Patent Application
20180070655
The invention relates to a garment structured for comfort while incorporating highly durable decorative elements.
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For thousands of years, comfort has been a driving force in the design of clothing. While early garments were made from leather, primitive peoples followed the practice of chewing the leather to soften it and make it more comfortable to wear.
The advent of textile materials and their dramatically softer textures led to their virtually replacing leather garments except in a few specialized areas. Moreover, textile materials did so despite the fact that they were substantially more labor-intensive to create. Likewise, other fabric alternatives, such as tapa fabric made from the beaten inner bark layer of certain tree species, have never been of significance largely due to the discomfort associated with wearing the same. Clothing in the ancient world was made of linen, cotton, wool, and silk. Following the need for comfort, whether to conserve body heat or allow it to be shed, clothing came to vary dependent upon on climate. Just as importantly, clothing also began to evolve based on culture and wealth.
However, fashion has emerged as perhaps one of the strongest forces shaping the structure of clothing. For example, the Egyptians originally wore only light clothing because of their hot climate. However, that changed later in their history into more elaborate and colorful clothing as fashion began to take the upper hand. However, development of relatively elaborate clothing equated to garments that might not shed body heat so easily and would accordingly cause the wearer relative discomfort. Consider the extensive use of ruffles and ruches in clothing during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. While clothing in our own country at the time of the Revolution had an undeniable fashionable component, the impracticality of such garments in the Virginia summer is immediately apparent. Nevertheless, the inability of such clothing to shed heat did not seem to affect the willingness of people, driven by nothing but fashion, to adopt the custom of wearing the same. Indeed, people seem to be willing to tolerate substantial discomfort for the sake of fashion. Ladies' high heeled shoes are a particularly compelling example.
Evidence of dyed linen fibers dating from 36,000 BP suggests that the development of textiles may have shortly followed the need for warm clothing necessitated by man's exodus from Africa. Evidence of loomed fabrics also goes very far back into the archaeological record.
The emergence, in the Middle Ages, of needle-based textile manufacturing techniques, such as nalbinding, later knitting, and most recently crocheting, created the possibility for clothing substantially more comfortable than woven fabrics, for example, of the type produced on looms incorporating shuttle and heddles. While needle-based techniques were initially primarily probably used by nomadic peoples because the minimal amount of equipment required could be easily transported, the comfort of the garments produced using these techniques caused them to permeate through all sectors of human society.
The development of knitting machinery about 400 years ago eventually led to machinery for knitting very fine textile fabric such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, and the like. Initially the fabrics produced by these machines were underwear and stockings on account of the very comfortable nature of finely knitted fabric. However, increasingly, outerwear, such as sweatshirts, sweatpants, and later bodysuits began to develop substantial popularity. Nevertheless, under the pressure of fashion, the need emerged for more appealing knitted garments. While the possibility has existed for many years to sculpturally vary the configuration of the knitted garment surface, for example with fishnets and chains as might be seen in an Irish fisherman's sweater, the possibilities are relatively narrow in scope.
More seriously, finely knitted garments such as bodysuits and sweatshirts cannot, practically, be designed with significant stitch-based sculptural detail because of the fineness of the stitches which form the garment fabric. Accordingly, decoration of such garments, for example, sweatshirts is largely limited to the painting, screening, or printing of pigment based designs onto the surface of the fabric. While embroidery has also been used, the process is relatively expensive. Moreover, both of these approaches are limited in terms of the range of artistic expression which they will accommodate. In addition, the most practical decorative techniques for knitted fabrics, namely the application of pigment based designs, suffers from serious durability problems, insofar as the paints used tend to deteriorate under mechanical stress and washing.
Notwithstanding the pressure of fashion to provide decorated garments, and the unparalleled comfort of knitted and other needle-manufactured fabrics, the only significant decorative techniques remain stitch-based sculptural detail and applied pigment designs. Accordingly, there has existed for many years a longstanding need for highly decorative yet comfortable garments which have a substantial degree of durability.
