US20050000002A1

US20050000002A1 - Garment featuring means for temporarily attaching a clothing accessory

Info

Publication number: US20050000002A1
Application number: US10/456,484
Authority: US
Inventors: Philippe Levy; Jean-Francois Levy
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-06-12
Filing date: 2003-06-09
Publication date: 2005-01-06
Also published as: ATE305727T1; DE60301761D1; FR2840777B1; DE60301761T2; FR2840777A1; EP1371304A1; ES2252641T3; EP1371304B1

Abstract

A garment, such as a skirt, culottes, dress, pair of trousers, shorts, bermuda shorts or similar article, featuring a means for temporarily attaching a clothing accessory such as a glove, the means featuring press studs of which the male or female elements are attached permanently to the garment in a place that is readily accessible to the hand of the person wearing the garment, and a piece of self-adhering fabric associated permanently or temporarily with the garment in the said area, and the said means are arranged such that the said press stud elements allow the piece of self-adhering fabric to be either exposed in order to attach the clothing accessory or covered so that the piece of self-adhering fabric is concealed from view.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention concerns a garment featuring means for temporarily attaching a clothing accessory, and more particularly a garment intended to be worn when playing golf, such as a skirt or trousers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is common for golfers to wear a glove on one hand to hold their clubs when playing golf. But for precision shots, however, they often prefer to remove their glove in order to have better tactile sensation on the club. The problem they face in this case is to find somewhere to put the removed glove so that it is close by once they have played the shot. It is not unusual for the removed glove to be placed on the golfing trolley, with the risk of having difficulty in finding it or of it falling onto the ground. More commonly the glove is partly inserted into a trouser pocket, but this is neither practical nor aesthetic, and here again the glove risks falling onto the ground and getting dirty. Furthermore, a glove that is put in a pocket does not get aired, and can be uncomfortable to put back on if damp with perspiration.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The aim of this invention is to overcome these problems.
With these objectives in mind, the subject of the invention is a garment, such as a skirt, culottes, dress, pair of trousers, shorts, bermuda shorts or similar article, featuring means for temporarily attaching a clothing accessory such as a glove, characterized in that the said means feature press studs of which the male or female elements are attached permanently to the garment in a place that is readily accessible to the hand of the person wearing the garment, and a piece of self-adhering fabric associated permanently or temporarily with the garment in the said area, and the said means are arranged such that the said press stud elements allow the piece of self-adhering fabric to be either exposed in order to attach the clothing accessory, or covered so that the piece of self-adhering fabric is concealed from view.
The inventors have in effect observed that golfing gloves, as the clothing accessories for which the invention is essentially intended, almost always feature a self-adhering strip-fastening system of the type generally known under the name Velcro® on the side corresponding to the back of the hand near the wrist. More precisely, the glove features a movable flap with a self-adhering strip that can be placed on a fixed part of the glove, which in turn also features a self-adhering strip situated roughly on the back of the hand. This enables the glove to be fitted on the hand as snugly as possible, without any possibility of it slipping when gripping the clubs during the game, and moreover this attaching system can be easily undone in order to remove the glove.
The inventors then imagined using this self-adhering fabric system, and more particularly the element situated on the fixed part of the glove, to temporarily attach the removed glove to the garment worn by the golfer, preferably in a place that is as readily accessible as possible and in no way hampers the golfer movements when playing the shot. The preferred place is located on the back of the garment, approximately on the buttock, at the point where the back pocket is commonly located on a pair of trousers, for example. In addition, this place particularly readily accessible, does not hamper the movements of the golfer, and consequently a glove that is attached there is very unlikely to become detached or fall onto the ground. Moreover, as the glove is placed entirely on the outside of the garment, airing is optimal which brings increased comfort when the player puts the glove back on.
In a first embodiment of the invention, the garment features at least two male or female press stud elements and the piece of self-adhering fabric features two counterpart male or female press stud elements positioned the same distance from each other as the press stud elements on the garment, such that the said piece of self-adhering fabric can be attached temporarily to the garment by means of the said press studs.
Thus, during a game of golf, the player attaches the piece of self-adhering fabric to his or her garment by means of the press studs, thereby enabling the glove to be readily attached to or removed from the self-adhering fabric. Before or after the game, the piece of self-adhering fabric can be removed and the press stud elements fixed permanently on the garment can be concealed by complementary decorative elements furnished with the garment so that it can be given a more aesthetic appearance, and can be worn for everyday purposes. In addition, the said complementary decorative elements can have characteristics such as shape or color which, as well as concealing the press studs on the garment, could also constitute a recognizable sign specific to the garment manufacturer or the person wearing it.
The garment will preferably feature a pocket in which to keep the piece of self-adhering fabric or the decorative elements when not being used.
