Patent Application
20230255283
The present invention relates to a garment convertible into a plurality of different configurations, such as a garment configuration and a toy configuration.
Multiple toys, including stuffed toys, exist that permit a user to play with a representation of a character. In addition, various types of garments are available that allow a user to dress up as and/or exemplify a character, e.g., a popular cartoon character. For example, a hooded blanket or hooded sweatshirt may include a screenprinted image of a character. Further, there exist combination products that are both stuffed toys and hooded sweatshirts.
The following is a brief summary of subject matter that is described in greater detail herein. This summary is not intended to be limiting as to the scope of the claims.
The present application provides a garment convertible between a toy configuration representing a particular character and a garment configuration configured such that a user exemplifies or dresses up as the character when wearing the garment. More particularly, the toy configuration includes a toy body that has a first set of character features. The first set of character features represent aspects of the character, such as a mouth, eyes, clothing, skin tone, skin texture, and/or the like. The garment configuration includes a second set of character features. Similarly, the second set of character features represent aspects of the character, similar to those of the first set and/or portions of the second set and the first set can vary.
The second set of character features are arranged on the garment such that a user wearing the garment exemplifies the character represented in the toy configuration. Accordingly, the user can carry or play with a representation of the character in a first setting (e.g., the toy configuration) and dress up as the character in a second setting (e.g., the garment configuration) using the same convertible garment.
In an embodiment, the garment configuration comprises a hooded sweatshirt that includes a hood portion and a body portion connected to the hood portion. The hood portion includes a space defined by a first layer and a second layer; and the first layer includes an aperture for accessing the space. The first layer and the second layer each include a respective inner surface facing toward the space and outer surface that faces away from the space. The inner surface of the first layer and the inner surface of the second layer form a toy body therebetween.
The toy body and the aperture are configured such that a user can pull the toy body through the aperture and out of the space. Pulling the toy body through the aperture generates a second space defined by the toy body and a user can compact a portion of the garment into the toy body. This compacted portion of the garment then acts as the stuffing for the toy configuration of the garment. The garment can be converted from the toy configuration to the garment configuration by reversing the above-described steps.
Thus, the user can both carry a representation of the character in a toy form and dress as the character in the garment form.
The above presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the systems and/or methods discussed herein. It is not an extensive overview of the systems and/or methods discussed herein. Nor is it intended to identify key/critical elements or to delineate the scope of such systems and/or methods.
Aspects of the present application pertain to a convertible garment adapted to be worn by a user are now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of one or more aspects. It may be evident, however, that such aspect(s) may be practiced without these specific details.
In reference to the disclosure herein, for purposes of convenience and clarity only, directional terms, such as, top, bottom, left, right, up, down, upper, lower, over, above, below, beneath, rear, and front, may be used. Such directional terms should not be construed to limit the scope of the features described herein in any manner. It is to be understood that embodiments presented herein are by way of example and not by way of limitation. The intent of the following detailed description, although discussing exemplary embodiments, is to be construed to cover all modifications, alternatives, and equivalents of the embodiments as may fall within the spirit and scope of the features described herein.
Moreover, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or.” That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from the context, the phrase “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, the phrase “X employs A or B” is satisfied by any of the following instances: X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from the context to be directed to a singular form. Additionally, as used herein, the term “exemplary” is intended to mean serving as an illustration or example of something and is not intended to indicate a preference.
Further, as used herein, the term “garment” may include, but is not limited to, a hooded sweatshirt, crew neck sweatshirt, v-neck sweatshirt, vest, shirt, robe, sweater, jacket, towel, blanket, cape, zippered sweatshirt, and/or the like. As used herein, the term “character” can include, but is not limited to, objects, people, animals, imaginary beings, personified objects, mascots, cartoon characters, monsters, robots, other creatures, and/or the like.
Disclosed is a garment that is convertible between a toy configuration and a garment configuration. The toy configuration represents a particular character and the garment configuration is configured such that a user exemplifies or dresses up as the character when wearing the garment. More particularly, the toy configuration includes a toy body that has a first set of character features. The first set of character features represent aspects of the character, such as a mouth, eyes, clothing, skin tone, skin texture, and/or the like. The garment configuration includes a second set of character features. Similarly, the second set of character features represent aspects of the character such that the user exemplifies the character while wearing the garment.
As noted above and as will be described in detail below, the convertible garment is convertible between a garment configuration wearable by a user and a toy configuration. More particularly, the convertible garment can be inverted from the garment configuration to generate a toy body in the toy configuration and the remaining convertible garment is stored within the toy body. The toy configuration can be converted into the garment configuration by removing the convertible garment from the toy body and re-inverting the toy body into the garment configuration.
The toy body includes one or more character features that represent a particular character, e.g., a cartoon character and/or a mascot. The garment configuration includes one or more character features that represent the particular character such that a user wearing the convertible garment in the garment configuration exemplifies the character. Accordingly, in one scenario a user can carry a toy representation of the character; while in another scenario, the user can invert the toy and then dress up as the character.
