 comprising right and left placket sections 104-R, 104-L may be formed by overlaying the right placket section 104-R over the left placket section 104-L.

It should be appreciated that, as with all of the drawings herein, that the relative positions and sizes of the end sections 110-R, 110-L, the fusible substrates 112 and the fabric sections 126 are merely exemplary. It should be appreciated that, in addition to the drawings not being to scale, the folds of the actual substrates or materials may not be rectangular, and the rectangular folding is shown in the drawings to aid in this description. In addition, the folds depicted in the drawings may not take into account the actual thicknesses of the fabrics and the fusible substrates, as the illustrations of the folds are meant for demonstrative and conceptual purposes.

Although the folding of the end sections 110-R, 110-L, the fusible substrates 112 and the fabric sections 126 are described in distinct drawings and as distinct steps, it should be appreciated that the folds may be achieved simultaneously, e.g., using mechanical folders.

Also, the lines that may illustrate the positions of the front shirt sections 102-R, 102-L, the plackets 104 or other types of sections or pieces in the figures described herein (e.g. reference lines X-X’, Y-Y’ and Z-Z’ in FIG. 4 or any other lines in any other figures), may not necessarily be straight lines as depicted, but may be curved lines or lines formed into other shapes that may correspond to the shapes and forms of the actual shirt sections 102-R, 102-L and/or plackets 104 that may be configured.

As should also be appreciated, the reference lines shown in the drawings (e.g., X-X’,

Y-Y’ and Z-Z’), are given only for the purposes of this description and are not generally included in any garment.

As should be clear to a person of ordinary skill in the art, upon reading this description, any and all possible shapes or forms, or combinations of shapes or forms, of expandable plackets 104 are contemplated within this disclosure. The edges of the plackets 104 may be straight, curved, smooth or any combination thereof, and may include curvatures, patterns or other elements. If the garment 100 may include more than one placket 104, the plackets 104 need not match (e.g., the right placket section 104-R need not match the left placket section 104-L). The plackets may be configured with the shirt 100 (or other types of garments) using any method, including the methods described in the examples above, combinations of the methods described in the examples above, and/or using any other methods or combinations of any other methods.

In addition, while the elements or sections, including the front shirt sections 102-R, 102-L, the plackets 104 and any other elements, sections, pieces or forms, have each been described as generally being formed from single pieces, any of the elements described may each be formed using more than one piece, and the more than one pieces may be aligned and attached together (e.g. stitched) to generally form each element(s). For example, the front shirt sections 102-R, 102-L may comprise more than one piece, and the more than one pieces may be joined together in any fashion to generally form the complete front shirt sections 102-R, 102-L. The resulting combined front shirt sections 102-R, 102-L may then be configured with the garment 100 and the plackets 104 as described. It is clear that any of the sections, whether formed of single pieces, more than one piece, or any combination thereof, may then be combined as described above to form the garment 100 and the plackets 104. The scope of the elements or sections described herein is not limited in any way by the number of pieces that may be used to form any of the elements or sections, nor the way the elements or sections may be configured together.

In all of the embodiments described herein, it is understood that the expandable placket sections 104-R, 104-L (collectively and individually 104) may be formed, positioned and configured anywhere on the garment as desired. In addition, the placket sections 104 may extend any length or distance as required by the garment 100. Any number of expandable plackets 104 may be formed, configured and utilized with a garment

100

In addition, any of the elements described herein may be formed using a single-ply of material (a single-ply piece), a double-ply of material (a double-ply piece), or by using any other number of plies or types of materials or pieces.

Note that in any of the embodiments described herein, the elements of the shirt 100 (e.g. the expandable plackets 104) may also be attached using attachment methods other than sewing such as fabric welding, adhesives or other attachment methods. In addition, the plackets 104 may be attached with different and/or other attachment methods in different places or parts. For example, the connections between the right placket section 104-R and the right front shirt section 102-R may differ than the connections between the left placket section 104-L and the left front shirt section 102-L. Attachment methods may differ, e.g, in the kind of method (e.g, stitching vs. welding or the like), or in the kind of stitching.