Throughout this comfort-driven evolution there has been a general rule that the more comfortable technology generally replaced earlier technologies, except in niche categories. For example, the leather garments of aboriginal cultures came to be replaced by woven textiles, save for specialty jackets. Also, where replacement was impractical, it could not occur, for example in the instance of footwear. Moreover, that replacement was on a complete basis with respect to individual garments. Thus, as leather clothing came to be replaced by woven fabrics, the new technology completely replaced the leather in a given product and an attempt was made to selectively replace the leather of only parts of the garment with woven textile.
Complicating any attempt at a solution to the problem is the demand of fashion that garments fit into an acceptable range of variation from existing garment structures. In other words, garment designers need to temper their creativity and fit it into visual standards defined around currently existing structures.
The present invention addresses the need for comfort within the context of all of the above standards. Structurally acceptable women's textile forms are applied over stretchable knitted bases to achieve a desired aesthetic projection. At the same time, durability, comfort, and economic demands are addressed.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, the invention takes the form of a women's woven blouse that can be considered either casual or dressy. More particularly, the resulting inventive women's woven blouse enhances style, elegance, comfort, and advances economic goals for a woman's or a man's wardrobe. With just a few of the inventive women's shirts disclosed herein, women can use the garments in a wide range of both casual and professional settings.
In contrast to prior art, woven textile garments having collars, buttons, ruffles, gatherings, sequins, ruches and the like, the present invention contemplates the use of elastic fabric. The inventive woven blouses made of elastic fabric help with the uncomfortable feeling caused by today's collared shirts, particularly around the arm and chest areas. Moreover, the inventive woven blouses give a clean, uncluttered, and smooth appearance. The inventive woven blouses thus avoid the unflattering look of buttons showing through the outer layer of fabric, as might occur where a formfitting knitted garment is used in combination with a collared shirt worn under the formfitting knitted garment. In addition, the tendency of the knitted garment to crush the loomed shirt toward the body results in substantial discomfort, which is avoided by the present invention.
The present invention has the advantage of comfort on account of using stretchable needle-manufactured textile material. Such fabric fits comfortably around the arm and body generally. While a similar look can be achieved by using a conventional stretchable tightfitting shirt over a conventional woven collared shirt, the stretchable tightfitting shirt will apply pressure to the conventional woven collared shirt, creating discomfort and putting markings on the skin. The present invention provides a structure which does not produce any markings, for example around the arm, as compared to a textile shirt worn under a fitted knitted shirt. Invention may be applied to both long or short sleeve fitted shirts, as well as sleeveless designs. Moreover, due to the flexibility of the garment constructed in accordance with the present invention, the chest feels comfortable and free and will encounter less resistance. The result is an overall better feeling of ease and comfort and a superior shirt wearing experience, which, at the same time, provides a highly decorative look. Inventive garments can be made of nylon and spandex, and the collars can be made of woven cotton, woven silk satin, or any other desired material. Once a specific collar and upper chest portion is selected based on style and fabric preference, it then is sewn to a base selected for comfort, for example using a triple stich to provide durability.
More particularly, in accordance with the present invention, the inventive garment comprises a garment for a human wearer, which comprises a lower trunk member defining an upper trunk portion and a lower trunk portion. The lower trunk member is dimensioned to extend at a top end from a first upper point proximate to the shoulders of the human wearer to a second lower point at least as low as proximate to the bottom of the rib cage of the human wearer. The lower trunk member is configured in a substantially and at least partially tubular configuration. The lower trunk portion is dimensioned to extend around the trunk of the human wearer. The lower trunk member comprises a fabric of the type created by a needle-based fabric manufacturing technique, such as knitted, crocheted, or nalbinding-made fabric. The second lower point is proximate to the waist of the human wearer.
In accordance with the preferred embodiment, knitted fabric is stretchable.
