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CPC technology class · A41

A41D - Outerwear

Outerwear; protective garments; accessories. 5,359 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

5,359
US patents granted
#1/6
in A41
62.4%
A41 class share
+38%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Outerwear ranks #246 of 670 CPC technology areas - 5,359 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 38% over five years.

#246
of 670 CPC technology areas
5,359
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Nike
leading assignee (533)
+38%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How A41D's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, A41D recorded 2,782 grants versus 2,016 in 2015–2019 (+38% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2024 at 602 grants and bottomed in 2016 at 303 (+99% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Nike, Inc. holds 9.9% of the class ; the top three share 12.9%.

Leaderboard read

A41D concentration, lead at 9.9%

Nike, Inc. leads this historical grant record at 9.9% of A41D - us corporation assignees hold 72% of class grants (1,998 of 2,758). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share
9.9%

533 of 5,359 grants

Top three share
12.9%

of the class's recorded grants

Lead over #2
434

more grants than Under Armour, Inc.

Where A41D sits inside A41

Among 6 subclasses in A41 (Wearing Apparel), A41D ranks #1 and holds 62.4% of the parent class's 8,592 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

A41B 979 A41F 683 A41C 669 A41H 522 A41G 380

Rising assignees active in A41D

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

  1. #1 Alpinestars Research S.P.A. 11x 1 → 11 company-wide · 15 in A41D
  2. #2 Top Glove International Sdn. Bhd. 9.00x 1 → 9 company-wide · 8 in A41D
  3. #3 CreateMe Technologies Inc. 8.38x 8 → 67 company-wide · 13 in A41D
  4. #4 Protect3d, Inc. 6.00x 1 → 6 company-wide · 5 in A41D
  5. #5 Workaround GMBH 5.67x 3 → 17 company-wide · 9 in A41D

A41D grants by year, peak 2024 (602)

US utility-patent grants per year in A41D, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 38% versus 2015–2019.

200300400500600700 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 449

Who leads A41D?

The 12 most active assignees in OUTERWEAR; Protective GARMENTS; Accessories - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Nike is the most active filer in A41D, holding 533 of the 5,359 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025 grant years
View data table
Top patent holders in CPC subclass A41D
Rank Company Patents in A41D
#1 Nike, Inc. 533
#2 Under Armour, Inc. 99
#3 Levi Strauss & Co. 60
#4 adidas AG 50
#5 Ansell Limited 40
#6 Summit Glove Inc. 38
#7 W.L. Gore & Associates GmbH 36
#8 LAT Enterprises, Inc. 35
#9 O&M Halyard, Inc. 33
#10 Medline Industries, LP 31
#11 Showa Glove Co. 23
#12 Sanko Tekstil Isletmeleri San. Ve Tic. A.S. 19
#13 Lululemon Athletica Canada Inc. 17
#14 TYR Tactical, LLC 16
#15 Milliken & Company 15
#16 HBI Branded Apparel Enterprises, LLC 15
#17 Talon Technologies, Inc. 15
#18 Alpinestars Research S.P.A. 15
#19 Puma SE 14
#20 ZIH Corp. 14

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading A41D assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 A41D assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in A41D. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 010203040 -2000200400600 Patents in A41D Avg claims / patent (company-wide) NikeUnder ArmourLevi Strauss &adidasAnsellSummit GloveW L Gore & AssociatesLat EnterprisesO&M HalyardMedline IndustriesShowa GloveSanko Tekstil…Lululemon Athletica…Tyr Tactical
Top 14 A41D assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in A41D. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near A41D's 5,359-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for A41D (#246 of 670 by volume ; lead share 9.9%) - not the A41 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

D10B 5,422 B23B 5,282 B60P 5,242 H03G 5,213

Nearest by lead-assignee share

F01L 10.0% B31D 9.9% B41N 10.0% F23K 10.1%

Questions about A41D

Which company holds the most patents in A41D?
Nike, Inc. leads A41D with 533 patents (9.9% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 72% of class grants.
Which A41D assignees grew fastest recently?
Among assignees with ≥5 grants in A41D, Alpinestars Research S.P.A. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (11x: 1 grants in 2019–2021 → 11 in 2022–2024) while holding 15 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.
How does A41D compare inside parent class A41?
Inside A41 (Wearing Apparel), A41D ranks #1 of 6 subclasses by grant volume and holds 62.4% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is A41B (979 grants).

What to do with this data

A41D in context - here's where to go next.

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - A41D figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (5,359 grants in the tracked window).

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.