The plackets 104, front shirt sections 102-R, 102-L and other pieces may have border regions (not shown) that can be used for connecting (e.g, stitching) to adjacent pieces. In general, in the drawings, the plackets 104 and shirt pieces are exemplary in shape and border or stitching regions may not be shown. Properties and Benefits of the Expandable Plackets

The stretch and recovery properties of the expandable plackets 104 and the garments (e.g., shirts 100) that may be configured with the expandable plackets 104 according to exemplary embodiments hereof will now be described in further detail. It is understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that the stretch and recovery details described will pertain to any of the plackets 104 described herein. It is also understood that the details will pertain to any expandable placket 104 that may be formed using any of procedures described herein, using any combination or combinations of the procedures described herein, or using any other method or procedure, or combinations of methods and

procedures, whether expressly described herein or not, that may result in an expandable placket 104 generally comprising a fused fabric composite of any form, utilizing a fusible substrate and formed in any way. It is also understood that the material properties and benefits that may result due to the forming of the expandable plackets 104 as described will apply to all of the plackets 104 in all of the embodiments included herein. For purposes of this description, the individual properties of the right and left placket sections 104-R, 104-L will be described first. The properties of the combined placket section 104-3 (the right placket section 104-R combined with left placket section 104-L as shown in FIG. 2) will be described second.

For the purposes of this discussion, one of the stretch (and recovery) directions may be referred to as a horizontal or width direction. Another stretch (and recovery) direction may be in the vertical or height direction. Preferably the fused material formed by fusing a fabric with a fusible substrate (i.e., the performance material) is formed with the vertical direction of the fusible substrate substantially along the height of the placket 104, and the horizontal direction of the fusible substrate substantially along the width of the placket 104.

As used herein, with reference to the stretch (and/or recovery) properties of a material, a direction may refer to a single direction with respect to a particular point or location or orientation or to substantially opposing directions with respect to that particular point or location or orientation. The term“opposing directions” refers to directions that are at or about 180 degrees opposed to each other (within 1-5 degrees). In other words, directions that are substantially opposed to each other. Thus, e.g ., with respect to a mid-point on a placket, a particular fabric having horizontal stretch (and recovery) has stretch (and recovery) to the left and right (i.e., in two opposing directions).

In some preferred embodiments the fusible substrate is a two-way fusible substrate having greater stretch in the vertical or height direction thereof, preferably about 90% horizontal stretch, with the other direction of stretch being about 10%. In other preferred embodiments, the two-way fusible substrate may have somewhat equal stretch and recovery in the horizontal and vertical directions. The two-way fusible substrate may also have other amounts of stretch and recovery in the horizontal direction compared to the vertical direction, and the scope of the embodiments described herein is not limited by the amounts of stretch and recovery that the fusible may have in any direction with respect to any other direction.

FIG. 23 shows, according to exemplary embodiments hereof, a right expandable placket section 104-R configured with a right front shirt section 102-R, and a left expandable placket section 104-L configured with a left front shirt section 102-L. The expandable placket sections 104-R, 104-L may be formed in any manner as described in this specification or otherwise. Note that the attachment mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 are not depicted in FIG. 23 for presentation purposes, but it is understood that the placket sections 104-R, 104-L may each include attachment mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 respectively as required by the garment 100.

As shown, the right and left expandable plackets 104-R, 104-L, respectively, may each be preferably formed from fabric having stretch and recovery in one, two or other numbers of directions. In one exemplary embodiment, the plackets 104 may each preferably have stretch and recovery in a substantially horizontal direction ( e.g ., generally along the width of the plackets 104, generally in the direction of arrowed lines A-A’ and E-E’, and I-G and M-M’ in FIG. 23, from left to right and right to left). In another exemplary embodiment, the plackets 104 may preferably each have stretch and recovery in a substantially vertical direction (e.g., generally along the length of the plackets 104 (e.g. generally in the direction of arrowed lines B-B’ and F-F’, and J-J’ and N-N’ in FIG. 26, from up to down and down to up).

In addition (or instead), in some exemplary embodiments the plackets 104 may each include stretch and recovery in other directions that may be at different angles (offset angles) with respect to the vertical or horizontal directions (e.g, in the directions of arrowed lines C-C’ and/or D-D’, G-G’ and/or H-H’, K-K’ and/or L-L’, and O-O’ and/or P-P’ in FIG. 23) Note that while the directions of stretch and recovery represented by the angled arrow lines C-C’, D-D’, G-G’, H-H’, K-K’, L-L’, O-O’ and P-P’ may be shown in the drawing in FIG. 23 as generally offset at approximately 45 degrees with respect to lines A-A’ and B-B’, E-E’ and F-F’, and I-G and J-J’, and M-M’ and N-N’, respectively, the directions of stretch and recovery represented by the lines C-C’, D-D’, G-G’, H-H’, K-K’, L-L’, O-O’ and P-P’ may be offset at any angles or any combinations of angles with respect to arrowed lines A-A’ and B-B’, E-E’ and F-F’, and I-G and J-J’, and M-M’ and N-N’.

