GB2409797A

GB2409797A - Articles of next-to-skin wear,e.g.for babies

Info

Publication number: GB2409797A
Application number: GB0400387A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Karen Louise Pharaoh-Tillon
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-01-09
Filing date: 2004-01-09
Publication date: 2005-07-13
Also published as: GB0400387D0

Abstract

An article (10) of next-to-skin wear mainly intended for a baby comprises a body (12,14) of soft material for clothing the baby's torso at least between a neckline (37) and a waistline (44). The body has a front portion (12) that is covered by a outer protective layer (36) fixed thereto. The protective layer extends from the neckline, or adjacent the neckline, at least to the waistline and extends from one side (16), or adjacent one side, of the body of the article to the other side (16), or adjacent the other side, thereof. The protective layer is of a waterproof, breathable material which is substantially impervious to water passing therethrough from the outside to the inside, but which is able, in use, to let perspiration pass therethrough from the inside to the outside. Because the material of the protective layer is breathable, the "sweaty chest" problem of some prior proposals is alleviated and the protective layer can provide more extensive protection than the prior proposals against soiling or dampening of the body of the article.

Description

TITLE

Articles of next-to-skin wear, e.g. for babies

DESCRIPTION

This invention relates to articles of clothing intended to be worn next to the skin.

Although the invention was initially conceived as an article of baby clothing, it can have other applications.

The problems with babies posseting or dribbling saliva, food or drink and consequently dampening and soiling their clothes are well-known, and it is of course well-known to tie a bib with tie-strings around a baby's neck to protect their clothing. Some babies do not like to have bibs tied around their necks and tug at them until they become dislodged or the tiestrings break.

Some babies like to play with their bibs and move them about around their necks until they no longer fulfil their function. When a baby is taken out, their carer may forget to take a bib and so may have to make do without one. In order to deal with these problems, it has previously been proposed to integrate a bib with a baby's article of clothing. Patent document US 3608092 proposes a T-shirt in which the central front chest area of the T-shirt has, on the inside of the fabric of the body of the Tshirt, a waterproof plastics sheet, and, on the outside of the fabric of the body of the T-shirt, a layer of plastic foam material sandwiched between the fabric of the T shirt body and a further outer layer of waterproof plastics sheet. The foam layer is of varying thickness so that a desired design is provided in relief in the outer waterproof layer. Also, patent document US 5153940 proposes a baby's sleep-quit in which the central front chest area of the sleep-quit has, on the outside of the fabric of the body of the sleep-quit, a waterproof layer sandwiched between the fabric of the sleep-quit body and a outer absorbent layer of terry cloth.

One problem with both of these earlier proposals is that, although the waterproof layer may prevent dampness soaking through to the baby's skin, it also prevents the baby's perspiration escaping, and so the baby will suffer from a sweaty chest. Another problem with both of these earlier proposals is that the waterproof area only covers the central chest area, which may be insufficient; of course, if the sizes of the waterproof areas were increased, the sweaty chest problem would be exacerbated. Further problems with the proposal of US 3608092 are that: the ease with which the outer waterproof layer can be wiped clean is hindered by the relief design in the outer waterproof layer; and the inner waterproof layer is in contact with the baby's chest and likely to be less comfortable that the fabric of the T-shirt body. Yet further - 2 problems with the proposal of US 5153940 are that: the outer layer is absorbent and will therefore stain and not be easy to wipe clean, leaving the baby with an unsightly chest area and resulting in dampening and staining of the carer's clothing when the baby is cuddled or burped; and the sleep- quit will therefore need to be washed as often as a conventional absorbent baby's bib.

The present invention, or at least specific embodiments of it, is concerned with alleviating the problems described above.

According to the present invention, an article of next-to-skin wear comprises a body of soft material for clothing a wearer's torso at least between a neckline and a waistline, the body having a front portion that is covered by a outer protective layer fixed thereto, the protective layer extending from the neckline, or adjacent the neckline, at least to the waistline and extending from one side, or adjacent one side, of the body to the other side, or adjacent the other side, thereof, the protective layer being of a waterproof, breathable material which is substantially impervious to water passing therethrough from the outside to the inside, but which lS is able, in use, to let perspiration pass therethrough from the inside to the outside. Because the material of the protective layer is breathable, the sweaty chest problem of the prior proposals is alleviated and the protective layer can provide more extensive protection than the prior proposals.

By contrast to the proposals of US 3608092 and US 5153940, in use the protective layer preferably covers substantially the whole of the front portion of the body that covers the front of the wearer's torso. This therefore hides the fact that the protective layer is acting as a bib and makes the article more aesthetically pleasing.

The protective layer preferably has a thickness of not more than 0.4 mm, more preferably of not more than 0.2 mm and even more preferably of about 0.1 mm. Being thin, the protective layer provides little adverse effect on the comfort of the article to the baby.

