GB2170992A - Gaiter - Google Patents

Abstract

A gaiter for sporting use comprises a substantially rectangular flexible panel (11) having fastener means (17, 18) on opposite face of opposite ends thereof. The fastener means extend over a substantial area permitting the gaiter to be fitted around legs of different size and shape. The body panel (11) may be provided with attachment elements of a suitable distinguishing character (for example, they may be made of reflective material) and the body panel (11) may itself be resilient or elastic material. The fasteners (17, 18) are hook and loop fasteners allowing engaging contact to be made on overlapping faces regardless of the precise orientation so that the gaiter can be fitted to legs of differing thickness and shape. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A gaiter for sporting use The present invention relates to a gaiter for sporting use.

Certain sporting activities involve the sportsman in passing through rough or changeable environment where rugged and tear resistant clothing is required. However, sport is usually engaged in for pleasure and for this reason the appearance of a sportsman's apparel, as well as the comfort of the clothing is of primary importance. Consequently, sporting clothes are not always made in the most practical shape or of the most practical material, and because a wide freedom of movement is required so as not to inhibit the sporting activity a compromise between practicality and aesthetic and other considerations has to be achieved. For example it is conventional for golfers to wear loose fitting trousers having wide bottoms. This ensures that the top and lower torso movements of the golfer when making that all-important swing are in no way restricted or affected by the clothing.Moreoever, golfers like to be able to walk straight from the links into the bar for refreshments after their game without having to make very substantial changes to their clothing.

Although golf courses are kept in good order and the fairways and greens are mown short, the surrounding areas of "rough" include patches of long grass, brambles and other vegetation, and particularly in the early morning before the sun has dried the dew such vegetation can effectively saturate any clothing coming into contact with it, particularly the wide bottoms of golfing trousers.

The present invention seeks to provide an item of clothing which can be worn in addition to conventional apparel, which is readily and quickly adjustable and which can be removed without difficulty when no longer required.

Embodiments of the present invention can aiso be produced, which are particularly suitable for joggers, cyclists or those involved in equestrian sports.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gaiter suitable for constraining the lower part of a trouser leg, particularly for sporting purposes, to prevent the trouser leg from flapping and thereby to avoid contact between a loose lower part of the trouser leg and the immediate environment, comprising a flexible laminar gaiter body having attached thereto, at or adjacent each end of the gaiter body, releasable fastening means permitting the gaiter to be fitted to a leg by being passed around it and the fastening means secured together, the releasable fastening means being such that the effective circumference at either end of the gaiter when fitted around a leg can be adjusted to accommodate differences in leg shape, thickness and/or trouser material.

The "immediate environment" of a golfer in the early morming may include wet grass, brambles and other weeds, and the fitting of a gaiter in accordance with the present invention allows the loose flapping lower trouser leg to be protected against this immediate environment and maintained dry so that after the game, when in the bar, or even later on in the morning when the dew has dried, the gaiters can be removed easily and stored in a pocket.

It is important that gaiters should be able to accommodate a wide range of fittings due to the wide variety in thickness of trouser material and in leg shape and thickness of the potential users, and by providing releasable fastening means as described above a single product can be provided without requiring a range of different fitting sizes. This economises on manufacturing costs and simplifies storage and distribtuion as well as providing the sportsman with the advantage of an economical product.The gaiter of the present invention can be made of the same or a similar material to the trouser material so that, in use, it presents the least possible visual impact, of course, for cyclists this may not necessarily be an advantage and it is envisaged that for this use the gaiter of the invention may be made of a highly reflective material or fitted with reflective inserts or elements to make them flash and scintillate in use to draw attention to the cyclist.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the releasable fastening means comprise cooperating elements engagable with one another to retain the ends of the gaiter body over a selected area of overlap, the degree of overlap chosen at any one time determining the effective circumferential dimension of the fitted gaiter. The releasable fastening means may comprise two substantially flat members, one incorporating a plurality of loop elements and the other incorporating a plurality of resilient hook elements which interengage the loop elements when the said two members are pressed together in face-to-face contact. Such fastening means are commercially available and sold under the trademark VELCRO.Other releasable fastening means having the required properties may be employed, however, providing they achieve the required infinitely variable fitting, which also allows variation in the shape of the fitted gaiter.

The body of the gaiter is preferably made from a woven fabric material which conveniently can be the same as or similar in character to the fabric material used for the manufacture of trousers. At least a limited degreee of elasticity or resilience is an advantage since such stretch property will assist in retaining the gaiter in position once fitted. Suitable materials for the gaiter include those sold under the trademarks LYCRA, CRIMPLENE, TREVIRA or TERYLENE TWILL WEAVE or the like. Of course, although elastic or resilient material is advantageous in many circumstances the possibility of making the gaiter from substantially inelastic fabric is not excluded, and in such case an elastic panel or elastic fastening means may, if desired, be employed. Likewise, if preferred, the material from which the gaiter is made may be waterproof.

The gaiter body is preferably substantially rectangular and"unhanded" so that the same gaiter can be used for left or right legs. Gaiters specifically adapted for a left or right leg can be formed, however, and some suitable identification, such as a flag may be stitched into the material in order to identify which position is upright and therefore which is the left and which is the right gaiter. The gaiter body maybe cut from woven fabric in such a way that the ends of the rectangle extend generally parallel with the weft and warp or with the warp and weft of the fabric respectively (depending on the degree of resilience required). Alternatively, the size and ends of the rectangle may be inclined at an acute angle to the weft and warp of the fabric.In addition to woven fabrics it is possible to make the gaiter of the present invention from a knitted fabric, and in such a case the gaiter body is preferably formed so that the longer sides of the rectangle of the gaiter body are generally parallel to the courses of the knitting.