While FIG. 23 may show two constellations of arrowed lines for each placket section 104-R, 104-L that may represent different directions of stretch and recovery of the plackets 104, it will be understood and appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, upon reading this specification, that the constellations of arrowed lines shown in the figure are meant for conceptual purposes, are not to scale and do not represent any particular location of stretch and recovery along the length of the plackets 104. Indeed, any individual point or location on the plackets 104 may have stretch and recovery in any directions or angles thereof. Furthermore, it is understood that the constellations of arrowed lines depicted may be located at, and may thereby represent stretch and recovery at, any points or locations along the length or width of the plackets 104. In addition, any point or location along the plackets 104 may stretch and recover in the same, similar or different directions and/or angles with respect to any other point or location along the length or width of the plackets 104 or in any combination thereof. In general, it is understood that the plackets 104 may each have any direction or angle of stretch and recovery at any locations point or position, or in any combination of locations, points and positions along its widths and lengths. In addition, it is clear that the stretch and recovery properties of the right placket 104-R may be independent and distinct from the stretch and recovery properties of the left placket 104-L.

It is also appreciated that the plackets 104 may each include stretch and recovery properties in multiple directions and in multiple locations along their lengths and widths simultaneously. For example, the right placket 104-R may simultaneously include stretch and recovery in the horizontal direction ( e.g . in the direction of arrowed lines A-A’, E-E’) as well as in the directions of any offset angles represented by the angled arrow lines C-C’, D-D’, G-G’, and H-H’. Recall that while the arrowed lines C-C’, D-D’, G-G’, H-H’ are depicted as being generally 45 degrees with respect to the arrowed lines A-A’ and B-B’, E-E’ and F-F’, respectively, the angled arrowed lines C-C’, D-D’, G-G’, and H-H’ may represent directions of stretch and recovery at any offset angles with respect to the arrowed lines A-A’ and B-B’, E-E’ and F-F’.

The placket 104-R may include stretch and recovery properties simultaneously in multiple directions, and each direction may be at any offset angle with respect to the offset angles represented by the arrowed lines C-C’, D-D’, G-G’, and H-H’. It is appreciated that the left placket 104-L may also simultaneously include stretch and recovery in the horizontal direction as well as in the directions of any offset angles represented by its constellations of arrows as described above with respect to the right placket 104-R and its constellations of arrows. This example is meant for demonstration purposes and it is understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that the plackets 104 may each include stretch and recovery properties simultaneously in any combination of angles and/or directions, and in any location or at any point on each placket 104-R 104-L.

While the plackets 104 may have substantial stretch and recovery in the horizontal and vertical directions, the plackets 104 may have at least some stretch and recovery in any other direction with respect to the plackets 104. Furthermore, while preferable

embodiments have primary stretch and recovery (i.e., the most stretch and recovery) in substantially the horizontal direction (i.e., along line A-A’ and E-E’, and I-G and M-M’ in FIG. 23), and/or in substantially the vertical direction (i.e., along the line B-B’ and F-F’, and J-J’ and N-N’ in FIG 20), other embodiments may have primary stretch and recovery in any other directions or angles or in any combination of other directions or angles.

The recovery of the plackets 104 and/or the shirts combined with the plackets 104 may occur over different lengths of time depending on a variety of conditions and characteristics, including but not limited to, (a) the types and characteristics of the materials used for the shirts and the plackets, (b) the construction of the shirts and plackets, (c) the environment in which the shirts and plackets may be worn, (d) the types and durations of movements the person wearing the shirts and plackets may make, (e) the conditions under which the shirts and plackets may be washed, as well as other characteristics of the shirts and the plackets, and other conditions that the shirts and plackets may experience. For example, the recovery may occur over sixty seconds or less, over five minutes, over one hour, over several hours ( e.g ., six hours), over 24 hours, over days, weeks or even months In addition, the recovery may require washing or other conditions (such as heating, cooling, becoming wet, drying and other conditions) to occur. It is clear to a person of ordinary skill in the art, upon reading this specification, that the recovery of the shirts and/or the plackets may occur at any time after the stretch has occurred, and that the shirts and/ or the plackets may require conditions to trigger and/or facilitate the recovery (e.g., washing). It is also clear that the scopes of the exemplary embodiments described herein are in no way limited by the amount of time required for the recovery to take place or the conditions under which the recovery may be facilitated.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate and understand, upon reading this description, that the direction of a placket’s primary stretch and recovery may also depend on the type of activities the wearer will perform when wearing the shirt 100. For example, work shirts worn by a person who may bend over or sit down may need primary stretch and recovery in the horizontal direction to accommodate expansion of the shirt 100 around the mid-section (e.g., along lines A-A’, E-E’ and I-G, M-M’ in FIG. 23), whereas shirts worn by someone who has the need to reach up high may need primary stretch and recovery in the vertical direction to accommodate expansion of the shirt 100 in the vertical direction (e.g, along lines B-B’, F-F’ and J-J’, N-N’ in FIG. 23).

