A METHOD OF MAKING TAYLOR'S CLOTHES AND A CLOTH SEMIFINISHED PRODUCT IMPLEMENTING THE METHOD

Abstract: The invention relates to a method of making tailor's-type clothes, of the type wherein at least one semifinished product (1) of a cloth finishing fabric (2) is bonded to a support web (3) in order to fashion it into a desired shape. The method comprises providing a web (4) which comprises an adhesive (7) at predetermined spots (5) or sections (6) thereof, the bond between the finishing fabric (2) and the web (4) being established by glueing at the shaping or fashioning stage of the semifinished product. Said spots (5) or sections (6) correspond to regions of the web (4) which were usually applied basting or loose-stitching operations.

Description: "A METHOD OF MAKING TAYLOR'S CLOTHS AND A CLOTH SEMIFINISHED PRODUCT IMPLEMENTING THE METHOD" DESCRIPTION Technical Field This invention relates to a method of making tailor's cloths, of the type wherein at least one semifinished product of a cloth finishing fabric is bonded to a support web in order to have it maintain a particular shape or fashioning pattern. The invention also relates to a semifinished product of a cloth including at least one support web for a finishing fabric of the cloth. The invention relates, particularly but not exclusively, to the manufacture of coats and overcoats, and the description which follows will deal with this field of application for convenience of explanation only. Background Art The procedures involved in making on a commercial scale high quality cloths, such as coats, overcoats and the like, of a so-called tailor's shape or type, for men, women and children, are well recognised in this technical field. However, to make the aspects of this invention more clearly understood, the main steps involved in the manufacture of cloths worthy of the "tailor's" appellation will be briefly reviewed herein below. The cloths industry provides essentially three article types for cloths, as follows: 1) traditional or "unframed" type, which is obtained from semifinished fabric pieces also provided with a support web held to the fabric by means of sewing stitches; 2) semi-traditional type, which is similar to previous one but incorporates a support half-web; 3) adhesively built or "framed" type, which is obtained from finished fabric pieces pre-bonded adhesively to support webs throughout; the semifinished products comprise a support web and a finishing fabric bonded together, as by means of heated rollers or plates, into a unitary two-ply semifinished product. The first article type includes coats or overcoats which are assembled from sewn — or rather basted - a fabric piece, known as "web" or "tailor's web" onto pre-cut and patterned multi-ply cloth pieces. In other words, the front (chest) and shoulder portions, and the edges or flaps of coats and overcoats are sewn onto a respective support web which will provide them with an adequate degree of stiffness, texture and elasticity to better face subsequent processing steps on their way toward the finished coat. The front pieces and the edges of coats are basted to their respective webs on special basting or loose-stitch sewing machines. On the other hand, flaps are basted on automatic machines or manual sewing machines, in order to provide them with improved roundness and texture for best ultimate effect. In addition, fabric straps, the so-called "bindelli", are used at the basting stage, which are sewn at different points to the coat semifinished products for fashioning the coat into shape (before the pressing and final sewing operations) . Now, it is a well-recognised fact that webbing the front pieces of a coat or loose-stitching the flaps are most costly and critical operations for any manufacturer. These are, in fact, operations that must be carried out by highly qualified personnel, ever more difficult to find or train, or which involve the availability of expensive sewing machines, especially for long- stitching the flaps. It should be further noted that the basting lines need to be removed at a later stage, that is, it must be unstitched manually from the coats at the end of the assembling process. This unstitching operation obviously adds to the overall cost. The foregoing considerations clearly lead to the conclusion that traditional or semi-traditional coats or overcoats are difficult and expensive items to manufacture on a commercial scale, so much that they rather fit in the top segment of the market due indeed to their high production cost. Furthermore, with trained personnel being so difficult to hire, this type of traditional clothing are only produced profitably in certain geographic areas, such as Italy. This has resulted in expanding acceptance of the adhesively treated or "framed" type of cloths with, however, attendant results of inferior quality from both the point of view of the shape given to the semifinished fabric and that of the final fit of the cloth. The underlying technical problem of this invention is to provide a method of manufacturing tailor's cloths, i.e. cloths of the same quality and conformability as traditional ones, in a cost-favourable manner which is less dependent on the availability of highly qualified personnel. Disclosure of Invention The idea behind this invention is one of using support webs provided with adhesive spots or sections for bonding the corresponding fabric pieces thereto at the stage of shaping the semifinished product. Based on this idea, the technical problem is solved by a method as previously indicated and defined in the characterising portions of Claims 1 foil.. The technical problem is further solved by a cloth semifinished product as defined in Claims 9 foil.. The features and advantages of the method and the semifinished product according to the invention will become apparent from the following description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of non- limitative example with reference to the accompanying drawings. Brief Description of Drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view showing schematically a semifinished product of a cloth, according to the state of the art. Figure 2 is a perspective view showing schematically a semifinished product of a cloth, according to the present invention. Modes for Carrying Out the Invention Referring to the drawing views, and in particular to the example shown in Figure 2, a cloth semifinished product commonly referred to as being of tailor's or traditional type, is shown generally at 1 in schematic form. The semifinished product 1 is intended for making, at an industrial level, high quality cloths from finishing fabric pieces 2 which are bonded