Apple may be interested in making a line of luggage straps, travel accessories — and shoe strings!

Is Apple interested in making its own line of luggage straps, travel accessories, and even shoe strings? Maybe. The company has been granted a patent (number US 11614108 B2) for “attachment apparatuses.”

About the patent

The items described in the patent relate generally to attachment apparatuses, and more particularly, to attachment apparatuses including straps or bands with at least one point of attachment.

In the patent data, Apple says that, generally, straps or bands may be attached to a variety of items for use in carrying the items (e.g., hand strap or luggage strap), strapping them to another item or a person’s body (e.g., arm band), or a plurality of other uses. However, Apple says that conventional straps may require a mechanical connection to fixedly attach the strap to an item, and may not offer easy personal adjustments to length and other attributes. 

What’s more, the mechanical connections may be difficult to use making it difficult to remove or replace the strap. Apparently, Apple thinks it can alleviate such problems. 

Summary of the patent

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “A system for carrying or using a device includes the device and at least one attachment apparatus. The device may include at least one attachment element. The attachment apparatus may include a length of material and at least one attachment point arranged on an end of the length of material. 

“At least one attachment point may include at least one magnetic feature configured to attach and detach the device and the length of material. The material can include but is not limited to cloth, metallic (magnetic and non-magnetic), fibrous material, and so forth.”