While the constellations of arrowed lines in FIG. 23 each show four generally opposing directions (A-A’, B-B’, C-C’, D-D’, and E-E’, F-F’, G-G, H-H’, I-G, J-J’, K-K’, L-L’ and M-M’, N-N’, 0-0’, P-P’), those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate and understand, upon reading this description, that any directions or number of directions are possible. Furthermore, the angles between the arrowed lines in FIG. 23 are not to scale or representative of actual angles.

In some exemplary embodiments hereof, it may be preferable for the placket sections 104-R, 104-L to each have stretch and recovery of at least 1.0 cm in the horizontal direction ( e.g along the width of the plackets 104). However, lesser or greater amounts of stretch and recovery may also be used and are contemplated herein.

The properties of the combined placket 104-3 according to exemplary embodiments hereof will now be described. FIG. 24 shows a front view of the right placket section 104-

R combined with the left placket section 104-L to form the combined placket 104-3. Note that the attachment mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 are not depicted in FIG. 24 for presentation purposes, but it is understood that the placket sections 104-R, 104-L may each include attachment mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 respectively as required by the garment 100.

FIG. 25 shows the cross-section of the combined placket 104-3 taken from the perspective along cutline A5-A5 in FIG. 24. Note that FIG. 25 depicts generalized versions of the placket sections 104-R, 104-L and does not depict the layers, folds, the fusible substrates and other elements that may form the placket sections 104-R, 104-L.

As shown, in one exemplary embodiment hereof, the left placket section 104-L may generally overlap at least a portion of the right placket section 104-R. While the attachment mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 may not be shown in this figure, this overlapping may allow for the attachment mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 to properly engage during actual use of the plackets 104 and the shirt 100. For example, if the attachment mechanisms 108-1 may be buttons, and the attachment mechanisms 108-2 may be corresponding button holes, the overlapping of the placket sections 104-R, 104-L may allow the buttons 108-1 on the right placket section 104-R to be positioned underneath the button holes 108-2 on the left placket section 104-L such that the buttons 108-1 may pass through the button holes 108-2. Note that other types of fastening mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 such as interlocking zipper sections may not require the placket sections 104-R, 104-L to overlap, but instead may require that the placket sections 104-R, 104-L be positioned generally side-by-side or adjacent. Any positioning of the placket section 104-R with respect to the placket section 104-L necessary to form the combined placket 104-3 in accordance with the requirements of the attachment mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 may be used and is contemplated in this disclosure. Because the left placket section 104-L may overlap the right placket section 104-R in FIG. 24, only the left placket section 104-L may be visible in the figure. Given this, only the constellations of arrows that may represent the stretch and recovery properties of the left placket section 104-L as describe above (e.g., H-H’, I-G, J-J’, K-K’, L-L’ and M-M’, N-N’, 0-0’, P-P’) may be depicted. However, it is understood that the right placket section 104-R and the constellation of arrows that may represent the stretch and recovery properties of the right placket section 104-R as described above may be implied in the figure.

With the placket sections 104-R, 104-L combined (e.g., buttoned together using buttons 108-1 and button holes 108-2, or other attachment mechanisms), the combined placket 104-3 may simultaneously include any combination or combinations of any and/or all of the stretch and recovery properties and aspects of the right placket 104-R and/or the left placket 104-L described above.

The expandable plackets 104 described herein provide numerous advantages over prior approaches. When shirts 100 are worn, movements made by the user (e.g., sitting down, reaching up, bending over to pick up a box) may cause the person’s body to apply forces to the shirt 100 in different directions depending on the movement. For instance, it is known that when a person may sit down, the person’s belly may tend to gather, bulge or generally protrude in a forward direction due to the sitting position. The placket 104 described herein provides the ability of the shirt 100 to expand to better accommodate body movements, thus minimizing the tautness and binding of the garment. Having stretched or expanded, when the motion is over the placket 104 and the shirt 100 is then able to return substantially to its original dimensions (due to the recovery properties imparted by the fusible substrate combined with the placket). This may provide a much higher level of comfort to persons who may wear the shirt 100 configured with an expandable placket 104 while performing duties that may involve moving their body.

A representation of this example is shown in FIG. 26, which shows a cross-sectional view of the combined placket 104-3 taken from the perspective along cutline A6-A6 in FIG. 24. For illustrative purposes, the placket sections 104-R, 104-L are generalized illustrations that do not depict the layers of fabric or the fusible substrate. The attachment mechanisms 108-2, 108-2 are also generalized. As shown, the placket section 104-R may generally expand and contract in the directions of the arrow M-M’, and the placket section 104-L may expand and contract in the directions of the arrow E-E’. When a force is applied to the shirt 100 along the arrows M-M’ and/or E-E’, e.g., caused by the person wearing the shirt sitting down, the expandable placket section 104-R may expand in the direction of the arrow E and the expandable placket section 104-L may expand in the direction of the arrow M’ as shown in FIG. 27. It can be seen that the overall width of the combined placket 104-3 may expand from an original width of D15 (in FIG.