to respective support webs 3 for fashioning into a specific shape or design. The finishing fabric piece 2 may be the front (chest) piece or comprise the edges or flaps, of coats, overcoats and the like. The support webs 3 are of multi-ply type, and are pre-cut and shaped to receive corresponding pieces 2 of finishing fabric thereon. The webs 3 are also known in the art by the terms "piastroni" [slabs] or "cammelli" [camels] . In the state of the art, as well shown in Figure 1, the fabric pieces 2 are basted to the respective support webs 3 at the fashioning stage of the semifinished product. Traditionally, the front pieces, the edges or the flaps of coats and overcoats are sewn on respective support webs essentially to make them stiffer and more elastic, preliminarily to subsequent processing steps that will lead to the finished coat. Advantageously, the method of this invention provides instead for the use of at least one web 4 having spots 5 or sections 6 coated with an adhesive 7, the finishing fabric 2 being adhesively bonded to the web 4 at the shaping or fashioning stage of the semifinished product. In practice, the step of fashioning the finishing fabric 2 onto the web 4 is carried out concurrently with the step of adhesively bonding the finishing fabric 2 to the web. Also, the adhesive-coated spots 5 or sections 6 should correspond to the regions of the web 4 which are usually subjected to the conventional basting or loose-stitching operations. The web 4 is a multi-ply structure, and the adhesive is applied on the surface of the web intended to lie against the finishing fabric 2. The web 4 may be pre-treated for the application of the adhesive by such different means as spraying, silk-screen printing, and in the forms of an adhesive bead, adhesive tape, or double-sided adhesive strips. Suitably, the adhesive 7 may be a low-temperature setting resin which will disappear upon pressing. This is the choice which is made in all those cases where the web 4 is not required to stay permanently attached to the fabric 2, but expected to stay there strictly for the time needed to fashion the semifinished product. Of course, other resin varieties are eligible for the adhesive 7. For example, standard medium-temperature setting resins may be used which would bond the fabric 2 permanently to the web 4; alternatively, high- or very high- temperature setting resins may be used to permanently bond the fabric 2 to the support web 4 appropriately to withstand dry cleaning as well as ordinary laundry washing. The bond between the finishing fabric 2 and the associated support web 3 would then become set on pressing, which causes the adhesive on the web to stick onto the back surface of the finishing fabric 2 and cure, thereby bonding the fabric and the web together only at the spots 5 or sections 6 where the adhesive has been provided. The method of this invention does solve the technical problem, and offers a number of advantages, foremost among which is that the typical qualities of traditionally made or tailor's cloths can now be obtained at lower production costs. In addition, the method of this invention allows the shortage of trained labour to be obviated, or makes the availability of expensive sewing machines for basting and loose-stitching unnecessary. Finally, the cloths produced with the inventive method retain high standards of quality and conformability, while allowing of faster production rates. The semifinished product of this invention can be easily made by specialised shops or the manufacturers responsible for the final assembly of the cloths, and this at no added production costs. Of course, modifications and changes may be made to the method and the semifinished product of this invention which would fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A method of making tailor's-type cloths, of the type wherein at least one semifinished product (1) of a cloth finishing fabric (2) is bonded to a support web (3) in order to fashion it into a desired shape, characterised by providing at least one web (4) comprising an adhesive (7) at predetermined spots (5) or sections (6) thereof, the bond between the finishing fabric (2) and said web (4) being established by glueing at the shaping or fashioning stage of the semifinished product. 2. A method according to Claim 1, characterised in that said adhesive spots (5) or sections (6) correspond to web (4) regions where basting or loose-stitching has been usually applied. 3. A method according to Claim 1 , characterised in that said adhesive spots (5) or sections (6) comprise low- temperature adhesive resins (7). 4. A method according to Claim 1, characterised in that said adhesive spots (5) or sections (6) comprise medium- temperature adhesive resins (7). 5. A method according to Claim 1, characterised in that said adhesive spots (5) or sections (6) comprise high- or very high- temperature adhesive resins (7). 6. A method according to Claim 1, characterised in that the bond between the finishing fabric (2) and the associated web (4) becomes set upon pressing. 7. A method according to Claim 3, characterised in that said resins are applied by a spraying process or a silk-screen printing process, or are in the forms of adhesive tapes or double-sided adhesive strips. 8. A method according to Claim 1 , characterised in that said web (4) is a multi-ply web, and the adhesive is provided on the web surface. 9. A semifinished product for cloths comprising at least one support web for a cloth finishing fabric, characterised in that said web (4) comprises an adhesive (7) at least predetermined spots (5) or sections (6) thereof. 10. A semifinished product according to Claim 9, characterised in that said adhesive spots (5) or sections (6) correspond to web (4) regions where basting or loose-stitching has been usually applied. 11. A method of making tailor's-type cloths, of the type wherein at least one semifinished product (1) of a cloth finishing fabric (2) is bonded to a support web (3) in order to fashion it into a desired shape, characterised in that said web (4) comprises an adhesive (7) at predetermined spots (5) or sections (6) thereof, and in that said fashioning stage of the finishing fabric (2) onto the web (4) is performed concurrently with a step of adhesively bonding the finishing fabric (2) to the web. 12. A method according to Claim 11 , characterised in that the bond between the finishing fabric (2) and the associated web (4) becomes set upon pressing.

Inventors: ROTONDI ANDREA, ROTONDI, ANDREA
Applicants: ROTONDI ANDREA, ROTONDI GROUP S R L, ROTONDI GROUP S.R.L., ROTONDI, ANDREA
Application year: 2000
Main classification: A41D27
IPC codes: A41D27