System for Laser Finishing of Garments

Abstract

Software and lasers are used in finishing apparel to produce a desired wear pattern or other design. A technique includes determining a fabric's response to a laser, capturing an initial image of a wear pattern on a garment, and processing the initial image to obtain a working image in grayscale. The working image is further processed to obtain a difference image by comparing each pixel relative to a dark reference. The difference image is converted to a laser values image by using the previously determined fabric response to the laser.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system comprising:
 a garment, comprising fabric panels made from a woven first material comprising a warp comprising dyed cotton yarn, wherein the fabric panels are joined together using thread,   before a laser finishing, an outer surface of the garment is washed in a prelaser wash,   wherein after the prelaser wash and before the laser finishing, a cross section of a yarn of material of the garment comprises a generally round shape with dyed indigo fibers in an outer ring that surround a core region comprising white fibers;   after the laser finishing, first portions of the outer surface are exposed to a laser while second portions of the outer surface are not exposed to the laser,   wherein in the first portions, a cross section of a yarn after material at the first location is removed by the laser comprises a flattened shape relative to a round shape in the second portions of the outer surface, and   a region of the flattened shape comprises a first length of exposed white fibers from the yarn's core and dyed indigo fibers from the yarn's outer ring on either side of the exposed white fibers;   a laser input file comprising digital data that is representative of a finishing pattern to be formed on the garment by the laser finishing, wherein during the laser finishing, a laser uses the laser input file to control the exposure by the laser of the first portions of the outer surface of the garment and not expose the laser to the second portions of the outer surface of the garment; and   a target image of the finishing pattern comprises a dark reference,   wherein a first pixel in the laser input file comprises a first value that comprises a difference between a first pixel value at a first pixel location in the target image and the dark reference,   a second pixel in the laser input file comprises a second value that comprises a difference between a second pixel value at second first pixel location in the target image and the dark reference, and   a third pixel in the laser input file comprises a third value that comprises a difference between a third pixel value at third first pixel location in the target image and the dark reference.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the warp is ring dyed using an indigo dye,
 based on the laser input file, selected amounts of material have been removed by the laser from the surface of the first material at different pixel locations of the garment, and 
 for lighter pixel locations of the finishing pattern, a greater amount of the dyed cotton warp yarn is removed, while for darker pixel locations of the finishing pattern, a lesser amount of the dyed cotton warp yarn is removed. 
 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the finishing pattern created extends across portions of the garment where two or more fabric panels are joined together by thread by exposing these portions to the laser. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the first material comprises a weft comprising yarn that has not been dyed. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein for the portions of the garment exposed to the laser where the fabric panels are joined, the fabric panels are joined together using a thread comprising cotton. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the finishing pattern on the outer surface of the garment was created by a single pass of a laser. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the finishing pattern on the outer surface of the garment was created by multiple passes of a laser. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  comprising wherein the capturing the target image of a finishing pattern from an existing garment of the second material comprises using contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization image processing. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  wherein to create the finishing pattern on the outer surface of the garment, the laser finishing system obtains different laser levels are obtained by varying an output of the laser beam by altering a characteristic of the laser comprising at least one of a frequency, period, pulse width, power, duty cycle, or burning speed. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the first material comprises a first surface texture characteristic which is different from a second surface texture characteristic of the second material. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the first material comprises a first dye characteristic which is different from a second dye characteristic of the second material. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the first material comprises a first base fabric color characteristic which is different from a second base fabric color characteristic of the second material. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the first material comprises a first yarn characteristic which is different from a second yarn characteristic of the second material. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the first material comprises a first yarn weight characteristic which is different from a second yarn weight characteristic of the second material. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the first material comprises a first yarn diameter characteristic which is different from a second yarn diameter characteristic of the second material. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the first material comprises a first yarn twist characteristic which is different from a second yarn twist characteristic of the second material. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the finishing pattern on the existing garment was not created by a laser. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the finishing pattern created by the laser on the garment includes a wear pattern comprising at least one of combs or honeycombs, whiskers, stacks, or train tracks, or a combination. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the first material comprises a denim. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the second material comprises a denim.