Patent Description:
The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to a method for preserving body moisture evaporation and temperature regulation properties on garments post printing, and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to printing on fabrics in a way that does not interfere with the fabric's ability to help with moisture evaporation and temperature regulation.

Body temperature regulation and management of body moisture or sweat is desirable in sports garments particularly tight garments, but also in loose garments.

For this purpose, fabrics such as moisture-wicking fabrics are used. Such fabrics have two tasks: one is quickly moving or wicking sweat to the fabric's outer surface and the other is to dry rapidly so that the sweat does not saturate the fabric. The result is a wearer who is more comfortable because the body can regulate its temperature efficiently and the fabric touching the skin has a dry and non-sticky feel.

However, garments are often printed on before being sold, and the printed garments lose some of their moisture wicking properties. Sports garments are almost exclusively printed on, so much so that the concept of a non-printed sports garment is almost considered not commercially viable. But printing often negates advantages from the fabric being used.

In particular, when printing on breathable and textured garments the printed layer tends to block openings in the mesh and /or destroys the microstructure that allows for the wicking process. The result is a negative affect on the breathing capability of the printed garment.

The ink used in image printing on garments, may further include extra ink layers intended to prevent dye migration in the printing (curing) process, and these extra layers go even further in interfering with wicking, breathing, moisture regulation etc..

Overall, the garment may have mesh, typically in loose garments and the ink and especially the extra layers may block the holes in the mesh. An example is shown in <FIG> in which garment <NUM> has mesh holes <NUM>. In the enlargement the mesh holes under the lettering <NUM> are shown to have been blocked by the ink.

<FIG> shows a fiber <NUM> with microstructure <NUM> that takes up sweat particles <NUM>. Fiber <NUM> has been printed on and the ink has blocked the microstructure, so that the sweat particles are no longer taken up. The capillary action through the microstructure which enables sweat and /or other liquid such as water to have movement through the fabric resulting in regulated body temperature, is terminated. More particularly, the capillaries enable evaporation and heat regulation is a result thereof. Specifically, as a result of ink blocking the microstructure, the Moisture management and cooling quality of the fabric ceases. Wicking is often applied on tight garments.

Garments are disclosed in prior art documents <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT> and <CIT>.

It would be desirable to find a way of allowing the moisture and body heat regulation of the moisture wicking or mesh fabric to be retained in a printed garment.

The present embodiments involve mapping out regions of the garment that correspond to high temperature or high sweat areas of the body and diluting the amount of ink printed onto such regions. Alternatively, special ink that is designed to prevent bad smells and/or microbial effects and/or bacterial effects may be printed in the identified regions. Such inks may be relatively expensive and thus it is desirable to limit their use to where they can be most effective.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present invention there is provided a method of printing a garment to retain moisture and liquid wicking or heat management properties of an underlying fabric, the method comprising:.

The garment may have at least one active body region and at least one other region, the image having a first ink density in said active body region and a second ink density in said other region.

The garment may have an anti-smell or anti-microbial or anti-bacterial ink printed onto said active region.

Implementation of the method and/or system of mapping out printing to dilute ink in the high temperature and high sweat regions of the body according to embodiments of the invention may involve performing or completing selected tasks manually, automatically, or a combination thereof.

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to a method for preserving body moisture and temperature regulation properties on garments post printing, and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to printing on fabrics in a way that does not interfere with the fabric's ability to help with moisture and temperature regulation. Additionally or alternatively, embodiments may use the same mapping in order to print anti-microbial or anti-bacterial or anti-smell inks in the identified areas. It is further noted that the present method is not restricted to printing on the final garment but may also be applied to textile printing in the roll to roll process where the garment fabric is printed and then cut into a ready garment. The latter may be carried out as long as there is coordination between the printing and the cutting so that the areas identified as heat or sweat areas for printing in fact turn out to be so after cutting.

To overcome the problem of blocking holes on Mesh garments and damaging wicking and venting properties of the textile, when printing over out-door and athletic garments the present embodiments may, as will be explained below, provide a method for preserving original fabric qualities following printing of an image on the garment. The qualities to be preserved include: a dry feel of the fabric, temperature regulation and non-stick feel, and when adding anti-microbial or anti-bacterial inks preventing bad smell and microbial grows in these areas.

