Circular Knit Apparel With Single Seam
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional shirts formed from multiple panels require numerous seams, increasing production costs, introducing friction points, and leading to discomfort, while also generating fabric waste during manufacturing.
Innovation Solution
A shirt is formed using circular knitting to create a textile tube with a single seam, where the yoke and trunk portions are defined, allowing for armholes and a continuous tube structure with minimal waste and reduced seams.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional shirts are formed by attaching multiple panels together, then the shirt structure can accommodate complex shapes and fits, but the number of seams increases production costs and introduces friction points that decrease wearing comfort
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple shirt panels into a single continuous knitted fabric structure. The shirt is constructed from one piece of fabric where the front panels, back panels, sleeves, and yoke are all integrated without seams, eliminating the need to attach separate panels together. This merging approach directly reduces production costs and eliminates friction points that would otherwise be created by multiple seams.
Solution Approach 2:
While the overall structure is seamless, the patent uses strategic seam placement only where necessary (shoulder seams and side seams) to provide structural support and shape definition. This selective segmentation approach minimizes the number of seams while maintaining the necessary garment structure and fit.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple panels are used to form a shirt, then design flexibility and fit adjustment are improved, but fabric waste increases during manufacturing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional panel layout that requires cutting and assembly to a three-dimensional tubular knit structure that is formed directly in the desired shape. The circular knitting process creates a tube that can be configured to match the shirt pattern in three dimensions, eliminating the need for flat pattern cutting and reducing fabric waste significantly.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the manufacturing parameters from cut-and-sew construction to continuous circular knitting. This parameter change allows the fabric to be formed directly into the shirt shape without cutting, thereby reducing fabric waste while maintaining design flexibility through variations in knitting patterns and stitch types.
3Productivity
If a single blank of fabric is used to form the shirt, then fabric waste is minimized and production efficiency is improved, but the complexity of forming the desired shirt shape from a single tube increases
Solution Approach 1:
The circular knitting machine is designed to perform multiple functions: it knits the fabric, forms the tubular shape, creates the shirt pattern through selective knitting, and positions seams automatically. This multi-functional approach simplifies the overall process despite the complexity of forming the shirt from a single tube, as the same machine handles all operations without requiring separate forming devices.
Data Source
AI summary
A textile shirt and a method of forming a shirt from a textile material are described herein. The method includes marking a surface of a circularly formed textile structure with a boundary line that defines approximately half of a shirt pattern. Portions of the textile structure disposed exteriorly of the boundary line are removed and the boundary line is marked along the surface of the textile structure such that once the portions are removed from the textile structure, a shirt can be formed from the textile structure with a single seam. The shirt includes a yoke portion including armholes defined by sleeves disposed on either side of the yoke portion and a tubular torso portion configured to span the torso of a wearer beneath the armholes. The shirt includes a single interior seam extending along the sleeves and along a back of the textile shirt between the yoke portion and the chest portion.