Hook and Eye Closure  - clothing terms presented by Apparel Search

Term Definition

A hook-and-eye closure is a clothing fastener that consists of two parts, each sewn to their respective pieces of cloth, one with a small protruding blunt hook, and the other with a small loop (also known as the "eye" or "eyelet") protruding. To fasten the garment, the hook is slotted into the loop. Simply constructed of bent wire, hook-and-eye closures are typically used in groups to provide sufficient strength to bear the forces involved in normal wear. For this reason, hooks and eyes are commonly available in the form of hook-and-eye tape, consisting of two tapes, one equipped with hooks and the other equipped with eyelets in such a way that the two tapes can be "zipped" together side-by-side. To construct the garment, sections of hook-and-eye tape are sewn into either side of the garment closure.

Hook-and-eye closures are commonly used in corsetry and brassiere, see figure 2 and figure 3.

Many zippers on skirts or dresses, particularly those on garments with back or side zippers, are accompanied by a hook-and-eye closure at the top.

History

In a Complete Dictionary of Dry Goods, under the name of crochet and loop, this form of fastening was in use in England as early as the fourteenth century. Usually they appear on the corset in this country .All the hooks and eyes are made in New England. Size ranged from No. 1 small, to No. 10 large.

In 1830s, corsets became more popular. In 1847, Front fastening stays with patent clipswas found, which believed that the patent clips is the former form of busk. Start from then, most corsets were made with front fastening stays, which were quicker to put on and take off. See the Figure 5.

By 1850s, the split busk was invented. Busk is the rigid element of a corset placed at the center front. It was made of 2 long pieces of steel, one side has a series of studs that locked into specially shaped corresponding eyelet holes.

Later on, different shape of busks appeared to serve different needs due to the rise in concern of women's health. See Figure 6. During 1880s, the 'spoon busk was developed which supposedly put less pressure on the abdomen.

In 1893, Marie Tucek patented the Breast Supporter

the first garment similar to the modern-day bra that used shoulder straps with a hook-and-eye closure to support the breasts in pockets of fabric. See Figure 7. The shoulder strap was rigidly secure to the center front by using the hook and eyes at straps. A numbers of hook and eye employed on the strap respectively to hook the latter after they are drawn tight over the shoulder and back of the person. It made the center part to fit snugly upon the wearers
body directly under the breast.

In 19th century, people started to patent this form of fasteners in USA. In 1900 June, E.C Beecher patented his form of hook and eye to US government, which propose to be sewn on the 2 sides of the garment and use as a fastener. See Figure 8.

A more similar hook and eye which use in brassieres nowadays was patented during nineteenth century in 1902, invented by M.E. Company. See Figure 9. It was considered as an improvement of hook and eye. Besides, it provides a hook and eye that can be readily attached without necessity of stitching or sewing.

Nowadays, hook and eye is still the most common form of fastening on brassieres.

Timeline of Hook and Eye tape	Events
14th	Crochet and Loop appeared in New England
19th (in 1847s)	Front fastening with patent clips in corset
19th (in 1850s)	Split busks appeared in corset
19th (in 1880s)	Spoon busks
19th (in 1893s)	Breast Supporter was patented by Marie Tucek which the 1st hook and eye appeared in brassier
20th (in 1900- 1902s)	Similar hook and eyes in brassier being patented
21st	Nowadays hook and eye tape in Bra

Manufacturing Process

In the production of hook and eye, they can be divided into 2 parts, according to different stages with respect to different component parts of the hook and eye.

Part 1. The pre-production

1.Prepare tricot fabric for hook and eye tape. The hook and eye tape are made by several layers of fabric, one of the layer is brushed tricot, which gives better comfort to the users.See figure 10 for a tricot knitting machine. 2.The fabric roll is put on the automatic cutting machine. By using computer system, the fabric roll is cut into a specific width according to the size of hook and eye tape.See figure 11 for an automatic cut tape machine. 3.Prepare hook and eye buckles. The coiled wire, which can be in white, black, gold or silver, is fed into a bending machine,see figure 12, by setting the automatic computer system, the wire can be bended to different hook or eye shape. 4.The hook and eye buckles are sent to dye, the process is depended on the raw material of the buckles. White colored buckles will be sent to dye into different color or keep it as white. Black buckle will only use to make black hook and eye. For silver or gold color, the color is usually made by electroplating.

Part 2. The Production

Hook and eye tapes are sewn by different machines, one is the eye sewing machine and the other is the hook sewing machine.

1. For the hook sewing machines, see figure 13, the hook buckles were put into a container and it will place the buckle one by one on the cut tape and sew it onto the fabric and form a tape automatically, see figure 14 The distance between each hook can be pre-set into the computer program.

2. For the eye tape sewing machines, the working process is similar to the hook sewing machine. However, the machines are place in a row according to the number of column for the eyelets. In figure 15, it is a 3 column eyelets tape which is sewn by 3 sewing machines, each responsible for on row of eyelets. In figure 16, it is a 2 column eyelets tape sewing set.

3. The hook and eye tapes were made in a row form. It was then sent to cut or undergo other finishing according to customers
need. For example, overprinting or use ultra-sonic to make a logo on the tape, pre-cut to a specific row etc. Figure 18 is an ultrasonic hook and eye tape sealing and cutting machine.