The present embodiments thus provide a method of printing a garment, particularly for use in sport and outdoor activities, to retain moisture wicking or heat management properties of an underlying fabric. The method comprises mapping active body regions onto a print file for the garment. Thus the print file defines standard print areas and modified print areas where the modified printing areas correspond to the active body regions, or print in these areas the anti-microbial or anti-bacterial inks. Printing onto the garment over the standard print areas uses a standard ink density, but printing onto the garment at the active areas uses a second lower ink density which preserves, or at least does less harm to, wicking and venting properties of the underlying fabric.

The embodiments further relate to a garment printed with different ink densities for active and passive regions where the active regions correspond to hot and sweat producing regions on the body as the garment is worn in the normal way.

Herein, the term "garment" is used for anything that is normally worn. Reference to corresponding body areas relates to the way in which the garment is normally worn and is intended to be worn. Particular emphasis is laid on garments worn for sports and outdoor activities, including underwear and outerwear, and including running vests, shorts, trousers, shirts, swim suits, jackets, coats, and more generally anything that is intended for wearing and is printed on.

Herein the term "mapping" relates to transferring data having a geometric dimension from one domain to another. Thus data relating to body regions is held on one map of the body, and an image to be printed is held in an image file that relates the data to locations on a garment. Mapping refers to the process of transferring body regions onto the image to be printed so that a new file is created having image data that is distinguished according to body regions.

As explained in the background, a feature of fabrics used for sports garments and garments intended for outdoor activities in general is moisture-wicking. Such fabrics may use microfibers for wicking sweat using capillary action to draw away sweat from the body and allow the sweat to spread out and evaporate easily. These or other fabrics may include mesh or pores which allow the skin to breath and give the user a feeling of ventilation. It is noted that heat regulation may be a result of windchill, that is the lowering of body temperature due to the flow of lower-temperature air. In particular, a surface loses heat through conduction, evaporation, convection, and radiation. The rate of convection depends on both the difference in temperature between the surface and the fluid surrounding it and the velocity of that fluid with respect to the surface. As convection from a warm surface heats the air around it, an insulating boundary layer of warm air forms against the surface. Moving air disrupts this boundary layer, or epiclimate, allowing for cooler air to replace the warm air against the surface. The faster the wind speed, the more readily the surface cools. As discussed above, printing inks may block wicking channels and close up mesh or pores as discussed, causing the fiber to lose the unique sports-friendly qualities post printing. The present embodiments are intended to mitigate the effect of the ink, as discussed above in respect of <FIG>, on the specialized fibers and retain the sports-friendly qualities originally intended for the garment. One solution involves diluting ink quantity/CM2 based on color matching and/or zones as indicated in <FIG>. The zones indicated in <FIG> are those that are more heat and sweat sensitive, and the use of reduced ink density may reduce the capillarity action degradation and avoid blocking pores and thus preserve the original qualities of the fabric. Thus the sports garment may continue to meet its original specification of remaining dry, assisting the sports person with temperature regulation and having a cool and non-stick feel.

The present embodiment may be used for fabrics, and garments using those fabrics, which have native qualities including heat regulation/ preservation and giving a feel of cooling and warming, by allowing for moisture wicking etc., particularly in those parts of the garment that face active areas of the body, meaning areas that are hotter or produce more sweat.

In one embodiment it is possible to use the mapping to print special anti-smell or anti-microbial or anti-bacterial inks to prevent microbial or bacterial grows and bad smell.

In one embodiment, it is possible to preserve and protect these native qualities by printing using reduced image-thickness and density when over a targeted Active-area.

The active area may already be designed into the garment and may have low fabric density, or a higher density of capillary-micro-fiber for enhanced moisture wicking etc..

A printer using the present embodiments may thus print the image on the active areas with less ink/cm based on lower/higher print resolution, variable droplet size (grayscale) etc. or fewer underlayers and the printing thus manages to preserve the built-in fabric qualities, or at least to degrade the properties to a lesser extent.

The present embodiments may define the active areas based on previous knowledge, for example using the heat & sweat zones map shown in <FIG>, or using vendors data etc. when the garment is explicitly designed with active areas in mind, or actually carrying out trials with detection apparatus etc..

As well as defining active areas for sweating and heat management, similar mapping techniques may be used to print garments with special ink that may help with other effects, for example, garments may be printed with antimicrobial inks, or anti-bacterial inks or anti-staining inks etc..

