The present disclosure relates to garments for use in active environments where the wearer of such a garment is engaged in an activity incorporating accelerating movements and more particularly relates to sports apparel that combines the support of a high-performance bra and a hydration vest/backpack.
During sport activities, such as running, cycling or hiking, athletes require water, food and other essentials that they need to bring with them on their workout. Typical hydration vests and backpacks are designed to provide water to the wearer engaged in the activity; however, such vests may be uncomfortable since they add shoulder and chest straps over the breast area. Traditional hydration vests/backpacks are not designed to address the shape and/or support required for breast motion during sport activities.
Therefore, there is a need for a piece of apparel that integrates the function of a hydration vest or backpack and a sports bra, designed to meet breast biomechanics and form, and to provide movement management of the breast tissue as well as the necessary hydration/nutrition required for the workout.
In one aspect, a breast support garment is provided. The breast support garment comprises a front panel forming a front portion of the garment and a back panel connected to the front panel forming two arm holes, a neck hole and a torso opening. The front panel comprises a chest area configured to encapsulate the wearer's breasts and absorb or dampen the accelerating movement of the breast tissue during activity. A hydration system that comprises a hydration reservoir and a dispensing tube in fluid communication with an inner cavity of the reservoir is secured at the back panel. At least two straps extend across the shoulders from a top of the front panel to the back panel. The breast support garment further comprises a holder formed at the back panel and dimensioned to receive the reservoir of the hydration system and one or more guiding retainers to support the dispensing tube.
In another aspect, the holder can be designed to provide a storage area for a number of items. The holder comprises an access opening and a means for opening and closing the access opening.
In addition to the aspects and embodiments described above, further aspects and embodiments will become apparent by reference to the drawings and study of the following detailed description.
Throughout the drawings, reference numbers may be re-used to indicate correspondence between referenced elements. The drawings are provided to illustrate example embodiments described herein and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. Sizes and relative positions of elements in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the shapes of various elements and angles are not drawn to scale, and some of these elements are arbitrarily enlarged and positioned to improve drawing legibility.
The present invention discloses an article of apparel designed for athletes that integrates and combines the functions of a sports bra and a hydration vest or backpack. The hydration and breast support apparel of the present invention can be put over any fitted top or regular (low-support) bra. The hydration and breast support apparel is designed to be worn during activity to give the wearer an additional support or layer over a low-support (comfort) bra or top. After the activity, the hydration and breast support garment can be easily removed leaving the wearer with her/his comfort top. However, the wearer can use the hydration and breast support garment without any under layer (regular bra or top) as it can be used as a sole layer.
The front panel 12 comprise a chest area (e.g. two cups 14) that encapsulates each of the wearer's breasts and provides damping support and/or compression for the wearer's breasts. In one embodiment, the cups can have a 3-D shape and can be formed by seaming, sewing, molding, knitting or any other suitable technique or combination thereof. In various embodiments, the front panel 12 can be a flat panel with a chest area 14 that is designed to support and/or reinforce the breast tissue. The front panel 12 can include an outer liner and an inner liner that may be bonded, fused, or glued together. For example, the outer and inner liners can be bonded only at the edge portion, the two liners can be bonded through the entire surface, or a combination thereof. In various embodiments, the front panel 12 can have a decoupling panel (not shown) positioned between the two cups 14 for decoupled movement of the wearer's breasts such that wearer's breasts can move independently from each other. For example, the decoupling panel may be placed between the outer and the inner liner. In various embodiments, specific panels, strips, straps, or portions of the breast support garment 10 may be reinforced or stiffened with additional layers of material to provide additional support and attenuation of the breast accelerating movement. In various embodiments, a slingshot like support structure, as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 10,609,966 incorporated herein in its entirety, can be provided with the garment 10 to provide additional breast support and reinforcement. In one embodiment, an underband can be added at the lower edge of the front panel 12 (and/or at a lower edge of a back panel) to provide additional support.
A fastener 18 is provided to open and allow the wearer to put on or remove the garment 10. In the illustrated example of the fastener 18 is a zipper that extends from a top edge 16 of the front panel 12 to its lower edge 19 separating the front panel 12 and forming two symmetrical (left and right) front panel sides. A zippered front makes for quick and easy layering and removal of the garment 10. Persons skilled in the art would understand that the fastener 18 can be formed at the front panel or on one (or both) sides 21 of the bra without departing from the scope of the invention. The fastener 18 can be a zipper, a snap, a button, a clip, a buckle, a hook and loop fastener (such as, for example, VELCRO®) or any combination thereof.
