PlainPatent

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 filing trajectory.

5,359
US patents granted
A41
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+60%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Outerwear ranks #246 of 670 CPC technology areas - 5,359 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 60% over five years.

#246
of 670 CPC technology areas
5,359
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Nike
leading assignee (533)
+60%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: NIKE, Inc. (533 patents)

CPC subclass A41D - OUTERWEAR; PROTECTIVE GARMENTS; ACCESSORIES - covers 5,359 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class A41 (WEARING APPAREL). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in A41D is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. NIKE, Inc. leads with 533 patents, followed by Under Armour, Inc. at 99 grants and Levi Strauss & Co. at 60.

Filing activity in A41D is up 60% over the past five years versus 2015-2019, a sharp acceleration suggesting an emerging or fast-moving technology area. All counts come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is A41D innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in A41D, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 60% 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

About This Class

CPC subclass A41D belongs to class A41.

5,359 patents were granted in this class between 2015 and 2025.

20 companies actively patent in this space.

Classification System

Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) is a hierarchical patent classification system used by the USPTO and EPO.

← All Technology Classes Technology Rankings →

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).

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 Isletme…Lululemon Athletica C…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).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class A41D?
CPC subclass A41D covers OUTERWEAR; PROTECTIVE GARMENTS; ACCESSORIES. It belongs to CPC class A41 (WEARING APPAREL), with 5,359 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in A41D?
5,359 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass A41D between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in A41D?
NIKE, Inc. leads A41D with 533 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for A41D collected?
Patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It covers all US granted utility patents and assigns CPC codes based on the technology described in each patent.
What is the difference between CPC class and subclass?
A CPC class (e.g., A41) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like A41D provide finer granularity within that category. PlainPatent organizes data at the subclass level (4-character codes) for the most useful view of technology domains.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent Editorial

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.