PatentWear is the company we’ve established to offer our original patent designs, derived from actual patent drawings, as wearable art on a variety of garments. We have recently partnered with a wonderful new printer, SellMyTees, to custom-print our designs on a wide variety of garment styles and colors, and to facilitate your ordering process through this PatentWear Tees store hosted by them. The About Us page at our headquarters website (PatentWear.com) tells a bit more about us, If you have any further questions, we can answer specific queries via your use of the form on our Contact Us at PatentWear Tees page.
Originally established in 1995 with our initial Museum Series designs (which were then available only to wholesalers), we have since greatly expanded and updated our entire patent art garment line, now available to retail customers via this PatentWear Tees/SellMyTees online store. As we continue to grow, we’ll be adding new ideas all the time—please check back often and, be sure to sign up for our occasional E-Newsletter (on our headquarters site at PatentWear.com) to get the most up-to-date information (you may opt out any time). You can also keep up with us on any of our social networks, where we offer all sorts of information, updates, discounts and new productss.
All PatentWear designs are our own originals created, after extensive research, from actual patents. They include significant dates, numbers, and inventors just as the patents were filed (despite the inevitable stories of controversy behind some about who the “real” inventor might be!) and whenever possible, an enlarged version of the inventor’s signature as well. Each of our designs takes as many as forty hours to produce, from initial research through the design and art production phases, and finally, to printing. Some of our vintage patent art designs are based on patents that date as far back as the early 1800s!
We offer these designs printed on a variety of garments in pleasing colors, trusting that you will enjoy making some exciting new—and old—discoveries of your own.
What, Exactly, Is A Patent?
The founding fathers of the United States of America wrote patent protection into the U.S. Constitution in the form of Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8, stating Congress shall have the power “to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”
However, the concept as we know it today did not originate in America, but was probably brought with earliest settlers from England. Most countries today have their own system of patent protection, but which of them is recognized elsewhere is a subject far beyond our scope here. The U.S. patent system went through several reinventions itself over the years, and in 1975 it was renamed to include trademarks.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office says:
A patent is an intellectual property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor “to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States” for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.
There are three types of patents. Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof. Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.
All of our Social Media links can be found at the top and bottom of our site. Please Like our PatentWear Facebook Page, and Follow Us on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest for the latest news, specials, and other content we think might be of interest, and, if you prefer LinkedIn, we’re there, too! We recommend using the Share buttons provided at the bottom of each product’s description page for best results across the various platforms. There’s even a button for email. Thanks for spreading the word—we very much appreciate every one of our fans and followers!
You can also view our Instagram feed at the bottom of our headquarters website Home page, at PatentWear.com!
We want to know our customers’ interests, and if we can possibly accommodate a favorite subject of yours, we will. While we have many more ideas ourselves—lots of them currently in the works—we welcome your suggestions as well. Keep in mind that many amazing patents often do not have suitable art for us to work with, and some very beautiful patent art is not necessarily a significant or even very interesting patent. Creating designs from patent drawings has proven to be a fine balance. Please use the form on our Contact Us page to communicate your suggestions, and we’ll definitely see what we can do.
Please use the form provided on our PatentWear Tees Contact Us page for any additional questions not covered here in our Help Center’s Frequently Asked Questions.
We do offer occasional discounts through various promotional specials. Sales and specials will be indicated with the included products, are promoted on our Home page with a “Sale” tag, and through our occasional newsletter—please be sure to sign up to receive it on our headquarters website at PatentWear.com. You can also Like our PatentWear Facebook Page, and Follow Us on Twitter and Instagram for the latest news of any special offerings.
You can also sign up for the SellMyTees newsletter, provided by our printer, upon checkout with your order.
Sorry, but, we don’t currently offer gift certificates or e-cards in this online store. However, we do offer a zillion choices (well not quite that many, but, a lot!) in styles, colors, and sizes (including totes)... we hope you’ll find that there’s something here for everyone. If you’re still unsure of a gift or size for your intended recipient, you can always send them this link to our store: patentwear.sellmytees.com (and be sure to include a generous old-school check in the occasion card you send them to cover their order!).
Yes, we do offer wholesale pricing to approved dealers. Retailers interested in wholesale information should contact us via the form on the PatentWear Tees Contact Us page or at the parent website, PatentWear.com. Please be sure to include your contact information (email, phone, address) and the name of the store for which you would be purchasing PatentWear products. We will reply to your inquiry as soon as we possibly can.
Our Search feature, located at the top left corner of each page in this store, looks for your entered key word(s) in both the product names, and, the product descriptions, which can sometimes yield some rather interesting results. The Story—the background stories behind each patent design (which are included with the product descriptions)—is an integral part of what we offer, and because of them, the Search feature has a lot to choose from. We’ve decided that although results may not be exactly as expected, they are certainly interesting enough to leave as is. We hope that, in the spirit of discovery, those “unusual” results may lead to something new that you might not have otherwise known was here.