GB2425933A

GB2425933A - Garment with breast cups

Info

Publication number: GB2425933A
Application number: GB0509840A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Chris Stuart Gottlieb
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-05-13
Filing date: 2005-05-13
Publication date: 2006-11-15
Also published as: GB0509840D0

Abstract

The present invention provides a garment, such as a bra, having first and second portions, each portion having a breast cup 21, a first fastening means 22 connected directly to the breast cup and a second fastening means 23 connected to the breast cup by a length of strap 24; wherein the first fastening means can be connected together and the second fastening means can be connected together such that a strap can be formed, encircling the chest of the weaver. This enables cups differing in size or other features to be combined.

Description

GARMENT

The present invention relates to garments and, in particular, to garments that are capable of providing support for the breasts of the wearer. Such garments are well known and include, for example, bras and bikini tops.

In order for such garments to be comfortable for the wearer and appear attractive, it is essential for the garment to fit correctly. In particular, the breast cups which are.intended to support the breasts of the wearer should be the correct size and the strap which encircles the chest of the wearer and supports the breast cups must also be the correct size if comfort and attractiveness are to be maximised. In general, there is relatively little correlation between the size of breast cups that an individual wearer will require and the size of the chest strap that will be required. Accordingly, manufacturers of such garments provide a variety of sizes of breast cup for each size of chest strap.

In practice, many individuals do not have equal sized breasts. This may be naturally occurring or as a result of surgery. However, it is not economically practical for garment manufacturers to supply garments with independently varying sizes of left and right breast cups and varying strap sizes. As a result, individuals that have breasts of different sizes must either select a garment with cup sizes in between those required for each breast or a garment with a cup size that correctly fits only one breast. Therefore at least one of the cups does not fit correctly and the user may suffer discomfort andlor the garment may appear unattractive.

It would be desirable to provide a garment that overcomes the above described problems and provides users with a garment that is comfortable and attractive to wear and economic for manufacturers to provide.

According to the present invention, this is provided by a garment comprising first and second garment portions; wherein each of said first and second garment portions comprises a breast cup, first fastening means substantially directly connected to said respective breast cup and second fastening means connected to said respective breast cup by a length of strap; said respective first fastening means can be connected to each other; said respective second fastening means can be connected to each other; and when the first fastening means are connected to each other and the second fastening means are connected to each other, a strap is formed for encircling the chest of the wearer.

With such a garment, the wearer can select a first garment portion that is the correct size for one of their breasts and, independently, a second garment portion which is the correct size for the other breast. Combining these two garment portions together using the first and second fastening means provides a garment that is accurately fitted for both breasts. At the same time, the garment remains economic to manufacture because there is no requirement to manufacture garments with all possible combinations of the first and second garment portions.

Therefore the first and second garment portion of a particular garment may differ in the cup size. Alternatively or additionally, the first and second garment portions may differ by other factors. For example the strap lengths may be different, one garment portion may have a shoulder strap whilst another does not, the extent of padding may be different, the colour may be different, the material from which the breast cup is formed may be different and the style or decoration of the garment portion may be different. The wearer therefore has a great freedom of choice in selecting the two portions that make up the garment.

One of the first and second fastening means may be easier to release than the other. Accordingly, the wearer may select the respective first and second garment portions for optimal fit and fasten them together by the fastening means that release less readily. The resulting garment may then be treated by the user in the same manner as a conventional single-piece garment which is put on and taken off by fastening and unfastening the more easily released of the first and second fastening means. Accordingly, although the wearer has the option of changing the configuration of the garment, once they have selected a combination of first and second garment portions that they like, they need not repeatedly match up the portions, avoiding, for example, difficulty in making a matching pair of garment portions from a full drawer of garment portions.

The first and second fastening means may be any convenient arrangement. In particular, the fastening means may be one or more hook and eye fasteners in combination, a snap-fit fastener (which may be configured such that once the fastener is connected it cannot be undone), a Velcro (TM) fastener, a zip, a laced cord-tie, a fixed cord-tie, one or more buttons and corresponding button holes, press-studs and a loop of material on each garment portion joined by a double-ended hook that couples with each loop. The first fastening means may be the same as the second fastening means or may be different.

Using the garment of the present invention, it is possible, as described above, to ensure that a proper fit is achieved for each breast. This may be sufficient to ensure that the breasts appear to be the same size. For example, a difference in the size of the breasts may only be noticeable if the cup sizes are the same with the result that one breast overfihls the cup andlor one breast under-fills the cup of the garment worn. In this case, once both breasts fill their respective cups accurately, no apparent difference in size is noticeable. However, it may also be desirable to compensate for the difference in sizes, especially if the difference in size is especially marked. Therefore, one or more of the garment portions may be provided with integral padding to increase the apparent size of the breast such that the apparent size of the breasts is the same. The flexibility of the garment may be increased by providing one or both of the breast cups with a pocket for receiving removable padding.

For more extreme situations, the breast cups of the first and second garment portions may include a prosthetic breast or may be adapted to hold a prosthetic breast.

The garment may therefore be especially useful, for example, for individuals that have had a mastectomy.

