Patent ID: 8230559

Claim:
A fastener for securing together two garment strap ends having confronting faces, the fastener comprising: a male element mountable on the face of one of the strap ends and formed as a part of a respective one-piece body; a female element mountable on the face of the other strap end and formed as a part of a respective one-piece body, generally complementary to the male element, and, with the faces touching or closely juxtaposed, slidably engageable in a direction parallel to the faces with the male element to fasten the two strap ends together; and respective male and female magnets on the strap ends oriented adjacent the respective male and female elements so as to hold the strap ends in a finder position with the faces engaging or closely juxtaposed with each other and the male and female elements spaced in the direction and disengaged from each other, whereby displacement of the strap ends apart in the direction from the finder position will engage and lock together the male and female elements, the magnets of one of the elements being fixedly imbedded in the respective body, the body of the other of the elements being formed with a large hole in which the respective magnet is received loosely.