In another embodiment, the piece of self-adhering fabric is sewn onto the garment, and the garment features a flap positioned such that it covers and conceals the piece of self-adhering fabric when in the folded down position and uncovers the said piece of self-adhering fabric when in the raised position, where it is maintained on the garment by temporary attaching means.
With this embodiment, the piece of self-adhering fabric for attaching the glove is fixed permanently to the garment. When the flap is down, it aesthetically conceals the piece of self-adhering fabric, and when it is kept raised in the playing position this enables the glove to be readily attached to or detached from the self-adhering fabric.
When the flap is in the down position, it is preferably held against the garment by two press studs positioned one on either side of the piece of self-adhering fabric. This arrangement keeps the flap perfectly in position to hide the piece of self-adhering fabric when the garment is worn off the golf course as town wear.
In another arrangement of the invention, the said means of temporary attachment for maintaining the flap in the raised position features at least one press stud of which one element, male or female, is fixed to the flap and its counterpart element is fixed to the garment above the flap. The press stud will preferably be centrally positioned on the flap.
Preferably, the garment shall be furnished with removable decorative male or female press studs elements, complementary to the elements fixed on the flap and above the flap respectively, so that they can be placed on the said elements that are fixed permanently to the garment when the flap is in the down position. Thus, when the flap is folded down, all the visible parts of the press studs will be covered by these decorative elements.
Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description of the two methods of producing the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Refer to the appended drawings in which:
FIG.1 shows the back of a pair of golfing trousers, with the piece of self-adhering fabric shown separately along with a golfing glove,
FIG. 2 shows the same pair of trousers once the piece of self-adhering fabric has been attached to it,
FIG. 3 shows the same pair of trousers when the glove is attached to it,
FIG. 4 shows the same pair of trousers configured for town wear,
FIGS. 5 to 9 illustrate the second way of producing the invention. They only show the area of the garment provided for attaching the glove, in the various configurations that will be explained subsequently.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows the different elements of the system, by way of example:
the pair of trousers 1 on which two male press stud elements 11 are attached in the rear right-hand zone at buttock level.
the piece of self-adhering fabric 2, Velcro® strip type on which are fixed two female press stud elements 21, positioned such that they clip into the male elements 11 situated on the trousers, given that the same system can be adapted to any other garment such as a skirt, dress, pair of shorts, etc.
the glove 3, which in the conventional manner features a Velcro® patch that is normally intended to receive the flap of the glove 32, and which can adhere to the piece of self-adhering fabric 2.
two decorative caps 41 consisting of female press stud elements and designed to be fitted onto the male elements 11 when the trousers are to be worn as town wear.
On FIG. 2 the trousers are shown in the playing position, with the piece of Velcro® 2 held in place by the press studs 21 clipped into elements 11. The arrow F shows the way in which the glove will be attached to the trousers by its piece of Velcro® 31 adhering to the piece of Velcro® 2 fixed on the trousers, such that it is held there as shown in FIG. 3.
In the aesthetic town wear configuration, the caps 41 replace the removable piece of Velcro® 2 and conceal the male elements of the press studs fixed permanently on the trousers. Other press stud caps can be added to the previous two to further enhance the aesthetic appearance or to give the trousers a particular style when intended for town wear.
In the second method of producing the invention, the piece of Velcro® 2′ is sewn onto the trousers, skirt or similar garment, in more or less the same place as is indicated for the first method of production.
A flap 5 on the garment, similar to a conventional pocket flap, covers the piece of Velcro® 2′ when in the town wear position. FIG. 5 shows the flap 5 in the down position where it conceals the piece of Velcro®, and shows just two fixed decorative caps 51 of the side press studs and two removable decorative caps, one a male element 62 clipped into the female element 52 fixed in the center of the flap, the other a female element 63 clipped into the male element 53 fixed on the garment above the flap. The male 53 and female 52 elements are moreover positioned such that they clip into each other to hold the flap in the raised position as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9.
FIG. 6 shows the flap in the down position but with the two decorative caps 62 and 63 removed to prepare for the flap to be put in the raised position. The two male 53 and female 52 elements of the central press stud are visible in this case.
FIG. 7 shows the flap 5 raised leaving the piece of Velcro® 2′ accessible, with two female press stud elements 54 on either side of it. The underside of raised flap thus made visible features two male elements 56 corresponding to caps 51 and positioned such that they clip into the female elements 54.
FIG. 8 reproduces FIG. 7 but illustrates the attaching of the glove by sticking its Velcro® strip 31 onto the piece of Velcro® 2′ such that the glove is held in place as shown in FIG. 9.
While playing golf, the flap 5 can thus remain in the raised position, allowing the glove to be readily attached or removed. Once the game of golf is over, the flap is brought down over the Velcro® and held closed by clipping in press studs 54 and 56. The aesthetic appearance of the flap can then be enhanced by clipping in the two removable caps 62 and 63.
The invention is not limited to the two methods of fabrication described above purely for the purpose of example. More specifically, the male and female elements of the press studs can be reversed. The shape of the pieces of Velcro® and of the flap can be changed. The invention can be applied to golfing garments other than trousers, as was mentioned earlier.

