Cuffs are well known in the art of clothing manufacture. Almost every article of clothing has a cuff of some sort at an opening through which a person's limbs (arms or legs), or neck is extended. Cuffs may be made by rolling outward the material at the sleeve, leg, or neck and sometimes, pressing or stitching them in place. A separate band of material may also be sewn at a lower edge of a sleeve to create the cuff. One of the main functions of a cuff is to seal the clothing around the limb or neck of the wearer.
Hemming is also well known in the art of clothing manufacture. Hemming is a common way to treat an edge of a garment at the opening through which a person's limb or neck is extended in order to prevent fraying of the fabric at the edge. To hem a piece of fabric, a garment worker folds up a cut edge, folds it up again, and then sews it down. The process of hemming thus completely encloses the cut edge of the fabric, so that it cannot ravel or fray. A hem is also referred to as the edge of cloth treated in this manner.
One of the aims of athletic and compression garments is to provide a tight fit or compression on all or portions of a wearer's body, such as, for example, at the cuffs. Compression at the cuffs locks them in place and provides muscle support at those locations. Other types of garments also benefit from a tight fit at the cuff, such as, for example, to keep the garments in place, retain heat, or keep debris out. Accordingly, it is desirable for the cuffs of athletic and compression garments to stretch to receive a limb or neck of the wearer, and then recover from the stretched position to provide a tight fit at the cuff. Although the fabric used for compression and other athletic garments do generally provide such characteristics, at least initially, they lose their recovery properties over time as the wearer continues to stretch the garment on and off the body. Thus, it is desirable to reinforce the cuff areas of a garment with a material that will allow the cuff areas to stretch and then recover to maintain the tight fit even with use over time. The material that is used should not be bulky or uncomfortable to the wearer.
It is also desirable to finish the edges of the garment at the cuff, without use of thread. Use of traditional sewing using threads to hem the garment at the cuff often restricts the amount of stretching that may be required in those areas to receive the limb or neck of the wearer. Using “four needle” flat lock stitching overcomes some of the stretch issues that arise due to the use of thread, but there is a limit to how far the stitching can be pulled. Sometimes the threads can pop if stretched too far. Furthermore, for many high performance athletic and compression garments, there is a lot of tension placed on the thread with wear of the garment, and over time, the threads will fail.