The protective layer is preferably in face-to-face contact with the body, i.e. without any intermediate layers than may adversely affect the breathability of the protective layer.

By contrast to the proposal of US 3608092, over substantially the whole extent of the protective layer, the body is preferably devoid of any additional layer on the inside of the body.

In other words, in use it is the soft material of the body of the article that is in contact with the wearer's skin. - 3

By contrast to the proposal of US 5153940, in one embodiment of the invention, over substantially the whole extent of the protective layer, the protective layer is devoid of any additional layer on the outside of the protective layer. Waterproof, breathable materials are readily available that can easily be wiped clean, and so by providing the protective layer as the outer layer of the protected region of the article, the article can easily be wiped clean in the protected area. Alternatively, in another embodiment of the invention, the protective layer has at least one decorative patch affixed to the outside thereof; however, the patch is also of a waterproof, breathable material which is substantially impervious to water passing therethrough from the outside to the inside, but which is able, in use, to let perspiration pass therethrough from the inside to the outside. By using contrasting colours for the protective layer and the patch(es) the front of the article can therefore be decorated, but without losing the ability of the protected area to be wiped clean.

As is conventional, the body of the article is preferably of cotton or polyester cotton.

The article may take the form of a baby's body-quit, a baby's sleep-quit, a baby's T-shirt or even a baby's dress. For the purposes of this specification, the term "baby" is intended cover the age range up to the age at which dribbling normally ceases to be a problem, i.e. about three years old. However, the invention may also be used for older people who have a problem with excess dribbling.

A specific embodiment of the present invention will now be described, purely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is front view of a baby's body-quit of one embodiment of the invention; Figures 2 to 4 are sectioned views, on a larger scale, through the front of the body-quit in the region 2 shown in Figure 1, through the front neckline of the body-quit in the region 3 shown in Figure 1, and through the side of the body-quit in the region 4 shown in Figure 1; Figure 5 is front view of a baby's body-quit of another embodiment of the invention; Figure 6 is a sectioned view, on a larger scale, through the front of the body-quit in the region 6 shown in Figure 5; and Figure 7 is similar to Figure 1 but showing modifications to the body-quit. - 4

Referring to Figures 1 to 4, a baby's body-quit 10 is of known general shape and has a front panel 12 (hidden in Figure 1) and rear panel 14 of soft, stretchable cotton fabric that are stitched together along side seams 16 to form a body. At the neck, portions 18 of the rear panel 14 are folded over the front panel 12 to form an envelope neck. A pair of sleeve panels are each stitched along their lengths to form a pair of sleeves 20 which are stitched to the front and rear panels 12,14 along shoulder seams 22. The rear panel 14 is formed with a tail portion 24 that in use passes between the baby's legs and is releasably attached by poppers 26 to the lower edge of the front panel 12. The neck edge of the front panel 12 is finished with a facing 28 (hidden in Figure 1, but see Figure 3). The upper edge of the rear panel 14, the lower edges of the front and rear panels 12,14 and the ends of the sleeves are also finished with facings 29,30,32,34. As described in this paragraph, the body-quit 10 is conventional.

Unlike a conventional baby's body-quit, substantially the whole of the outside of the front panel 12 of the body-quit 10 is covered by a protective layer 36 (shown with cross-shading in Figure 1). The protective layer 36 is stitched to the front panel 12 adjacent the side seams 16 (see Figure 4), the lower facing 30, and the shoulder seams 22. At the neckline 37, the upper edge of the protective layer 36 is hemmed over the neck facing 28. The layer 36 is of a material that is described in the trade as being waterproof and breathable and is of, or similar, to the type that is most famously sold by W L Gore & Associates Inc. of DE 19711, United States of America, under the name Gore-tex0. A prototype of the body-quit 10 has been successfully fabricated using as the protective layer 36 a material sold by Diffusion Textiles Ltd. of NE66 2PF, United Kingdom, under the name Vent-X0. The construction of such materials is well known to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail here. Suffice to say that, the material is vapour- permeable but hydrophilic so that when used in an article of clothing, the material allows perspiration vapour to permeate through the material from the inside to the outside due to the temperature and humidity differentials across the material, but prevents water from permeating from the outside to the inside. A lightweight piece of Vent-X0 material was used in the prototype for the protective layer 36, having a thickness of about 0.12 mm. In addition to being waterproof and breathable, it also proved to be sufficiently flexible and stretchable, able to be machine- washed many times without losing its waterproof/breathable properties, able to be wiped clean, and resistant to fraying at the edges.

