Patent ID: 7926121

Claim:
A system for tightening an article of clothing or accessory having a front and a back and having a peripheral surface crown therebetween necessary to be tightened, the system comprising: (a) a semi-rigid crochet layer comprising a plurality of braided strands of a fibrous material and defining a pattern in said article having a multiplicity of openings which repeat at a number in a range of about 3 to about 8 per linear inch in all directions, and in which said openings of said layer defines a range of between about 15 to about 35 percent of the entire surface of said crochet layer; and (b) a cord braided of a plurality of filaments of a material more pliable than said braided strands of said crochet layer, said cord having a beginning, a middle and an end, said cord proportioned for press-fittable insertion between two front openings in said crochet layer at said front of said article, said openings about one inch apart, in which only about one inch of said cord is positioned inwardly of said crochet layer, relative to a user, with a remaining length of said cord positioned outwardly of said layer extending until said back of said article, at which each end of said braided cord is press-fittably inserted into and out of back openings, of said crocheted layer, about one inch apart from each other, in which all of said front and back openings occupy a plane in said peripheral surface crown desired to be tightened in which, at said openings, at said back of said article, said beginning and end of said cord are each press-fittably insertable, from opposite directions and on said inward side of said openings of said back two openings, leaving portions of said braided cord at said back openings in frictional contact with each other and also with each of said back openings, in which segments of both said beginning and end of the cord extend beyond said back openings on said outward side of said crochet layer, permitting manual engagement of both segments for purposes of tightening said article of clothing along said plane of said peripheral surface crown.