26 prior to the force being applied) to an expanded width of D16 (in FIG. 27 after the force has been applied). Once the force is removed, e.g., the person wearing the shirt stands up, the expandable placket section 104-R may generally contract in the direction of the arrow E’ and the expandable placket section 104-L may generally contract in the direction of the arrow M. In this way, the combined expandable placket 104-3 may contract to at least substantially its original width of D15.

It can be seen that the attachment mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 may generally hold the right placket section 104-R and the left placket section 104-L firmly together in the region immediately surrounding the attachment mechanisms 108-1, 108-2, even during the applied forces. However, it can be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that in the regions of the plackets 104-R, 104-L between the attachment mechanisms 108-1, 108-2 (e.g., in the areas between the sequential button/button hole combinations) the plackets 104- R, 104-L may not be held firmly together and may each flex in the directions of the applied forces. This may cause the plackets 104-R, 104-L to separate in these regions (causing the plackets to bulge). However, with expandable plackets 104-R, 104-L employed, the plackets 104-R, 104-L may expand to alleviate this separation and bulging. Given this, it may be necessary to only provide stretch and recovery properties in the regions immediately surrounding the attachment mechanisms 108-1, 108-2. However, as described above, it may be preferable to provide stretch and recovery properties along the entire lengths of the plackets 104.

Attachments with Extendable Tabs

In exemplary embodiments hereof, one or more of the attachment mechanisms 108 may comprise or be configured with an extendable tab 132 as shown in FIG. 28. The extendable tab 132 may comprise a material that may have stretch and recovery properties such as, e.g., elastic material, elastic fabric, elastic thread, elastic string, a fusible substrate fused with a compacted fabric, a fusible substrate fused with a fabric cut on the bias, or any type of material or combinations of materials that alone or in combination may have stretch and recovery properties. It may be preferable that the extendable tab 132 include an expandable material that includes stretch and recovery properties that may allow the tab 132 to stretch when a force may be applied to the material, and to recover back to its general pre-stretched shape, form and dimensions when the force may be withdrawn.

In exemplary embodiments hereof, the attachment mechanism 108 may include a button 108-1 and the button 108-1 may be attached to the top surface 134 of the extendable tab 132.

As shown in FIG. 29, in one implementation, the extendable tab 132 may include an elastic band that may be a single-ply. As shown in FIG. 30, in another implementation, the extendable tab 132 may include an elastic band that may be a double-ply. In this case, the tab 132 may be a single-ply elastic band doubled over to form the two-ply tab 132 shown in FIG. 30. Note that other plies or layers may also be used and that the number of plies, layers and/or the type of material(s) used for the extendable tab 132 does not limit the scope of the extendable tab 132 in any way.

The attachment mechanism 108-1 may be attached to the top surface 134 of the expandable tab 132 using stitching, rivets, or any other methods of attachment. It may be preferable that the attachment mechanism 108-1 be generally configured with the extendable tab 132 on the top surface 134 of the tab 132 in the area off center of the tab 132 (e.g., to the right of the tab 132) as shown. The reason for this will be explained below. However, the attachment mechanism 108-1 may also be attached to the extendable tab 132 in any location, position or surface on the extendable tab 132.

With reference to FIG. 28, the width D17 of the attachment mechanism 108-1 (e.g., a button) may be the same or similar to the width D18 of the extendable tab 132. However, the width D17 of the attachment mechanism 108-1 may also be greater than, less than, or any other size relative to the width D18 of the tab 132.

As shown in FIG. 31, in one exemplary embodiment hereof, the extendable tab 132

(including the attached attachment mechanism 108-1) may be configured with the placket 104. In one embodiment, the attachment mechanism 108-1 and the tab 132 may be configured with the right placket section 104-R. However, the attachment mechanism 108- 1 may also be configured with the left placket section 104-L or with any other placket section 104.

With reference to FIG. 31, the placket 104 may include a slot 136 that may extend from its front surface 138 (e.g., the surface that may face away from the body of the person wearing the shirt 100 when worn) to an intermediary layer inside the placket 104. In one embodiment, the slot 136 may extend through the front ply (e.g., the outside layer of material) only. If the placket 104 comprises multiple plies, the slot 136 may extend from the front surface 138 of the placket 104 through any number of plies or layers of material comprising the placket 104. In addition, the slot may also extend from the front surface 138 of the placket 104 through the entirety of the placket 104 through the back surface of the placket 104.

