Indication tags

Abstract

A method for determining whether a garment has been used comprising integrating an indicator tag to a garment having an indicator material which reacts with any one of body sweat, water or dry cleaning chemicals or provides wear down indication to provide a visual indication of such use. A garment with an indicator tag having an indicator material which reacts with any one of body sweat, water or dry cleaning chemicals or provides wear down indication to provide a visual indication of such use.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]This invention relates to methods and means for the determination of prior use of new articles of clothing including shoes and particularly for the detection of use of garments which are returned after sale.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]A vexing problem for retailers of articles of clothing and particularly for expensive clothing such as gowns, tuxedos (non-rental), suits and the like is the proclivity of customers, who have a single use need, to purchase the article of clothing and use it. Thereafter, the customer rewraps it or cleans it (usually with dry cleaning) and rewraps it for return to the retailer for a refund or an exchange. The fact that the garment has been used is usually not readily apparent, especially with only a single use. However, if the garment is resold as new, a subsequent purchaser, on close examination, is often unable to detect that the garment was used. The reputation of the retailer suffers and the purchaser is unpleasantly ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0004]It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide detector elements for readily determining if an article and particularly an article of clothing has been worn or used.

[0005]It is a further object of the present invention to provide the detector elements as an expedient by which clothing retailers or subsequent purchasers can determine if a garment returned by a customer was actually worn and whether it had been cleaned.

Problems solved by technology

A vexing problem for retailers of articles of clothing and particularly for expensive clothing such as gowns, tuxedos (non-rental), suits and the like is the proclivity of customers, who have a single use need, to purchase the article of clothing and use it.

However, if the garment is resold as new, a subsequent purchaser, on close examination, is often unable to detect that the garment was used.

The reputation of the retailer suffers and the purchaser is unpleasantly confronted with the fact that what was purported to be a new garment was previously worn.

This is particularly noisome with garments which directly contact skin such as undergarments (assuming they are returnable).

Passive tags, used as protection against theft and shoplifting, are difficult to remove from articles and are designed to trigger alarms when they pass though exit detectors (sales clerks either deactivate or remove them at point of sale).

However, few, if any expedients are available for tracking use of legitimate items, which have been lawfully purchased and returned.

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