The garment may in particular be a bra, a bikini top or any top which is provided with integral support for the breasts of the wearer.

The invention may be provided as a garment made up of first and second garment portions, as a kit comprising a plurality of each of the first and second garment portions that may be combined in a plurality of configurations or as the individual garment portions.

The invention will now be described by way of non-limiting examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 depicts a garment according to the present invention; Figure 2 depicts a first portion of a garment according to the present invention; Figure 3 depicts a second portion of a garment according to the present invention; Figure 4 depicts, in cross-section, a breast cup of a particularly advantageous embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 5 depicts, in crosssection, a variant of the breast cup depicted in * Figure 4.

In the following description, the invention will be described as applied to a bra or bikini top. However, it is to be appreciated that the invention may also be applied to a top which is provided with integralsupport for the breasts of the user.

As shown in Figure 1, the garment I of the present invention is made up from a first garment portion 2 and a second garment portion 3. In the arrangement shown in Figure 1, the first garment portion 2 is arranged to provide support to the right breast and the second garment portion 3 is arranged to provide support to the left breast of the user. The first garment portion 2 is shown in more detail in Figure 2 and the second garment portion 3 is shown in more detail in Figure 3. As shown, the first garment portion 2 includes a breast cup 11 for providing support to the breast of the wearer and a strap 14 connected to the breast cup 11. Likewise, the second garment portion 3 has a breast cup 21 and, connected to it, a strap 24. Each of the garment portions 2,3 has a first fastening means 12,22 connected to the respective breast cup 11,21. As shown in Figure 1, the fastening means 12,22 connected to the respective breast cups 11,21 cooperate to fasten the breasts cups together to form the garment 1.

Likewise, second fastening means 13,23 are provided on the respective straps 14,24 of each of the garment portion 2,3. Again, the fastening means 13,23 cooperate to connect the straps 14,24. Accordingly, as shown in Figure 1 when the two sets of fastening means are connected a single strap is provided that encircles the chest of the wearer to provide support for the garment. Although not shown in the Figures, one or both of the straps 14,24 may include adjustment means for adjusting the length of the straps. Accordingly the garment may be worn by users having a range of chest sizes.

A variety of first garment portions 2 and second garment portions 3 may be available. The wearer may then select an appropriate first garment portion 2 and an appropriate second garment portion 3 and combine them to form the desired garment 1. For example, the garment portions 2,3 may be provided in a range of cup sizes.

Accordingly, the user can select the garment portion that fits best for each breast, even if this results in different cup sizes for the first and second garment portions 2,3.

Conventionally, garments such as bras are sold with standard cup sizes, for example AA, A, B, C, D, DD, E, EE. In general, it is not worth providing half sizes between the standard sizes because the difference between the size of most individual's breasts is such that wearer would still need to select a compromise cup size so the accuracy of the fitting overall would not be improved. With the garment of the present invention, in which the cup size for each breast can be selected independently, it becomes worthwhile providing half sizes between each of the standard cup sizes. It is therefore possible to provide an improved fit.

In addition to the present invention enabling the wearer to select and combine two garment portions 2,3 having different breast cup sizes, the wearer can alternatively or additionally select and combine garment portions that differ by other factors. For example, although the garment of Figure 1 and the garment portions of Figures 2 and 3 include shoulder straps 15,25, it should be appreciated that these are not essential. Therefore, for example, the invention may provide garment portions 2,3 which are solely supported by the chest straps 14,24, a so-called strapless configuration. Alternatively, the wearer may select a first garment portion 2 having a shoulder strap iS and combine it with a second garment portion 3 that does not have a shoulder strap. This maybe beneficial if the user would like to wear the garment I under an asymmetric top without any of the straps of the garment 1 being visible. In this case, it may be necessary that one side of the garment does not have a shoulder strap. However, the other side of the garment can still include a shoulder strap, which may be concealed by the asymmetric top and prOvide improved support for the wearer. Similarly, the wearer may select a first garment portion 2 for one side having a more discreet shoulder strap 15, for example a transparent strap or a thinner strap where it is to be visible but select a different shoulder strap configuration for the other garment portion 3, for example a broad shoulder strap 25, selected purely for comfort, if the shoulder strap on that side is not to be visible.

As a further advantage, the wearer may select different combinations of first and secon.d garment portions 2,3 for different aesthetic effects. This may be especially beneficial for garinents such as bikini tops or tops that have integral support for the breasts of the wearer and are designed to be visible when worn. In this case, the wearer can select different styles and/or colours for each of the first and second garment portions 2,3 and combine them to form a single garment 1.

As discussed above, a key advantage of the present invention is that the first and second garment portions 2,3 can be selected to accurately fit different sized breasts. By having a garment 1 that is correctly fitted on both sides, any difference in the size of the breasts of the wearer may be effectively concealed. However, it may be desirable for the wearer to include some padding to increase the size of one or more of their breasts, either to increase the overall size or to reduce the difference between the size of the breasts. As a particular advantage of the present invention, the first and second garment portions 2,3 can be selected to have different amounts of padding. Accordingly, the wearer can select a greater amount of padding for the garment portion to support their smaller breast, such that when wearing the garment 1 the wearer appears to have breasts that are the same size.

