Patent Application
20240164458
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present disclosure relates to articles of apparel and particularly to bodysuits for use in athletic activities.
One-piece bodysuits are commonly used in athletic activities, including suits used for indoor sporting activities such as swimming, gymnastics and wrestling, as well as various undergarments used in any number of different outdoor sporting activities that may occur in cold weather such as football, hunting, bicycling, fishing, golf, etc. These one-piece bodysuits prevent separation of upper and lower portions of a suit and avoid the need for bunching and tucking of one garment portion under another. One-piece body suits are typically tight-fitting and formed from a stretch fabric material. These body suits often include a high neckline (e.g., a crew neck or mock neck) and a faster system (e.g., a zipper or buttons) that facilitates access to the garment through an entry opening that at least partially includes the neckline. The fastener system specifically allows the user to control the size of an entry opening in order to assist the user when stepping into or out-from the garment. Unfortunately, the fastener system tends to reduce the amount of stretch offered by the fabric around the body of the wearer. Additionally, the fastener system is often inconvenient to adjust when donning the garment, and may be uncomfortable for the user because the fasteners tend to press into the skin or cut into other garments worn by the user.
In view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide a one-piece bodysuit having a high neck and an entry opening that is convenient to adjust, comfortable to wear, and offers full stretch around the body of the wearer. It would also be advantageous if the bodysuit were relatively easy to manufacture, environmentally friendly, and resulted in reduced overall manufacturing costs.
In at least one embodiment, a one-piece body suit comprises a collar defining a high neck opening and a torso comprised of a four-way stretch fabric. The torso includes a thoracic region, an abdominal region, and a pelvic region. The thoracic region is connected to the collar and defines arm passages. The abdominal region is connected to the thoracic region. The pelvic region is connected to the abdominal region and defines leg passages. An entry opening for the one-piece body suit is positioned in a back of the torso. The entry opening is free of releasable mechanical fasteners.
In another embodiment, a garment includes a torso comprised of a four-way stretch fabric, wherein the torso is designed and dimensioned to completely cover a torso of an adult human. A collar is connected to the torso and defines a high neck opening centrally positioned on the garment above the torso. An entry opening is positioned at a back of the torso, the entry opening defined between free edges of overlapping panels of the four-way stretch fabric. Two arms extend from an upper side the torso, and two legs extend from a lower side of the torso. Together, the torso, two arms, and two legs form a one-piece body suit.
In yet another embodiment, a garment comprises a plurality of fabric panels connected by stitching and forming a one-piece body suit. Each of the plurality fabric panels are provided by a four-way stretch fabric. A high neck opening is formed at a top of the one-piece body suit. An entry opening is positioned at a back of the one-piece body suit below the high neck opening. The entry opening is free of releasable mechanical fasteners.
The above described features and advantages, as well as others, will become more readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. While it would be desirable to provide a bodysuit that provides one or more of these or other advantageous features as may be apparent to those reviewing this disclosure, the teachings disclosed herein extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they include or accomplish one or more of the advantages or features mentioned herein.
All Figures © Under Armour, Inc. 2022. All rights reserved.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying figures which form a part hereof wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout, and in which is 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 of the present disclosure. 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.
Aspects of the disclosure are disclosed in the accompanying description. Alternate embodiments of the present disclosure and their equivalents may be devised without parting from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. It should be noted that any discussion herein regarding “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an exemplary embodiment”, and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, and that such particular feature, structure, or characteristic may not necessarily be included in every embodiment. In addition, references to the foregoing do not necessarily comprise a reference to the same embodiment. Finally, irrespective of whether it is explicitly described, one of ordinary skill in the art would readily appreciate that each of the particular features, structures, or characteristics of the given embodiments may be utilized in connection or combination with those of any other embodiment discussed herein.
Various operations may be described as multiple discrete actions or operations in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the claimed subject matter. However, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations may not be performed in the order of presentation. Operations described may be performed in a different order than the described embodiment. Various additional operations may be performed and/or described operations may be omitted in additional embodiments.
For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A and/or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A, B, and/or C” means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C).
The terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the present disclosure, are synonymous.
As shown in the figures and described in further detail herein, a one-piece body suit is formed from a plurality of fabric panels comprised of a four-way stretch fabric. The one-piece body includes a torso, a collar defining a high neck opening, and an entry opening. The collar and high neck opening are arranged centrally at a top of the torso. The entry opening is arranged on a back of the torso and is free of releasable mechanical fasteners.
With reference now to
The body suit 10 is comprised of a plurality of fabric panels 40 that are connected with stitching provided along seam lines 42. The fabric panels 40 are differently configured and extend between different parts and different regions of the body suit 10. For example, a left arm panel 40a covers a shoulder of the wearer 90 (see
The stitching along the seam lines 42 connects the associated panels of the one-piece body suit 10 in a non-removable manner. In other words, the fabric panels cannot be separated from one another without destruction of the garment (i.e., such that additional stitching would be required to re-form the garment). Thus, the term “one-piece” as used herein refers to a singular garment that is not separable into different components/panels without destruction of the garment.