In exemplary embodiments hereof, a portion of the extendable tab 132 may be inserted into the slot 136. In one preferable embodiment, a portion of the tab 132 to the left of the attachment mechanism 108-1 may be inserted into the slot 136 and configured within (or beneath) the placket 104-R. This is depicted as dashed lines in FIG. 31. It may be preferable for the slot 136 to have a width D19 that may be similar, the same, or greater than the width D18 of the extendable tab 132 so that the slot 136 may accommodate the tab 132. In this way, the portion of the extendable tab 132 may fit within the slot 136 and extend from the outer surface 138 of the placket 104 into an intermediary layer (or all the way through) the placket 104. It may be preferable that the extendable tab 132 may lay generally flat against the placket 104 when in this configuration. Note also that the width D19 of the slot 136 may also be less than the width D18 of the extendable tab 132.

The portion of the extendable tab 132 to the right of the button 108-1 may remain outside the slot 136 and thereby outside the placket 104. The portion of the tab 132 that may remain outside the slot may allow the user of the garment 100 to grasp the outer portion of the tab 132 to better aid in the process of engagement of the attachment mechanisms 108-1 and 108-2 (and thereby the left and right placket sections 104-L, 104-R). In addition, it may be preferable that the button 108-1 also remain outside the slot and outside the placket 104 as shown. FIG. 33 also shows this configuration from the perspective taken along the cutline A7-A7 of FIG. 31. Note that FIG. 34 shows other elements such as the left placket section 104-L as well as other aspects of the placket 104 and extendable tab 132, as will be described below.

The left edge of the extendable tab 132 that may be configured within (or under) the placket 104 may generally extend to the left portion of the placket 104-R and be held in place by stitching along the stitch line SI or by other attachment mechanisms or methods.

In this way, the extendable tab 132 may be held in place as described.

In one exemplary embodiment hereof, the width D19 of the slot 136 may be similar or the same as the width D18 of the extendable tab 132, and the width D17 of the attachment mechanism 108-1 may be greater than both the width D18 of the extendable tab 132 the width D19 of the slot 136. This is shown in FIG. 32. In this way, the portion of the tab 132 may fit within the slot 136 as described above, and the attachment mechanism 108- 1, having a greater width D17 than D19 of the slot 136, may be held outside the slot 136 and outside the placket 104-R.

Note that the descriptions given above regarding the widths D17, D18 and D19 of the attachment mechanism 108-1, the extendable tab 132 and the slot 136 respectively are meant for demonstration and conceptual purposes, and that the widths D17, D18 and D19 may have any values with respect to one another.

In any event, the attachment mechanism 108-1 may be attached to the extendable tab

132, and the combination 108-1, 132 may be configured with the placket 104 as described above.

FIGS. 33 and 34 show an exemplary attachment mechanism 108-1 (e.g., a button) configured with the extendable tab 132, and the combination 108-1, 132 configured with the right placket section 104-R from the perspective taken along the cutline A7-A7 of FIG. 31. FIGS. 33 and 34 also show the left placket section 104-L with the attachment mechanism 108-2 (e.g., a button hole) configured with the right placket section 104-R and the attachment mechanism 108-1. That is, the button 108-1 may be mated with the

corresponding button hole 108-2 such that the right placket section 104-R and the left placket section 104-L may thereby be attached, mated and otherwise configured together to form the overall placket 104-3.

As described above, the extendable tab 132 may be formed using a material or a combination of materials that may allow the tab 132 to extend (stretch) when a force may be applied to it, and then to generally recover back to its original size and shape after the force may be removed. In the example depicted in FIG. 33, the extendable tab 132 may be in a first and generally un-stretched state (or minimally stretched) that may result in the left and right placket sections 104-L, 104-R being generally vertically aligned. In this

configuration, the width D20 of the combined overall placket 104-3 may be generally equal to the width of the vertically aligned placket sections 104-L, 104-R.

As the left and right placket sections 104-L, 104-R may be pulled apart from one another in the direction of the arrow AAA in FIGS. 33 and 34 (e.g., the right placket section 104-R may be pulled to the left, and the left placket section 104-R may be pulled to the right in the figure), the extendable tab 132 may stretch, elongate or otherwise expand in the direction of the arrow AAA to allow for the placket sections 104-L, 104-R to move horizontally apart. This may result in the configuration shown in FIG. 34 where the left and right placket sections 104-L, 104-R may no longer be vertically aligned (the sections 104-L, 104-R may be offset), and the overall width D21 of the placket 104-3 may be greater than the overall width D20 of the placket 104-3 in FIG. 33 (when the extendable tab 132 may be un- stretched). It can be seen that in this example the width of the placket 104-3 may generally increase from a width of D20 to a width of D21, and that the difference between the width D21 and the width D20 may be the same or similar to the distance that the extendable tab 132 may have stretched.