A hydration system that comprises a hydration reservoir (not shown) and a dispensing tube 26 is provided to carry and provide hydration fluids (e.g. water) to the wearer. The reservoir can be a pouch with a wall defining an inner cavity of the reservoir and an access opening to provide an access to the inner cavity of the reservoir. For example, the reservoir can be any type of known hydration reservoirs used with hydration vests or any other known and suitable reservoir. The access opening can be designed to allow an easy and quick re-fill. In addition, the reservoir comprises a connector for connecting the dispensing tube 26 and an on/off switch valve to prevent leaks. The reservoir can be made of a lightweight and durable material, such as for example a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) film. The dispensing tube 26 has a first end 27 (see
In various embodiments, the holder 28 can be omitted and the hydration reservoir can be secured to the back panel using a retainer, such as, for example, a number of hooks that are sized and designed to engage a number of respective hook holders. For example, the hooks can be formed at the hydration reservoir and the hook holders can be positioned on the back panel 20 so by engaging the hooks with the respective hook holders the reservoir is secured to the back panel 20. One or more elastic straps can also be used to additionally support the reservoir and keep it close to the back panel 20 and prevent bouncing during activity.
The garment 10 can further include a number of guides 36 (see
In various embodiments, the hydration system can be omitted and the holder 28 can be used as a backpack storage for any nutrition or other items that the wearer may need during activity. For example, the holder 28 can be a single storage pocket area or can comprise a number of separate compartments sized and designed to hold various items.
In the illustrated examples of the breast support garment 10, the straps 22 cross over each other. The cross straps 22 can balance the movement between the breasts and the hydration reservoir or stored items as well as to create an additional storage support between the back panel 20 and the straps 22. For example, as shown in
The breast support garment 10 can further comprise a side adjuster 37 (see
While particular elements, embodiments and applications of the present disclosure have been shown and described, it will be understood that the scope of the disclosure is not limited thereto, since modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, particularly in light of the foregoing teachings. Thus, for example, in any method or process disclosed herein, the acts or operations making up the method/process may be performed in any suitable sequence and are not necessarily limited to any particular disclosed sequence. Elements and components can be configured or arranged differently, combined, and/or eliminated in various embodiments. The various features and processes described above may be used independently of one another, or may be combined in various ways. All possible combinations and subcombinations are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. Reference throughout this disclosure to “some embodiments,” “an embodiment,” or the like, means that a particular feature, structure, step, process, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in some embodiments,” “in an embodiment,” or the like, throughout this disclosure are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment and may refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, additions, substitutions, equivalents, rearrangements, and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions described herein.
Various aspects and advantages of the embodiments have been described where appropriate. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such aspects or advantages may be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment. Thus, for example, it should be recognized that the various embodiments may be carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other aspects or advantages as may be taught or suggested herein.
Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” “may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without operator input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment. No single feature or group of features is required for or indispensable to any particular embodiment. The terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like are synonymous and are used inclusively, in an open-ended fashion, and do not exclude additional elements, features, acts, operations, and so forth. Also, the term “or” is used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term “or” means one, some, or all of the elements in the list.
The example calculations, simulations, results, graphs, values, and parameters of the embodiments described herein are intended to illustrate and not to limit the disclosed embodiments. Other embodiments can be configured and/or operated differently than the illustrative examples described herein.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4804351 | Raml | Feb 1989 | A |
4816005 | Braaten | Mar 1989 | A |
4825471 | Jennings | May 1989 | A |
5823851 | Dicker | Oct 1998 | A |
5864880 | Adam | Feb 1999 | A |
5938089 | Abreu-Marston | Aug 1999 | A |
6099382 | Wilson | Aug 2000 | A |
6626733 | Knutson | Sep 2003 | B1 |
7364491 | Updyke | Apr 2008 | B2 |
D641954 | Glass | Jul 2011 | S |
D674578 | Glass | Jan 2013 | S |
8833619 | Chapuis | Sep 2014 | B2 |
9359049 | Alexander | Jun 2016 | B1 |
9456642 | Lee | Oct 2016 | B2 |
10023279 | Alexander | Jul 2018 | B1 |
10201192 | Lott | Feb 2019 | B1 |
10244800 | Goff | Apr 2019 | B1 |
10869510 | Goff | Dec 2020 | B1 |
10932501 | Powell | Mar 2021 | B1 |
D945124 | Yancey | Mar 2022 | S |
20050075047 | Zagame | Apr 2005 | A1 |
20050255789 | Gaudet | Nov 2005 | A1 |
20110113524 | Sinder | May 2011 | A1 |
20110177757 | Swendseid | Jul 2011 | A1 |
20130146623 | Murray | Jun 2013 | A1 |
20140013481 | Lee | Jan 2014 | A1 |
20170347729 | Goff | Dec 2017 | A1 |
20180332904 | Rendone | Nov 2018 | A1 |
20190098940 | Huffa et al. | Apr 2019 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
WO-9824335 | Jun 1998 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20200237027 A1 | Jul 2020 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62796452 | Jan 2019 | US |