Each fabric panel 40 is comprised of a four-way stretch material, such as spandex, elastane, or Hytrel® fabric. The four-way stretch fabric is a textile including elastomeric threads that facilitate elastic stretching and contraction of the fabric along two orthogonal axes (e.g., both cross-wise and lengthwise). The four-way stretch material provides the one-piece body suit with stretch characteristics that encircle the wearer 90 and result in a close-fitting comfortable fit. In some embodiments, the fabric is configured to retain heat generated by the wearer. In such embodiments, a fleece lining may be adhered to or otherwise provided on the inner surface of the four-way stretch material to provide additional warmth and comfort against the skin of the wearer. In other embodiments, the fabric includes evaporative yarns configured to wick sweat and keep the wearer cool. In at least some embodiments, the evaporative yarns possess a special cross section that offers more skin contact to absorb heat, and optionally minerals in the yarn that absorb heat from the skin and transfer it to the surrounding environment. One example of the evaporative yarn is AQUA-X by Hyonsong (Seoul, South Korea).
With continued reference to
The high neck opening 32 is positioned at the top of the collar 30 and provides a passage for the head of the wearer 90. The term “high neck opening” as used herein refers to an opening formed in a garment by a crew neck, mock neck, turtleneck or other neck having a neckline that is situated above the sternum and clavicle of the wearer. While a high neck opening is typically rounded along the entire neckline, it may also include rounded necklines with a small V-shaped indentation or similar cut-out. In the embodiment of
The entry opening 50 is positioned on the torso 20. In the embodiment of
In the embodiment of
The two overlapping panels in the embodiment of
The exterior free edge 54 and the interior free edge 56 are arranged such that the entry opening 50 extends horizontally across the back 28 of the torso 20 (i.e., the edges 54 and 56 extend across a length having a significantly greater horizontal component than vertical component). The width of the entry opening 50 is such that it is slightly less than the shoulder width of the intended wearer 90. The vertical placement of the entry opening 50 is such that the overlapping portion of the two panels 44, 46 extends across a lower tip of the shoulder blades when the body suit 10 is donned by the wearer. For example, depending on the size of the garment, the overlapping portion of the two panels 44, 46 may be positioned in the thoracic region of the garment between six and eighteen inches below the collar 30 (e.g., between the T1 and T12 vertebrae of the wearer, and particularly between the T4 and T10 vertebrae). However, it will be recognized that in other embodiments, the entry opening 50 may be positioned at a different vertical position on the back 28 of the torso 20. Moreover, in at least some embodiments, the exterior free edge 54 and interior free edge 56 may be arranged vertically on overlapping panels such that the entry opening 50 extends vertically across the back 28 or front of the torso 20. In other embodiments, the entry opening may be positioned elsewhere on the torso 20, such as on the front of the torso.
With continued reference to the embodiment of
The interior free edge 56 of the entry opening 50 may be similarly curved to match the curvature of the exterior free edge 54. Accordingly, the interior free edge 56 may be a convex edge having a complementary curvature to that of the exterior free edge 54 such that the distance between the edges 54 and 56 is relatively consistent along the length of the entry opening 50. In other embodiments, the interior free edge 56 may be a straight edge, regardless of whether the exterior free edge 54 is curved or straight.
The concave edge provided along the exterior free edge 54 is particularly advantageous in assisting the user in identifying the location of the entry opening 50 and facilitating entry into the garment near the center of the entry opening 50. Additionally, the length of the entry opening 50, which extends horizontally from one side to another of the garment, facilitates donning of the garment. While the entry opening extends across a substantial portion of the back of the torso, a significant degree of stretch is still required for the wearer to pass the garment over their shoulder blades and hips, and the four-way stretch capabilities of the fabric facilitates this stretching. Additionally, the vertical placement of the entry opening 50 along the bottom of the shoulder blades of the wearer 90 has been determined to further facilitate donning of the garment by reducing the effort required to insert the legs and arms of the wearer into the garment. The four-way stretch capabilities of the garment also facilitates stretching the collar over the head of the wearer.
Once donned, the bodysuit 10 is configured to completely cover the torso, arms and legs of the wearer (but not the head, hands and feet). With the entry opening free of mechanical fasteners, the one-piece bodysuit offers a consistent fit around the entire body of the wearer with a full 360° of stretch and comfort that is not interrupted by mechanical fasteners that limit stretch. The disclosed arrangement also provides another benefit in that the garment may be easily recycled because it is free of mechanical fasteners that traditionally contain metal or other components that would otherwise make the garment difficult to recycle.
With reference now to
This open passage configuration of the entry opening 50 is particularly useful for applications wherein additional cooling of the user is desired during use.
With reference now to
With reference now to
With reference now to
With reference now to
With reference now to
Although the various embodiments have been provided herein, it will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that other implementations and adaptations are possible. Furthermore, aspects of the various embodiments described herein may be combined or substituted with aspects from other features to arrive at different embodiments from those described herein. Thus, it will be appreciated that various of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined into many different embodiments and applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations, or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.
This application claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application No. 63/427,629, filed Nov. 23, 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63427629 | Nov 2022 | US |
