Business casual is an increasingly viable mode of dress. For most, business casual includes a button down collared shirt or blouse. The top buttons of these garments are often left unsecured, so as to leave open the collar area for a more casual appearance, even while wearing business attire.
However, often times, the placement of the buttons on the garment are not custom to the wearer. This may lead to an uncomfortable situation. If the wearer is too buttoned up—i.e. one too many buttons are buttoned—he/she may project the appearance of being uptight or stuffy. If the wearer is too buttoned down—i.e. one too few buttons are buttoned—he/she may be seen as sloppy. This is particularly troublesome where being too buttoned down exposes an inappropriate amount of chest hair or cleavage. But, if one were to simply add more buttons to a shirt or blouse, the resultant look would be aesthetically unpleasing simply due to the excess number of buttons.
It is therefore desirable to provide garments having hidden intermediate buttons between the topmost exposed buttons that will permit wearers to be optimally unbuttoned.
A shirt, with or without a collar, is described herein that overcomes the limitations noted above.
A shirt with a collar has a placket with a top piece and bottom piece extending at least a portion of the length of the shirt. The bottom piece comprises an attached collar male button snap, an attached first male button spaced apart from the collar male button and below the collar male magnetic button, and an attached second male button spaced apart from the first male button and below the first male button, and an intermediate male magnetic button between the first and second male buttons. The top piece comprises female buttons corresponding to the male buttons on the bottom piece. The top piece further comprises an intermediate female magnetic button corresponding to the intermediate male magnetic button and affixed to an inner side of the top piece.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the presently described apparatus and method of its use.
Illustrated in the accompanying drawing(s) is at least one of the best mode embodiments of the present invention. In such drawing(s):
The above described drawing figures illustrate the described invention in at least one of its preferred, best mode embodiment, which is further defined in detail in the following description. Those having ordinary skill in the art may be able to make alterations and modifications to what is described herein without departing from its spirit and scope. While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspect of the invention to the embodiment illustrated. Therefore, it should be understood that what is illustrated is set forth only for the purposes of example and should not be taken as a limitation on the scope of the present invention.
The plurality of buttons may include at least a first and a second button, and corresponding button holes. The first button is the button located closest to the collar 20, while the second button is the next closest. Neither the first nor the second button is located on the collar 20.
As shown in
Turning to
As with the previous embodiment, there's also a hidden button 135 for optimal wear, hidden in between the first button 130 and second button 140. Turning to
Turning to
Turning to
Turning to
As with the previous embodiment, there may also be a hidden male button snap 335 for optimal wear, hidden in between the first male button snap 330 and second male button snap 340. The hidden male button snap 335 may be located on bottom piece 325, in between the first male button snap 330 and second male button snap 340 at approximately the midpoint. In some embodiments, the hidden male button snap 335 may be made of metal. In some embodiments, the hidden male button snap 335 may be made of plastic or any other material. In some embodiments, the female button snap 338 maybe made of a different material than the male button snap 335. Further, in some embodiments, the hidden male button snap 335 may be smaller in size than the first male button snap 330 and second male button snap 340. In other embodiments, the hidden male button snap 335 may be equal to or bigger in size than the first male button snap 330 and second male button snap 340. On the top piece 326, there may be a female button snap 338 appropriately sized for the hidden male button snap 335. In some embodiments, the female button snap 338 may be attached only to the inner side (not shown) of the top piece 326 and therefore its mode of attachment such as stitching, sticking, etc., is not visible from the upper surface of the top piece 326. In some embodiments, the female button snap 338 may be attached to the top piece 326 in a way that its mode of stitching may be visible from the upper surface of the top piece 326. In some embodiments, the hidden male button snap 335 may be located on the inner side of the top piece 326 and the corresponding female button snap 338 may be on located on the bottom piece 325. In some embodiments, the hidden male button snap 335 may be stitched only on the inner side of the top piece 326 such that its mode of attachment (not shown) is not visible through the outer side of the top piece 326. In other embodiments, the hidden male button snap 335 may be attached to the top piece 326 in a way that its mode of attachment (not shown) appears on the outer side of the top piece 326. In some embodiments, there may be a hidden strip (not shown in figure) made of any material such as cotton, denim, etc., between the inner side and outer side of the top piece 