When the force pulling the left and right placket sections 104-L, 104-R apart may lessen, the expandable tab 132 may recover (shrink) such that the left and right placket sections 104-L, 104-R may generally move towards each other (e.g., the right placket section 104-R may move to the right and the left placket section 104-L may move to the left). When the force pulling the left and right placket sections 104-L, 104-R may be removed, the left and right placket sections 104-L, 104-R may generally return to their vertically aligned configuration as shown in FIG. 33.

FIGS. 35 and 36 show front views of the above-described example. It can be seen that FIG. 35 may depict the left and right placket sections 104-L, 104-R generally aligned vertically (the extendable tab 132 may be in a generally un-stretched state), and that FIG. 36 may depict the left and right placket sections 104-L, 104-R generally separated (due to the expansion of the extendable tab 132 in the direction of arrow AAA). The overall width of the placket 104-3 may thereby increase from D20 (in the state depicted in FIG. 35) to a larger value of D21 (in the state depicted in FIG. 36) due to the expansion of extendable tab 132

Note that while the examples described above in relation to FIGS. 33-36 may describe the extendable tabs 132 as generally expanding and recovering horizontally in the direction of the arrows AAA (e.g., in the direction of the x-axis), the extendable tabs 132 may also expand and recover in any direction. For example, as shown in FIGS. 37 and 38, the expandable tab 132 may expand along the x-axis and the y-axis simultaneously. In this example, the left and right placket sections 104-L, 104-R may be pulled apart in the direction of the arrow BBB, and the extendable tab 132 may stretch diagonally as shown. Note that this example is meant for demonstration and conceptual purposes and that the placket sections 104-L, 104-R may be pulled apart in any direction or combination of directions simultaneously, and the extendable tab 132 may also stretch and expand in any corresponding direction or combination of directions simultaneously in order to

accommodate the movement of the placket sections 104-L, 104-3.

It can be seen that the extension of the extendable tab 132 may allow for the expansion of the shirt 100 across the front of the shirt 100. The left and right placket sections 104-L, 104-R may move and shift apart from one another in any direction as described, the width of the overall placket 104-3 may expand accordingly, and the front of the shirt 100 may thereby expand.

In order to allow the front of the shirt 100 to expand evenly, it may be preferable that all of the attachment mechanisms 108-1 configured with the shirt 100 each be configured with an extendable tab 132. For example, FIG. 39 depicts the top three attachment mechanisms 108-1 (buttons) of the right placket section 104-R configured with extendable tabs 132. Alternatively, if it is desired that the shirt 100 only expand in areas of the shirt 100 that may require expansion (e.g., in the belly region), it may be preferable that the attachment mechanisms 108-1 in the general area of the shirt 100 that may require expandability may be configured with an extendable tab 132. It is understood that the shirt 100 may include any number of attachment mechanisms 108 configured with any number of extendable tabs 132 in any location or position on the shirt 100. In any event, it can be seen that the expansion of the extendable tab 132 may allow for the shirt 100 to expand in order to compensate for the movements of the person wearing the shirt 100. For example, the extendable tab 132 may help to alleviate bulging of the shirt 100 when the person wearing the shirt may sit down.

It is also understood that the shirt 100 may include other plackets 104 such as cuff plackets, and that the attachment mechanisms 108 that may be configured with the cuff plackets may also incorporate extendable tabs 132. In this way, the cuffs may expand in a similar fashion compared to how the front of the shirt 100 may expand due to the expansion of the extendable tabs 132.

Note that while the above descriptions and examples describe the extendable tab 132 as generally rectangular, the extendable tab 132 may be other shapes or forms such as oval, square, circular, trapezoidal, or any shapes or forms and/or any combinations of any shapes or forms. It is appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art that the extendable tab 132 may be configured with the shirt 100 in addition to, or in any combination with, any of the other elements described in this specification.

In another exemplary embodiments hereof, the attachment mechanisms 108-2 (e.g., button holes) may be aligned horizontally as shown in FIGS. 40 and 41. In this way, buttons 108-1 that may be engaged with the buttonholes 108-2 may have a horizontal degree of freedom that may allow the buttons to travel from the right side of the buttonhole 108-2 (as shown in FIG. 40) to the left side of the buttonhole 108-2 (as shown in FIG. 41). In doing so, it can be seen that the buttons 108-1 may travel a distance D23 that may be generally equal to the width D22 of the button hole. This in turn may allow the placket

104-R also move a distance D23 to the left (as shown in FIG. 41). In this way, the width of the combined placket 104-3 may expand by the amount equal to D23 when a horizontal force E-E’ may be applied to the combined placket 104-3 (e.g. when the person wearing the shirt may sit down).

