Patent Application
20130097766
Embodiments herein relate to the field of apparel, and, more specifically, to accessory straps for apparel, such as outerwear.
Gloves, mittens, and other apparel accessories are prone to being lost when they are temporarily removed to expose the wearer's hands during outdoor activities. Because these items often are too bulky to fit into a pocket, some have devised leashes and clips to secure gloves and mittens to a jacket or coat. However, these solutions leave the mittens or gloves dangling inconveniently from the sleeve, where they can impede the use of the hands. Furthermore, leashes and clips may pose a snag hazard. In addition to gloves and mittens, other bulky items also may need to be stowed during outdoor activities, such as hats, scarves, earmuffs, neck warmers, and the like. In addition to being too large to be stored in a pocket, these items may be wet from use, making them inconvenient to store in an interior compartment.
Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration embodiments that may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of embodiments is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Various operations may be described as multiple discrete operations in turn, in a manner that may be helpful in understanding embodiments; however, the order of description should not be construed to imply that these operations are order dependent.
The description may use perspective-based descriptions such as up/down, back/front, and top/bottom. Such descriptions are merely used to facilitate the discussion and are not intended to restrict the application of disclosed embodiments.
The terms “coupled” and “connected,” along with their derivatives, may be used. It should be understood that these terms are not intended as synonyms for each other. Rather, in particular embodiments, “connected” may be used to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. “Coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact. However, “coupled” may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet still cooperate or interact with each other.
For the purposes of the description, a phrase in the form “A/B” or in the form “A and/or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the description, a phrase in the form “at least one of A, B, and C” means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C). For the purposes of the description, a phrase in the form “(A)B” means (B) or (AB) that is, A is an optional element.
The description may use the terms “embodiment” or “embodiments,” which may each refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments, are synonymous.
Embodiments herein provide accessory straps for apparel, such as outerwear. In various embodiments, the accessory strap may be used to secure gloves, mittens, hats, earmuffs, scarves, neck warmers, and/or other accessories to a piece of apparel, such as outerwear, when the accessory is not being used. Various embodiments of the accessory strap may include an elastomeric element, so that the strap may stretch to encompass large or bulky items and secure the item under pressure/tension. Some embodiments may include an adjustable fit feature, so that various sized accessories may be securely stowed. For instance, some embodiments of the accessory strap may include or be coupled to a buckle, snap, button, hook-and-loop fastener, or other closure device that may be used to adjust the length of the accessory strap to suit a desired purpose.
In various embodiments, the accessory strap may be stowed under one or more flaps, bellows, creases, pleats, folds, or another feature of the outerwear when not in use, for instance to hide it from view and/or prevent it from catching on nearby objects. For instance, in some embodiments, the accessory strap may be positioned next to a flap or panel in the apparel that may be folded over the accessory strap when not in use. In other embodiments, the accessory strap may be positioned under or within one or more bellows, creases, folds, or pleats, such as one or more box pleats, that may at least partially cover and hide the accessory strap when not in use. In some embodiments, the accessory strap may be positioned inside a pocket, such as within a slash or patch pocket. In these embodiments, the accessory strap may be pulled out from under (or within) the bellows, creases, folds, pockets, or pleats for use. In some embodiments, the flaps, bellows, creases, folds, pockets, or pleats may include one or more fasteners, such as a snap, hook-and-eye closure, button, zipper, or hook-and-loop-type closure device to secure it in the closed position when the accessory strap is not being used.
Various embodiments of the accessory strap may be incorporated into the design of a pocket, for example a jacket pocket, vest pocket, shirt pocket, coat pocket, shorts pocket, or pants pocket. In some embodiments, the pocket may be a cargo pocket. In other embodiments, the pocket may be a patch pocket, a flap pocket, a slash pocket, a single welt pocket, or a double welt pocket. In various embodiments, the pocket may be positioned anywhere on the outside of the outerwear where it is convenient to have a pocket, such as a front pocket, side pocket, hip pocket, chest pocket, or rear pocket on a jacket, vest, shirt, or coat, or a front pocket, hip pocket, back pocket, or leg pocket on a pair of pants or shorts. In some embodiments, the accessory strap may be incorporated substantially vertically into the center of the pocket, whereas in other embodiments, the accessory strap may be incorporated in an off-center fashion, at an angle, or on the side of the pocket. In some embodiments, a single pocket may include two or more accessory straps.
In some embodiments, accessory strap 100 may be secured at both the top and bottom ends (not shown) to the apparel, for example via stitching, or optionally via one or more releasable fasteners (not shown). In various embodiments, accessory strap 100 may include an elastomeric element, such as rubber, elastane, latex, neoprene, Lycra™, Spandex™, or any other natural or synthetic elastomer. In various embodiments, this elastomeric element may allow accessory strap 100 to stretch sufficiently to accommodate large and bulky accessories.
Some embodiments of accessory strap 100 may include an adjustable fastening element 106 to allow the length of accessory strap to be configured to securely hold a variety of sizes of accessories. For example, in some embodiments, adjustable fastening element 106 may be used to loosen accessory strap 100 in order to fit around a pair of large gloves or another accessory (see, e.g.,
In the illustrated example, adjustable fastening element 106 is a buckle that is coupled to accessory strap 100 near the top of pocket 102 and that is coupled to the apparel within strap-covering element 104. In such an example, accessory strap 100 may be coupled to pocket 102 at or near the bottom of pocket 102, and may extend to and pass through adjustable fastening element 106, folding back on itself and leaving a free end 108. In use, accessory strap 100 may be tightened by pulling on free end 108, and may be loosened by lifting and releasing adjustable fastening element 106. Although the illustrated example includes a single strap length that couples to fastener 106 near the top of pocket 102, one of skill in the art will appreciate that fastener 106 may be located at any position along accessory strap 100, such as at the bottom, middle, or top, and that in some embodiments, fastener 106 may be used to join two lengths of strap together. Additionally, although accessory strap 100 is illustrated as being in a vertical orientation, in some embodiments, accessory strap 100 may be positioned horizontally or at an angle relative to vertical, such as five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five, forty, or forty-five or more degrees from vertical, depending on the design of the outerwear.
In various embodiments, to remove accessory 110 from accessory strap 100, accessory 110 may simply be pulled free of accessory strap 100, or, if needed, accessory strap 100 may first be loosened via adjustable fastening element 106 before accessory 110 is pulled free. In various embodiments, accessory strap 100 may then automatically slide back under strap covering element (not shown).
Although certain embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a wide variety of alternate and/or equivalent embodiments or implementations calculated to achieve the same purposes may be substituted for the embodiments shown and described without departing from the scope. Those with skill in the art will readily appreciate that embodiments may be implemented in a very wide variety of ways. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the embodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that embodiments be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/550,838 entitled “ACCESSORY STRAP FOR APPAREL,” filed Oct. 24, 2011, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61550838 | Oct 2011 | US |