Illustrated in
With reference now to
The body portion 106 can take any suitable shape and/or size. In the illustrated embodiment, the body portion 106 comprises a sweatshirt that includes sleeves 108a and 108b and a pouch 108 formed thereon. The hood portion 104 then extends from a neck of the sweatshirt. In another embodiment, the body portion 106 comprises a casual jumpsuit, e.g., a onesie. In a further embodiment, the body portion 106 comprises a shirt, a vest, a robe, a jacket, and/or the like.
The garment configuration 102 may further include other aspects associated with traditional hooded sweatshirts. For instance, the sleeves 108a and 108b may each include a respective cuff 110 at the end of the sleeve. In a further example, the body portion 106 may include an elastic cuff 112 at the bottom of the body portion 106. In another example, the garment configuration 102 may include one or more fasteners configured to removably fasten together one or more portions of the garment configuration 102, such as a zipper, button, Velcro, clasp, snap, and/or the like. In the illustrated embodiment, the body portion 106 comprises a solid sweatshirt; while in another embodiment, the body portion 106 can include a zipper along the front similar to a zippered hooded sweatshirt.
Illustrated in
As mentioned above, the toy body 202 includes a toy set of character features 204 that represent one or more aspects of a character. The character features 204 can include identifying features of the character, such as eyes, ears, mouths, noses, and/or other facial features. The character features 204 may also include a color of the character and/or a representation of a skin texture of the character (e.g., indication of feathers, scales, and/or the like). The character features 204 may further include clothing or attire worn by the character, such as a hat, glasses, shirt, pants, a dress, and/or the like.
In the illustrated embodiment, the character features 204 include a pair of eyes 206, a beak 208, and a mouth 210 of the character. The character features 204 further include a texture 212 on a surface of the toy body 202 to represent feathers on a surface of the character.
As noted above, the convertible garment 100 further includes a garment set of character features 114 that represent one or more aspects of the character. The character features 114 can be arranged such that a user wearing the convertible garment 100 in the garment configuration 102 exemplifies the character. More particularly, while wearing the convertible garment 100 the user can dress up as and/or pretend to be the character.
The character features 204 of the toy configuration 200 and the character features 114 of the garment configuration 102 can be similar and/or may vary. For instance, character features 204 may comprise a first set of character features and character features 114 may comprise a second set of character features. For example, the first set and the second set may have a portion in common (e.g., character features 204 include a character’s eyes and character features 114 similarly include the character’s eyes) and another portion that varies. In another example, the second set may comprise a portion of the first set, such that certain character features in the toy configuration (e.g., nose, mouth, eyes, etc.) are replaced by corresponding features of the user in the garment configuration 102.
Character features 204 and character features 114 may vary in shape, size, color, and/or texture as needed to embody a representation of a character in the toy configuration 200 and permit a user to exemplify the character while wearing the convertible garment 100. For example, character features 204 of the toy configuration 200 can include character eyes of a first size, while character features 114 of the garment configuration 102 can include character eyes of a different second size.
In the embodiment illustrated in
In the illustrated embodiment, the texture is included on both the hood portion 104 and the body 106. However, the texture can cover any suitable portion of the convertible garment 100 in the garment configuration 100. For example, the texture may cover just the hood portion 104 or just the body 106 or portions thereof. In other embodiments, there may be no characteristic texture in one or both of the garment configuration 100 and toy configuration 200.
The toy body 202 can take any suitable shape for storing the portion of the convertible garment 100 therein and the shape may depend on the character represented. For instance, as illustrated in
The convertible garment 100 can be formed of any suitable material and the material may vary for different portions of the garment 100. In an example, the hood portion 102 can be formed of a first material and the body portion 104 can be formed of a different second material. In another example, the toy body 202 can be made of cotton, polyester, elastics, wool, and/or blends of any of these or other materials. The toy body 202 can be made of a plush material to function as a plush toy.
Turning now to
The first layer 304 and the second layer 306 each include an inner surface facing toward the space 308 and an outer surface facing away from the space 308. The inner surface of the first layer 304 and the inner surface of the second layer 306 form the surface of a toy body 314 (
The illustrated convertible garment 300 further includes a set of character features corresponding to a character and arranged such that a user, wearing the convertible garment 300, would exemplify the character. In the illustrated embodiment, the set of character features include a hat worn by the character arranged such that the user appears to wear the cap when wearing the convertible garment 300. The character features may also include a brown buckeye nut portion that surrounds the face of the Brutus character and also surrounds the face of the user.
Illustrated in
Toy body 314 is then pulled through the aperture 310 to return the toy body 314 to the non-inverted state and invert the hood portion 302, as can be seen in
As can be seen in
The toy body 314 can include a fastener 316 to releasably seal the portion of the garment 300 within the space defined by the toy 300. Any suitable fastener 316 can be used and may be similar to fastener 312 and/or may vary. In the illustrated embodiment, fastener 316 comprises fastener 312 such that the same fastener can be used to seal the toy body 314 and to seal the space 308.
The convertible garment 300 can then be converted from the toy configuration in
As illustrated in
What has been described above includes examples of one or more embodiments. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable modification and alteration of the above devices or methodologies for purposes of describing the aforementioned aspects, but one of ordinary skill in the art can recognize that many further modifications and permutations of various aspects are possible. Accordingly, the described aspects are intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.