As shown in Figure 4, the breast cup 11 Of the garment portions of the present invention may include integral padding 33. The padding 33 is secured between inner and outer layers 31,32 oIthe breast cup 11.

An alternative arrangement is depicted in Figure 5. In this case the breast cup 11 again has an inner and an outer layer 4 1,42 for holding the breast padding 43.

However, in this variant, the inner and outer layers 41,42 define a pocket which can be accessed by an opening 44 such that the padding 43 can be inserted and removed.

The advantage of the variant shown in Figure 5 is that it is more flexible in that the wearer can select varying amounts of padding for different situations and/or to compensate for changes in the size of their breasts. The arrangement shown in Figure 4, however, avoids the risk of the breast padding becoming lost.

In addition to one or both of the garment portions 2,3 containing or being able to support padding, the invention may further be used in conjunction with prosthetic breasts which may, for example, be required after surgery such as a mastectomy.

Accordingly, a wearer may select a garment portion that includes a prosthetic breast or is adapted to hold a prosthetic breast.

The fasteners 12,13,22,23 may be any convenient fastener. For example, hook and eye fasteners are well known for use in rear-fastening bras. Releasable snap-fit fasteners are well known for bikini tops as are fixed cord-ties, namely fastenings comprising a length of cord fixed to each side of the garment which the wearer ties in a bow. In addition, frontfastening bras often have a fastening that comprises a double-ended hook, each end of which couples with a loop of material on each side of the garment, namely attached to each cup. In addition to these well known fasteners, the fasteners of the garment according to the present invention may be a Velcro (TM) fastener, a zip, one or more buttons and corresponding button holes, press-studs and a

S

laced cord-tie, namely a fastening in which each side of the garment has one or more holes and a length of cord is laced between them to secure the two sides of the garment together.

In the gannent of the present invention, the first fastening means 12,22 may be the same as the second fastening means 13,23 or may be a different type of fastening means. In particular, one of the fastening means may be more difficult to release then the other. This may be beneficial as only a single fastening means needs to be undone to enable the wearer to remove the garment 1. Therefore only one of the fastening means needs to be easy to undo and it may be convenient for the other fastening means to be more secure such that, for example, the fastening does not become undone during washing. This has the advantage of saving the wearer time matching up different garment portions from their laundry to form garment configurations that they use frequently. It should be appreciated that one of the fastening means may even be non-releasable once the wearer has selected the two garment portions and connected them together. For example the fastening means may be a non-releasable snap-fit fastener.

As described above, the present invention provides a highly flexible garment.

Individuals may retain a plurality of first garment portions 2 and second garment portions 3 from which they can select the combination necessary to form a garment 1 most appropriate to their use at that moment. Likewise, retailers can provide a range of first garment portions 2 and second garment portions 3 independently enabling wearers to select combinations that provide them with the optimum fitting.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A garment comprising first and second garment portions; wherein

each of said first and second garment portions comprises a breast cup, first fastening means substantially directly connected to said respective breast cup and second fastening means connected to said respective breast cup by a length of strap; said respective first fastening means can be connected to each other; said respective second fastening means can be connected to each other; and when the first fastening means are connected to each other and the second fastening means are connected to each other, a strap is formed for encircling the chest of the wearer.
2. A garment according to claim 1, wherein said first garment portion differs from said second garment portion by at least one of cup size, strap length, extent of padding, colour, the material from which the breast cup is formed and the decoration of the garment portion.
3. A garment according to claim 1 or 2, wherein one of said first and second fastening means is easier to release than the other of said fastening means.
4. A garment according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein one, both or neither of said garment portions includes a shoulder strap.
5. A garment according to any one Of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the breast cups of said first and second garment portion comprises integral padding.
6. A garment according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the breast cups of said first and second garment portions comprises a pocket for receiving removable padding.
7. A garment according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the breast cups of said first and second garment portions comprises a prosthetic breast.
8. A garment according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the breast cups of said first and second garment portions is adapted to hold a prosthetic breast.
9. A garment according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said garment is a bra.
10. A garment according to any one of claims I to 8, wherein said garment is a bikini top.
11. A garment according to any one of claims ito 8, wherein said garment is a top with integral support for the breasts of the wearer.
12. A garment portion suitable for use in a garment according to any one of the preceding claims.
13. A kit for forming a garment according to any one of claims 1 to 11, comprising a plurality of first garment portions and a plurality of second garment portions; wherein any one of said first garment portions can be combined with any one of said second garment portions to form said garment.
14. A kit according to claim 13, wherein at least one of said first garment portions differs from another first garment portion by at least one of cup size, strap length, extent of padding, colour, the material from which the breast cup is formed and the decoration of the garment position.
15. A kit according to claim 13 or 14, wherein at least one of said second garment portions differs from another second garment portion by at least one of cup size, strap length, extent of padding, colour, the material from which the breast cup is formed and the decoration of the garment portion.