Patent ID: 8567021

Claim:
A method for constructing a product, said method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of component parts of a product fashioned from a substrate material having flexible, spring-like properties, each component part having a flat profile in a disassembled state; forming a plurality of apertures in each of said component parts to establish a corresponding plurality of fastening points for facilitating assembly of said product, each of said apertures having a single-component snap fastener mounted therein; integrally molding each of said single-component snap fasteners to include a female section and a male section, each integrally molded to and supported by a fastener body; assembling each of said component parts of said product by removably affixing said male section of a first of said snap fasteners mounted within a first of said component parts stackably with said female section of a second of said snap fasteners mounted within a second of said component parts to secure together said first and said second component parts, to form a self-supporting, three-dimensional exoskeleton of said product having flexibly curved surfaces, each of said single-component snap fasteners being stackably engageable and disengageable with at least two of said single-component snap fasteners; and returning said plurality of component parts to said flat profile upon disengaging said snap fasteners.