The garment may further comprise a pair of strap members extending from the top end and dimensioned to extend over the shoulders of said human wearer. The top of the upper trunk portion may be finished with a knitted stretchable binding. The upper chest member may extend upwardly from the top of the lower trunk member. The upper chest member being made of a woven material. The upper chest member comprises a main portion secured to the strap members and the top end of the lower trunk member. The upper chest member may have a front portion and a rear portion. The front portion may comprise a right portion and a left portion. The right portion may be joined to the left portion by a closure which may be opened and closed, for example, a button or snap.
The garment may further comprise a collar, ruffles, and other decorative members.
A securing member may join the lower trunk member to the upper chest member. The securing member may be a thread.
The structure and use of the inventive garment will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:
With reference to
Decorative member 14 may take a wide variety of forms simulating the look of the upper portions of virtually any type of known shirt, for example, a simple Oxford style, as illustrated in
Further functional and decorative features are provided in decorative member 14 by collar 22 and collar stand 24. Decorative member 14 also incorporates a yoke 26. The simulation of a full shirt is completed by right and left upper fronts 28 and 30, and body upper rear portion 32.
In accordance with the invention, decorative member 14 is sewn to a lower body portion 12. Lower body portion 12 comprises a main portion 34 which surrounds the trunk of the wearer. In the illustrated embodiment, lower body portion 12 further comprises a pair of straps 36 which support garment 10 on the torso of the wearer.
Main portion 34 and straps 36 are secured to decorative member 14 by stitching 38 which is sewn over a stretchable, for example knitted binding 40, as illustrated in
In accordance with the invention, decorative member 14 may be made of any material. However, it is most advantageous for decorative member 14 to be made of woven material, because of the ability of woven material to be sewn into various decorative shapes, ruffles, ruches, box pleats, gatherings, bindings, buttonholes, and so forth. Moreover, woven materials also have the advantage of maintaining the shape because of their inherently shape-defined structures due to the internal arrangement of the warp and weave of the fabric. Furthermore, woven structures also have the advantage of maintaining their shape on account of their ability to be easily ironed and more permanently hold a crease. Woven structures also have the further advantage that they can support other fabric structures as well as non-fabric structures such as buttons, jewelry, and so forth.
Conversely, lower body portion 12 may advantageously be made of a needle-manufactured textile, for example textile made by knitting, crocheting, or nalbinding. While such needle-manufactured textile structures are not woven structures in the sense of structures having interlaced warp and weave threads, they have the characteristic of being stretchable, resulting in comfort, adaptation to a range of body sizes, formfitting and movement accommodating, stretching and contracting as necessary to snugly and comfortably fit the human form during movement. This characteristic makes needle-manufactured textiles the preferred textile structure for that portion of the inventive garment surrounding the arms, where use by, for example, people working out, ballet dancers, and so forth results in significant advantages.
The inventive woven blouses are particularly useful, insofar as they accommodate the often more active upper parts of the body, for example, the arms, above the waist. Moreover, these upper parts of the body tend to be more sensitive to discomfort, for example from the stuffed feeling of a tight knit shirt over a conventional textile garment, as compared to the legs of the user. In addition, the decorative member is placed very close to eye level maximizing its decorative effect.
In addition, the use of needle-manufactured textile material in the lower main body portion of the inventive garment is also a particular value, insofar as the surface area of the lower main body portion is very large, compared to other portions of the garment. Accordingly, providing comfort to such a large portion of the body has a proportionately large and favorable result in terms of ease and comfort.
This difference is particularly dramatic as compared to the possibility of putting on a conventional decorative woven textile garment (such as an Oxford-style shirt decorated with ruffles), followed by putting on what becomes an overlying needle-manufactured garment (for example a knitted long sleeve shirt). Because the needle-manufactured garment is flexible, elastic, and tight, and overlies the conventional woven textile garment, it tends to crush the woven textile garment into the wearer, resulting in extreme discomfort.
In such a situation, in addition, the result is to crumple the underlying woven textile garment, resulting in an unpleasant crumpled appearance in the final assembly of conventional woven textile garment and overlying knitted long sleeve shirt.