As to manufacturing, it may be preferable to produce continuous streams of plackets

104. In this way, the plackets 104 may be produced in large volumes with high efficiency which may reduce the overall cost of the plackets 104 and therefore the resulting shirts 100. The continuous streams of plackets 104 may then be cut to length according to the specifications of the shirts 100.

The plackets 104 may be produced using any colored fabric and/or fusible substrates and may also include printed, stitched or sewn-in graphics, logos, branding, text, or other types of images or patterns. The plackets 104 may also be unprinted. The plackets 104 may also include labels such as size and fit labels, garment care instructions, and other types of labels. Example

FIGS. 42A-42B depict an exemplary implementation of a garment with attachment mechanisms having extendable tabs according to exemplary embodiments hereof.

Conclusion

Where a process is described herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the process may operate without any user intervention. In another embodiment, the process includes some human intervention ( e.g a step is performed by or with the assistance of a human). As used herein, including in the claims, the phrase“at least some” means“one or more,” and includes the case of only one. Thus, e.g., the phrase“at least some ABCs” means“one or more ABCs”, and includes the case of only one ABC.

As used herein, including in the claims, term“at least one” should be understood as meaning“one or more”, and therefore includes both embodiments that include one or multiple components. Furthermore, dependent claims that refer to independent claims that describe features with“at least one” have the same meaning, both when the feature is referred to as“the” and“the at least one”.

As used in this description, the term“portion” means some or all. So, for example, “A portion of X” may include some of“X” or all of“X”. In the context of a conversation, the term“portion” means some or all of the conversation.

As used herein, including in the claims, the phrase“using” means“using at least,” and is not exclusive. Thus, e.g, the phrase“using X” means“using at least X.” Unless specifically stated by use of the word“only”, the phrase“using X” does not mean“using only X.”

As used herein, including in the claims, the phrase“based on” means“based in part on” or“based, at least in part, on,” and is not exclusive. Thus, e.g, the phrase“based on factor X” means“based in part on factor X” or“based, at least in part, on factor X.” Unless specifically stated by use of the word“only”, the phrase“based on X” does not mean “based only on X.”

In general, as used herein, including in the claims, unless the word“only” is specifically used in a phrase, it should not be read into that phrase.

As used herein, including in the claims, the phrase“distinct” means“at least partially distinct.” Unless specifically stated, distinct does not mean fully distinct. Thus, e.g, the phrase,“X is distinct from Y” means that“X is at least partially distinct from Y,” and does not mean that“X is fully distinct from Y.” Thus, as used herein, including in the claims, the phrase“X is distinct from Y” means that X differs from Y in at least some way.

It should be appreciated that the words“first” and“second” in the description and claims are used to distinguish or identify, and not to show a serial or numerical limitation. Similarly, the use of letter or numerical labels (such as“(a)”,“(b)”, and the like) are used to help distinguish and / or identify, and not to show any serial or numerical limitation or ordering. As used herein, including in the claims, the terms“multiple” and“plurality” mean “two or more,” and include the case of“two.” Thus, e.g., the phrase“multiple ABCs,” means“two or more ABCs,” and includes“two ABCs.” Similarly, e.g, the phrase “multiple PQRs,” means“two or more PQRs,” and includes“two PQRs.”

As used herein, including in the claims, singular forms of terms are to be construed as also including the plural form and vice versa, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Thus, it should be noted that as used herein, the singular forms“a,”“an,” and“the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Throughout the description and claims, the terms“comprise”,“including”,“having”, and“contain” and their variations should be understood as meaning“including but not limited to”, and are not intended to exclude other components unless specifically so stated.

It will be appreciated that variations to the embodiments of the invention can be made while still falling within the scope of the invention. Alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose can replace features disclosed in the specification, unless stated otherwise. Thus, unless stated otherwise, each feature disclosed represents one example of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The present invention also covers the exact terms, features, values and ranges, etc. in case these terms, features, values and ranges etc. are used in conjunction with terms such as about, around, generally, substantially, essentially, at least etc. (i.e., "about 3" shall also cover exactly 3 or "substantially constant" shall also cover exactly constant).

Use of exemplary language, such as“for instance”,“such as”,“for example”

(“e.g.,”) and the like, is merely intended to better illustrate the invention and does not indicate a limitation on the scope of the invention unless specifically so claimed.

Thus are provided garment plackets formed from a material having stretch and recovery in at least two non-opposing directions thereof.

While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.