Claims

1. A temporary means for attaching a clothing accessory to a garment, said temporary means comprising: press studs having male or female elements permanently fixed to the garment in a place readily accessible to a wearer's hand, and a piece of self-adhering fabric attached to the garment in said place, and said means being arranged such that the said press stud elements allow the piece of self-adhering fabric to selectively be exposed in order to attach the clothing accessory to it, or be concealed.

2. The attaching means of claim 1, wherein the garment further includes at least two male or female press stud elements; and the piece of self-adhering fabric includes two counterpart male or female press stud elements positioned the same distance from each other as the elements on the garment, so that said piece of self-adhering fabric can be attached temporarily to the garment by means of the said press studs.

3. The attachment means of claim 2, wherein removable decorative male or female press stud elements are furnished with the garment to be fitted onto the press stud elements permanently attached to the garment when the piece of self-adhering fabric is not attached to it.

4. The attachment means of claim 3, together with a pocket in which the piece of self-adhering fabric or the decorative elements can be placed.

5. The attachment means of claim 1, wherein the piece of self-adhering fabric is sewn onto the garment, and the garment features a flap arranged such that it covers and conceals the piece of self-adhering fabric when in the folded down position and exposes said piece of self-adhering fabric when in the raised position, and where the flap is held against the garment by a temporary restraining member.

6. The attachment means of claim 5, wherein when the flap is in the folded down position, it is held down against the garment by two press studs placed on either side of the piece of self-adhering fabric.

7. The attachment means of claim 5 wherein at least one press stud, of which one element, either male or female, is fixed on the flap; and the counterpart element is fixed to the garment above the flap.

8. The attachment means of claim 7, wherein the removable decorative male or female press stud elements that are complementary to the elements fixed on the flap and above the flap respectively, are furnished with the garment so that the wearer can place them on said press stud elements that are permanently fixed to the garment when the flap is in the folded down position.