In addition, such an assembly will have the appearance further marred by having buttons, and other structural features of the underlying conventional woven textile garment, popping the knitted surface of the overlying knitted long sleeve shirt outwardly. This combined with the visual marring caused by crumpled portions of the underlying conventional woven textile garment projects a visually repulsive, unkempt, and disheveled appearance. In contrast, the present invention provides a smooth, sleek, tailored, and meticulously maintained look.
Even in a low-impact activity, such as sitting in an air-conditioned café sipping coffee, such discomfort is bad. However, in the context of a less sedentary activity, such as attending a party, walking down the street on a hot or cold day, riding a bus, jogging, working out or doing physical work, the effect can be dramatically worse using an assembly of a conventional woven textile garment and a knitted top.
In accordance with the invention, it is contemplated that those portions of the inventive garment 10 made of needle-manufactured textile fabric are formed of stitches with a stitch density of approximately 18 stitches per inch. Of course, a wide range of stitch densities may be utilized, for example between 8 and 22 stitches per inch, more preferably between 14 and 21 stitches per inch and most preferably between 16 and 20 stitches per inch.
In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, the needle-manufactured textile fabric used has the ability to stretch to 230% of its unstretched length in the horizontal (side to side) direction. Here again a wide range of stretching may be implemented, for example between 10% and 350%, but preferably between 75% and 300%, and most preferably between 125 and 250%.
In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, the needle-manufactured textile fabric used has the ability to stretch to 230% of its unstretched length in the vertical up and down direction. Here again a wide range of stretching may be implemented, for example between 10% and 300%, but preferably between 50% and 275%, and most preferably between 75 and 250%. In accordance with the invention, it is contemplated that a lower amount of stretching can be tolerated in the vertical direction, because there is not as great a variation body sizes as compared to the variation in body sizes in the horizontal direction. However, to the extent the fabric may incorporate a silkscreened pattern or print, it may be desirable to keep the amount of stretching in the horizontal and vertical directions fairly close.
The embodiment of the invention illustrated in
In accordance with the invention main portion 134 is fabricated in a single operation along with sleeves 142 and shoulder portions 144. These three portions of garment 110 thus form a single integral member.
Turning to
In accordance with a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the decorative members in the various embodiments, in the present example woven decorative member 214 have the advantage of not applying pressure to the lower neck and upper chest area, as compared to the stretchable material of which lower body portion 212 is made. This has the further advantage of not giving a mild choking sensation. In accordance with the invention, this is of more importance with respect to the front of woven decorative member 214 (as opposed to the rear of member 214) which applies pressure in the general throat area.
Accordingly, the present invention advantageously contemplates a ratio of approximately 0.6 between the functional height 250 of decorative member 214 to the distance 252 between the waist and the top of lower body portion 212. By functional height is meant the distance between the top of lower body portion 212 and the base 254 of the neck 256 of the person wearing the garment. The ratio is preferably in the range between 0.5 and 0.7, but ratios between 0.4 and 0.8 still substantially preserve the advantages of the invention. In accordance with the invention, functional height 250 of decorative member 214 may be about 6 inches, preferably in the range between 5 and 7 inches. Preferably the distance 252 between the waist and the top of lower body portion 212 is about 10 inches, preferably in the range between 8 and 12 inches.
In accordance with the invention, the decorative member has a front portion and a rear portion, the front portion being loosely fitting and comprises right and left panels. The right and left panels are coupled to each other by buttons 220 which may be released to open a gap between the right and left panels.
In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, the woven decorative member 214 is relatively loosefitting and may be buttoned or unbuttoned for greater ease and comfort during the putting on, wearing and taking off of the inventive woven blouse 210.
Turning to
Compared to prior art garments, the inventive garment is an economical alternative to larger wardrobes. For example, a casual wardrobe can be transformed into business casual or business corporate with a single inventive garment. Someone who works in a casual business setting such as a start-up company, teacher, assistants, etc. can wear one of the inventive garments under a regular T-shirt, whether the same as a logo on it or is an unprinted plain T-shirts. Such nd outfit would be considered “trendy” and appropriate for work because of the inclusion of a collar.