In other embodiments the body panel of the gaiter may be substantially inelastic. In this case a secondary panel of eleastic material may optiomally be provided, either inset into the body panel or attached iaterally thereto.

Likewise the fastening means themselves may offer a degree of resilience desired.

According to another aspect of the present invention a gaiter for sporting use has hook and loop fasteners allowing infinitely variable size and shape adjustment of the gaiter within a certain range, and an additional array of resilient hooks is provided on one face of the gaiter, intended to be the inner face in use, whereby to provide for at least partial engagement of the gaiter body with the trouser leg to assist in fitting. In this way the gaiter can be fitted using only one hand by pressing the additional hook elements onto the leg of the trousers, and then subsequently moving the hand to the other end of the gaiter, applying a light tension to this causing the loose flap of trouser to be taken up, and then the hand can be moved in a circle around the leg briming the co-operating hook and loop fasteners together to secure the gaiter in position.One embodiment of the present invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a gaiter formed in accordance with the principles of the present invention; Figure 2 is a face view of the gaiter of Figure 1, flat out in plan; and Figure 3 is a side view of the gaiter fitted to a leg of a user.

Although the present invention is described herein with specific reference to its construction as a leg gaiter, it will be appreciated that the present invention also comprehends the same construction when used as arm bands, wrist bands and the like. Referring now to the drawings the gaiter shown comprises a generally rectangular gaiter body 11 having parallel upper and lower long edges 12, 13 and transverse to these, parallel ends 14, 15. The gaiter body 11 is made from a woven fabric cut on the bias and stitched with a hem 16 entirely around its periphery.

Secured to the end 14 of the body 11 is a 30 mm wide strip of plastics material hook elements 17 constituting part of a releasable fastener and made from a material sold under the trademark VELCRO. At the other end, namely the end 15 of the body 11, and secured to the opposite face from that to which the member 17 is secured, is a co-operating member 18 of velcro hooks. A flag motif 19 is woven or stitched onto the first-mentioned face of the body 11. As can be seen in Figure 3 the gaiter is fitted to a golfers leg by first folding the loose flap of trouser material and then winding the gaiter body 11 around this folded flap securing the gaiter in position by pressing the two elements 17, 18 together.

The flat motif 19 identifies the outer front face of the gaiter enabling right and left gaiters to be identified readily despite the fact that these are both otherwise indistinguishable rectangular members so that when fitted to the correct leg the end 13 of the gaiter is on the outer side, that is the side remote from the other leg and the edge faces rearwardly.

Although in practice the gaiters can be fitted to either leg it is preferred that they are fitted so that the overlapping junction region between the ends is on this outer side to prevent any possible contact between the inner ankle which might cause loosening or release of the fastenings.

Claims (14)

1. A gaiter suitable for constraining the lower part of a trouser leg, particularly for sporting purposes, to prevent the trouser leg from flapping and thereby to avoid contact between a loose lower part of the trouser leg and the immediate environment, comprising a flexible laminar gaiter body having attached thereto, at or adjacent each end of the gaiter body, reieasable fastening means permitting the gaiter to be fitted to a leg by being passed around it and the fastening means secured together, the reieasable fastening means being such that the effective circumference at either end of the gaiter when fitted around a leg can be adjusted to accommodate differ ences in leg shape, thickness and/or trouser material.

2. A gaiter as claimed in Claim 1, in which the reieasable fastening means comprise cooperating elements engageable with one another to retain the ends of the gaiter body over a selected area of overlap, the degree of overlap chosen at any one time determining the effective circumferential dimension of the fitted gaiter.

3. A gaiter as claimed in Claim 2, in which the releasable fastening means comprise two subgtantially flat members, one incorporating a plurality of loop elements and the other incorporating a plurality of resilient hook elements which interengage the loop elements when the said two members are pressed together in face-to-face contact.

4. A gaiter as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which the body of the gaiter is made from a woven fabric material similar in character to the fabric material used for the manufacture of trousers and having at least a limited degree of resilience or elasticity.

5. A gaiter as claimed in Claim 4, in which the gaiter body is substantially rectangular and the sides and ends of the rectangle extend generally paralled with the weft and warp of the fabric or the warp and weft of the fabric respectively.

6. A gaiter as claimed in Claim 4, in which the gaiter body is substantially rectangular and the sides and ends of the rectangle are inclined at an acute angle to the weft and warp of the fabric.

7. A gaiter as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 5, in which the gaiter body is made from a knitted fabric.

8. A gaiter as claimed in Claim 7, in which the gaiter body is substantially rectangular and the ionger sides of the rectangle are generaliy parallel to the courses of the knitting.

9. A gaiter as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which the gaiter body is substantially rectangular and the releasable fastener means comprise two strips of co-operating elements, each number being in the region of 50 mm wide and extending transversely across the garter body at or adjacent a respective end of the rectangle and on opposite faces of the gaiter body.

10. A gaiter as ciaimed in any preceding Claim in which the body panel is made of or provided with elements of reflective material.

11. A gaiter as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 3 or 5 to 10, in which the body panel is made of substantially inelastic material.

12. A gaiter as claimed in Claim 11, in which there is further provided a panel of elastic material inset into the body panel or attached laterally thereto.

13. A gaiter for sporting use substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

14. A gaiter for sporting use having a hook and loop fastener allowing infinitely variable size and shape adjustment of the garter within a certain range, in which an additional array of resilient hooks is provided on one face of the gaiter, intended to be the inner face in use, whereby to provide for at least partial engagement of the gaiter body with the trouser leg to assist in fitting.