326. The intermediate male button snap 335 or the corresponding female button snap 338 may be attached to the inner side of the top piece 326 and to the hidden strip to provide more support. The intermediate male button snap 335 or the corresponding female button snap 338 may be attached to the bottom piece 325 or the top piece 326 by any form of attachment such as sowing, Velcro, stapling, etc. The hidden strip also prevents the form of attachment of the intermediate male button snap 335 or corresponding female button snap 338 from being visible from the outer side of the top piece 326. The hidden strip is not attached outside the inner and outer side of the top piece 326 because such an attachment results in potential separation between the top piece 326 and the bottom piece 325. In some embodiments, there may be no hidden strip because unlike buttons, snaps have two separate pieces the male and female part that need to be attached to the fabric providing extra bulk to the snaps compared to the buttons. Additionally, unlike buttons, snaps do not need any room behind them so the snaps provide for a tighter look with minimal gap. As explained above, in such an embodiment, the intermediate snap may be attached to the top piece 326 and bottom piece 325 in a way that it only passes through the inner side or outer side of the top piece 326 and/or the bottom piece 325 whereas the regular snaps punch through both the inner and outer side or the top piece 326 and bottom piece 325. In some embodiments, the intermediate male button snap 335 may be a button and the corresponding female button snap 338 may be a corresponding hole for the button. In some embodiments, the intermediate male button snap 335 may be any other means of engaging the top piece 325 and the bottom piece 326, such as Velcro. In some embodiments, all or some of the regular male button snaps, such as 330 and 340 and/or the collar button snap 320 may be replaced with buttons, Velcro, or any other means of engaging the top piece 326 and bottom piece 325; and the corresponding female button snaps, such as 338, 322, etc., may also be replaced with appropriate means of engaging the top piece 325 and bottom piece 326. For example, in an embodiment, all the regular male button snaps and female button snaps may be replaced with buttons and button holes, respectively, while the intermediate male button snap 335 and the corresponding female button snap 338, both made of metal, remains.
Turning to
As with the previous embodiments, there may also be a intermediate male magnetic button 835 for optimal wear, hidden in between the first male magnetic button 830 and second male button snap 840. The intermediate male magnetic button 835 may be located on bottom piece 825, in between the first male magnetic button 830 and second male magnetic button 840 at approximately the midpoint. The intermediate male magnetic button 835 may have a corresponding intermediate female magnetic button 838. The intermediate male magnetic button 835 and female magnetic button 838 may also be made of other non-magnetic materials to facilitate non-magnetic forms of attachments described above. In some embodiments, the intermediate female magnetic button 838 maybe made of a different material than the male magnetic button 835. In some embodiments, only the intermediate male and female button 835, 838 respectively, may have magnetic properties and not any other buttons on the shirt 800. Further, in some embodiments, the intermediate male magnetic button 835 may be smaller in size than the first male magnetic button 830 and second male magnetic button 840. In other embodiments, the intermediate male magnetic button 835 may be equal to or bigger in size than the first male magnetic button 830 and second male button snap 840. On the top piece 826, there may be a intermediate female magnetic button 838 appropriately sized for the intermediate male magnetic button 835. In some embodiments, the intermediate female magnetic button 838 may be attached only to the inner side (not shown) of the top piece 826 and therefore its mode of attachment such as stitching, sticking, etc., is not visible from the upper surface of the top piece 826. In some embodiments, the intermediate female magnetic button 838 may be attached to the top piece 826 in a way that its mode of stitching may be visible from the upper surface of the top piece 826. In some embodiments, the intermediate male magnetic button 835 may be located on the inner side of the top piece 826 and the corresponding female magnetic button 838 may be on located on the bottom piece 825. In some embodiments, the intermediate male magnetic button 835 may be stitched only on the inner side of the top piece 826 such that its mode of attachment (not shown) is not visible through the outer side of the top piece 826. In other embodiments, the intermediate male magnetic button 835 may be attached to the top piece 826 in a way that its mode of attachment (not shown) appears on the outer side of the top piece 826. In some embodiments, there may be a hidden strip (not shown in figure) made of any material such as cotton, denim, etc., between the inner side and outer side of the top piece 826. The intermediate male magnetic button 835 or the corresponding intermediate female button snap 838 may be attached to the inner side of the top piece 826 and to the hidden strip to provide more support. The intermediate male magnetic button 835 or the corresponding female magnetic button 838 may be attached to the bottom piece 825 or the top piece 826 by any magnetic, non-magnetic form of attachment such as