Referring now to <FIG>, there is shown a simplified flow chart illustrating printing on a garment, such as a garment specifically for sport or outdoor activities, in such a way as to retain moisture wicking or heat management properties of the underlying fabric. The garment and the image it is intended to print are obtained <NUM>. The image is typically in the form of a digital image file, or may be scanned to form a digital image file. In box <NUM> the image file is transformed into a print file, which is the same as the image file except that image parameters are modified for the printer. Thus the image file may use the RGB color mapping scheme whereas the print map may use the CMYK color coordinate system. The image file may use pixel sizes and resolutions intended for screen formats whereas the print file may use pixel sizes that correspond to the print nozzles of the printer and the resolution that the printer is able to achieve.

In box <NUM> an active body region, that is a region that produces excess heat or excess sweat, is mapped onto the print file and pixels that correspond to the active regions are marked. In fact the mapping may alternatively be made at the stage of the image file, as long as the pixel information is retained during the conversion to a print file. Mapping active body regions onto a print file may be involve carrying out a pixel by pixel concatenation of the print file for a garment with a map of the active body regions.

The print file now contains two types of pixels, those identified as belonging to an active region and those identified as not belonging to an active region. The print file thus defines standard print areas on the garment and modified print areas that correspond to the active body regions. In boxes <NUM> and <NUM>, the active body regions are then printed at a lower ink density than the standard regions. Thus, printing onto the garment over the standard print areas uses a first ink density which is typically the standard density produced by the print file for the given color and brightness etc., and the active areas are printed with a second ink density which is lower than the first ink density. The lower ink density may be achieved by printing fewer pixels in the region, or by printing less ink per pixel, or by not printing under-layers, or even by diluting of ink.

As discussed, the active body region is a region of the body producing an above-average amount of heat, as shown in <FIG>, together with a region of the body producing an above-average amount of sweat as shown in <FIG>.

A print map, <NUM>, which contains pixels marked as belonging to active regions may thus be used for printing a garment, in that the print map is used to print using a lower printing density for printing at the pixels in the active region and using a second print density for printing at unmarked pixels. The active region may accord with a body map of heat or sweat producing regions.

A garment <NUM> may thus be printed with an image so that parts belonging to the active body region have a lower ink density and the remainder of the garment has a higher ink density.

In another embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to make a garment designed for heat retention. The heat map of the body is used to define regions which can be printed more heavily in order to retain heat in the body.

Reference is now made to <FIG>, which is a flow chart illustrating the use of special inks. Boxes <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM> are as discussed above, and the print map <NUM> may be the same. In box <NUM>, printing is carried out outside the active region using standard ink, and in box <NUM>, specialized ink is added to the color ink inside the active region. Garment <NUM> is the end result.

Reference is now made to <FIG>, which illustrates an embodiment in which the two approaches are combined. Again, boxes <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM> are as discussed above, and the print map <NUM> may be the same. In box <NUM>, printing is carried out outside the active region using standard ink and standard ink density, and in box <NUM>, specialized ink is added to the color ink inside the active region which is printed at a lower density. Garment <NUM> is the end result.

It is noted that printing may be carried out directly on a garment or it may be applied to the fabric before it has been cut into a garment, in particular if the printing and cutting are coordinated so that the printer is able to print on the regions that will later be the active regions when cut. The claims herein are to be understood accordingly. It is expected that during the life of a patent maturing from this application many relevant garment printing inks including specialist inks, specialist textiles for heat and sweat management, and textile printing machines will be developed and the scopes of the corresponding terms are intended to include all such new technologies a priori.

Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.

Claim 1:
A method of printing a garment to retain moisture and liquid wicking or heat management properties of an underlying fabric, the method comprising:
mapping active body regions onto a print file for the garment, to provide a print file defining standard print areas on said garment and modified print areas wherein the modified printing areas correspond to said active body regions, said mapping active body regions onto a print file comprising carrying out a pixel by pixel concatenation of said print file for a garment with a map of active body regions, wherein said active body region is a region of the body producing an above-average amount of heat, or is a region of the body producing an above-average amount of sweat;
printing onto said garment over said standard print areas using a first ink density; and
printing onto said garment at active areas with a second ink density, said second ink density being lower than said first ink density, said lower ink density at said active areas being achieved by printing fewer pixels, or by printing less ink per pixel, or by not printing under-layers, or by diluting of ink.