Shoulder support for garment hangers

Abstract

A garment retention system includes a garment hanger having a body, a hook extending from the body for suspending the hanger from a support, first and second arms extending laterally from the body to respective first and second distal ends. At least one arm has an attachment retention surface with a surface normal directed generally towards the body and in a generally opposite direction from the distal end of that. A garment retention attachment extends between the attachment retention surface and the distal end of the at least one arm. The garment retention attachment includes a first means for engaging the attachment retention surface, and a second means for engaging the distal end of the at least one arm. The garment retention system is enhanced by providing the garment retention attachment with friction-increasing surface features on an upwardly facing side of thereof, and/or by judicious selection of material for the garment retention attachment.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE OF RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] Under 35 U.S.C. §119(e), this application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 775,316 filed Feb. 21, 2006, entitled Shoulder Support for Hangers, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.FIELD OF INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates generally to the field of garments and more particularly to a hanger for suspending a garment top during handling, transport, and for display on a retail sales floor. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART [0003] In the area of retail garment sales, so-called Garment-On-Hanger (GOH) programs have become preferred to retailers. In a GOH program, garments are suspended from hangers by the manufacturer at the manufacturing site, and are shipped as such to retail merchants. Whereupon arrival at the retail location, the garments may immediately be placed on display for sale. Formerly, retailers accomplished the task of hanging garmen...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] The garment retention system is enhanced by providing the garment retention attachment with friction-increasing surface features on an upwardly facing side of thereof. The friction-increasing surface features may include either recesses in or raised structure on the upwardly facing side of the garment retention attachment. The friction-increasing surface features may be ribs, ridges, or dimples and arranged any of transverse, longitudinal, diagonal, echelon, chevron, herringbone or dimple patterns, at regular, semi-regular or random spacing. The garment retention attachment may also include a lower flange extending downward from the attachment along either or both lateral edges.

Problems solved by technology

At least one drawback of the GOH program is the fact that garments may become inadvertently dislodged from their respective hangers during handling, transport, shipment or display.

Such dislodged garments naturally fall to the floor, ground, or bottom of their shipping container, and may become soiled, damaged, or otherwise unfit for sale.

This is particularly demanding when dealing with inherently heavier garments, for example a knitwear sweater.

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