Because of the breathability of the protective layer 36, the addition of the layer 36 to the front of a conventional baby body-quit has little adverse effect on the comfort of the body-quit 10 as compared with a freshly-laundered conventional body-quit. However, with a conventional body-quit, if the baby dribbles or possess onto the front of the bodyquit, the front panel of the - 5 bodysuit will immediately be dampened and stained to a greater or lesser extent, even if attempts are made wipe up the dribble or posses. Ideally, the baby should then be changed, because if not the body-quit will become uncomfortable to the baby until the damp patch has dried out. By contrast, with the body-quit 10 described above, the protective layer 36 prevents the dribble or posses soaking into the front panel 12, and so the baby is kept dry, and the protective layer 36 can readily be wiped clean. It will therefore not be necessary to change the baby so often.

Many modifications and developments may be made to the embodiment of the invention described above. For example, Figures 5 and 6 show a body-quit 10 that is similar to the body-quit 10 described with reference to Figures 1 to 4, except that a couple of decorative patches 38 are stitched to the chest area of the protective layer 36. The patches 38 may be stitched merely to the protective layer 36 (as shown by the stitching 40 in Figure 6) or may be stitched right through the front panel 12 (as shown by the stitching 42 in Figure 6). The decorative patches 38 are of a similar material to the protective layer 36, but of a different colour. Various numbers, sizes and designs of patches 38 may be applied, and complementary patches may be applied to other items of the wearer's clothing.

Referring to Figure 7, although it is desirable that the upper edge of the protective layer 36 is hemmed over the facing 28 of the front panel 12 at the neckline of the body-quit 10, this is not essential and the upper edge of the protective layer 36 may indeed stop slightly short of the neckline 37, for example reaching only as far as the neckline facing 28. Also, although it is desirable for aesthetic and functional reasons that the lower edge of the protective layer 36 reaches as far as the lower facing 30 of the front panel 12, the protective layer 36 may stop short of that, for example extending downwardly only as far as the waistline 44 of the body-quit 10. Furthermore, the side edges of the protective layer 36 may shop short of the side seams 16 of the body.

Although in the drawings the invention has been shown applied to a baby's body-quit 10, it may also be applied to other forms of baby clothing including a sleep-quit (i.e. a body-quit with long arms and legs) and a Tshirt (i.e. a body-quit that extends downwardly only as far as the waist). The invention may also be applied to clothing for toddlers, older children and even adults, for example in the form of a T-shirt, in cases where the person is prone to dribbling.

Although the protective layer 36 has been described above such that it can be stitched to a ready-made baby's body-quit 10, the protective layer 36 may instead be incorporated during manufacture of the body-quit 10, for example with the edges of the protective layer 36 being - 6 attached by the stitching of the front neck facing 28, the shoulder seams 22, the side seams 16 and the front lower facing 30.

It should be noted that the embodiments of the invention have been described above purely by way of example and that many other modifications and developments may be made thereto within the scope of the present invention. - 7

Claims

CLAIMS The reference numerals in the claims are not intended to limit the protection sought or granted.

1. An article of next-to-skin wear (10) comprising a body (12,14) of soft material for clothing a wearer's torso at least between a neckline (37) and a waistline (44), the body having a front portion (12) that is covered by a outer protective layer (36) fixed thereto, the protective layer extending from the neckline, or adjacent the neckline, at least to the waistline and extending from one side (16), or adjacent one side, of the body to the other side (16), or adjacent the other side, thereof, the protective layer being of a waterproof, breathable material which is substantially impervious to water passing therethrough from the outside to the inside, but which is able, in use, to let perspiration pass therethrough from the inside to the outside.

2. An article of next-to-skin wear as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in use, the protective layer covers substantially the whole of the front portion of the body that covers the front of the wearer's torso.

3. An article of next-to-skin wear as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the protective layer has a thickness of not more than 0.2 mm.

4. An article of next-to-skin wear as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the protective layer is in face-to-face contact with the body.

5. An article of next-to-skin wear as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein, over substantially the whole extent of the protective layer, the body is devoid of any additional layer on the inside of the body.

6. An article of next-to-skin wear as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein, over substantially the whole extent of the protective layer, the protective layer is devoid of any additional layer on the outside of the protective layer.

7. An article of next-to-skin wear as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the protective layer has at least one decorative patch (38) affixed to the outside thereof, the patch being of a waterproof, breathable material which is substantially impervious to water passing therethrough from the outside to the inside, but which is able, in use, to let perspiration pass therethrough from the inside to the outside. - 8

8. An article of next-to-skin wear as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the body is of cotton or polyester cotton.

9. An article of next-to-skin wear as claimed in any preceding claim, and in the form of a baby's body-quit (10).

10. An article of next-to-skin wear as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8, and in the form of a baby's sleep-quit.

11. An article of next-to-skin wear as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8, and in the form of a baby's T-shirt.

12. An article of next-to-skin wear, substantially as described with reference to the drawings.