Business corporate outfits can be transformed as well in the sense that a woman can wear a fitted long sleeve camisole, sweater or regular shirt and wear the undershirt underneath and transform the outfit from casual to corporate. This is economical because the same shirts that overlay the undershirt can be worn outside of work and on weekends. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to buy a separate wardrobe for work and for recreational. They can be combined. This can save a woman a substantial amount of money which might otherwise be spent on blouses and Oxford shirts for work, because there is no longer a need to purchase such garments. In addition, the inventive garment does not require dry-cleaning or special washing methods which can be costly. The inventive garment can go into a regular wash cycle with other clothing.
Moreover, the inventive garment is inexpensive but fashionable and trendy. The inventive knitted blouses include only a small portion of woven assembly and thus will be relatively inexpensive compared to a new blouse. Therefore, the invention provides innovative way to make clothes and outfits more affordable as well as more versatile.
In the context of maternity fashion, the inventive knitted blouses may be sold for use by women who are pregnant. The same can be achieved by having a larger amount of knitted material on the sides of the lower torso area for more room. The economical nature of the invention are of particular importance when a woman needs to expand a wardrobe for a short period of time, such as pregnancy. For example, in such circumstances, a woman may only need to buy two or three tops for work and then just rotate the undershirts underneath to create different outfits each day for work. This is very economical compared to buying a maternity wardrobe that will only be used for a short period of time.
In the context of travel, for business and/or leisure, it is sometimes difficult to pack because there may be many garments and other things to pack (laptop, work items, clothes for work, leisure, and nighttime, toiletries, make-up, dryer, brush, shoes, etc). Accordingly, it is sometimes difficult to “pack light”. With the inventive knitted blouse, the clothes to be packed can be cut in half because more casual tops can be packed and one or two of the inventive knitted blouses and outfits can easily see use as business to casual attire. The undershirts can be rolled up and take up little room in the suitcase. In addition, most materials for the collar will require little to no ironing, not only because no iron fabrics may be used, but because the area is small and will not be wrinkled if placed flat in a suitcase. Moreover, certain arrangements, such as those including a generous amount of ruffles, even if crumpled, will still look attractive. This can give a woman more room in her suitcase for other items and make “packing light” possible.
Many women choose to wear a knitted Spandex type undershirt daily as a way to smooth, tone, and support the stomach and chest region before putting on a top or blouse. The inventive knitted blouse serves as a support system to smooth over the body so that the wearer feels supported and confident about wearing a blouse on top. Without the undershirt, many women feel self-conscious. However, to wear an undershirt and then put an Oxford shirt on top, which is not always comfortable or flattering to a woman's physique, almost defeats the purpose of the undershirt. The undershirt with the collar will give the support that a woman wants without having to put the Oxford top on top, while at the same time providing a more flattering and comfortable top.
Another advantage of the inventive knitted blouse is that it is of classic design and not likely to go out of style. A collar will never go out of style and it will always be a needed staple piece in a woman's wardrobe. Therefore, the inventive knitted blouse is a great investment and can be used year after year.
Another advantage of the inventive knitted blouse is that it is an acceptable and fashionable item, as well as a practical item, for women of all ages from little girls to elderly women. For example, a five year-old could easily wear the inventive knitted blouse underneath a T-shirt and be ready for picture day, but also ready for gym as well. Likewise, an elderly woman can easily wear the inventive knitted blouse underneath her favorite sweater to go to a Senior Citizen event, church or temple.
To illustrate the versatility of the inventive barman, reference is made to
While various embodiments of the invention have been described, it is understood that modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may be made by those of skill in the art. Such garments with trunk covering needle-manufactured textile portions and with such modifications are within the spirit and scope of the invention which is limited and defined only by the appended claims.