sowing, sticking, Velcro, stapling, etc., or a combination of both magnetic and non-magnetic forms of attachments. The hidden strip also prevents the form of attachment of the intermediate male magnetic button 835 or corresponding intermediate female magnetic button 838 from being visible from the outer side of the top piece 826. The hidden strip is not attached outside the inner and outer side of the top piece 826 because such an attachment results in potential separation between the top piece 826 and the bottom piece 825. In some embodiments, there may be no hidden strip because unlike regular buttons, magnetic buttons have two separate pieces the male and female part that need to be attached to the fabric providing extra bulk to the magnetic buttons compared to regular buttons. Additionally, unlike regular buttons, magnetic buttons do not need any room behind them so the magnetic buttons provide for a tighter look with minimal gap. As explained above, in such an embodiment, the intermediate magnetic button may be attached to the top piece 826 and bottom piece 825 in a way that it only passes through the inner side or outer side of the top piece 826 and/or the bottom piece 825 whereas the regular magnetic buttons pass through both the inner and outer side or the top piece 826 and bottom piece 825. In some embodiments, the intermediate male magnetic button 835 and/or intermediate female magnetic button 838 may be hidden in their respective plackets. In some embodiments, all or some of the regular male magnetic button, such as 830 and 840 and/or the collar magnetic button 820 may be replaced with buttons, Velcro, or any other means of engaging the top piece 826 and bottom piece 825; and the corresponding female button snaps, such as 838, 822, etc., may also be replaced with appropriate means of engaging the top piece 825 and bottom piece 826. In some embodiments, the intermediate male and female magnetic buttons 835, 838, respectively, may be of any shape and size, including but not limited to simple round discs. In some embodiments, the intermediate male and female magnetic buttons 835, 838 respectively, may be hidden beneath the layers of fabric such that they are not visible at all. In some embodiments, the intermediate male and female magnetic buttons 835, 838, respectively, may be different to the other buttons on the shirt 800 in shape, size, function, etc.
The embodiments described in detail above are considered novel over the prior art of record and are considered critical to the operation of at least one aspect of the invention and to the achievement of the above described objectives. The words used in this specification to describe the instant embodiments are to be understood not only in the sense of their commonly defined meanings, but to include by special definition in this specification: structure, material or acts beyond the scope of the commonly defined meanings. Thus, if an element can be understood in the context of this specification as including more than one meaning, then its use must be understood as being generic to all possible meanings supported by the specification and by the word or words describing the element.
The definitions of the words or drawing elements described herein are meant to include not only the combination of elements which are literally set forth, but all equivalent structure, material or acts for performing substantially the same function in substantially the same way to obtain substantially the same result. In this sense, it is therefore contemplated that an equivalent substitution of two or more elements may be made for any one of the elements described and its various embodiments or that a single element may be substituted for two or more elements in a claim.
Changes from the claimed subject matter as viewed by a person with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, are expressly contemplated as being equivalents within the scope intended and its various embodiments. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements. This disclosure is thus meant to be understood to include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually equivalent, what can be obviously substituted, and also what incorporates the essential ideas.
The scope of this description is to be interpreted only in conjunction with the appended claims and it is made clear, here, that the named inventor believes that the claimed subject matter is what is intended to be patented.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/734,293, filed Jan. 3, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/860,227, filed Jan. 2, 2018, (now abandoned) which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/451,797, filed Mar. 7, 2017 (now abandoned), which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/421,142, filed Jan. 31, 201 (now abandoned), which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/369,780, filed Dec. 5, 2016 (now abandoned), which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/084,382, filed Nov. 19, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,538,791, the disclosures of all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties for all purposes.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 16734293 | Jan 2020 | US |
Child | 17121550 | US | |
Parent | 15860227 | Jan 2018 | US |
Child | 16734293 | US | |
Parent | 14084382 | Nov 2013 | US |
Child | 15369780 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 15451797 | Mar 2017 | US |
Child | 15860227 | US | |
Parent | 15421142 | Jan 2017 | US |
Child | 15451797 | US | |
Parent | 15369780 | Dec 2016 | US |
Child | 15421142 | US |