US20180263298A1

US20180263298A1 - Garment with anatomical belt for the lower body

Info

Publication number: US20180263298A1
Application number: US15/542,844
Authority: US
Inventors: Nicolas Viau; Laurent Massotte; Pascal Forestier
Original assignee: Hanes Operations Europe SAS
Current assignee: DBI Operations Europe SAS
Priority date: 2015-01-16
Filing date: 2016-01-14
Publication date: 2018-09-20
Also published as: CN107205497A; RU2656201C1; EP3244760B1; BR112017015185A2; FR3031656A1; KR20170100591A; FR3031656B1; CA2973809C; AU2016207792A1; CA2973809A1; EP3244760A1; WO2016113699A1; MX2017009319A; JP2018502228A; ES2922675T3

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a garment (10) for the lower body comprising at least an upper portion forming a belt (12) and a portion forming a body (14), wherein the belt (12) has a stepped annular curvilinear shape extending about a central axis (A) of the garment and comprises a first side portion (20a) and a second side portion (20b) positioned in an axially upper location about the central axis. The first side portion and the second side portion are configured to fit over the associated hip of the wearer. The belt also includes a frontal portion (22) positioned in an axially lower location about the central axis and configured to extend generally under the abdomen of the wearer.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to an underwear type garment for the lower part of the body, comprising an anatomical belt.
The disclosure applies to any article of clothing to be worn preferably next to the skin of the wearer and covering the lower part of the body.
By way of example, the garment may be a panty, Capri pants, stirrup pants, etc.
However, the disclosure applies more particularly to tights.

BACKGROUND

Clothing of the tights type is used in particular to provide warmth, for aesthetic reasons or for the comfort of the wearer.
This type of garment generally comprises an upper portion forming an elastic belt, an intermediate portion forming the body and a lower portion forming a first leg and a second leg.
The limited number of available garment sizes does not allow the garment to adapt to the great variety of the users morphologies, so that wearing this garment is sometimes uncomfortable.
Indeed, a pair of tights that is too large risks slipping down and a pair of tights that is too small is uncomfortable.
In order to improve the retention of a garment, EP-A-10031292 discloses a garment having an elastic belt which is comprised of a plurality of sections having different elasticities.
Although this type of garment improves retention around the waist of the wearer, it still presents a risk of slipping or compressing the wearer depending on the morphology of this person.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure aims, in particular, to solve these drawbacks by providing a garment offering retention and comfort by adapting to the morphology of the wearer.
To this end, the disclosure relates to a garment for the lower part of the body, of the type comprising at least an upper portion forming a belt and a portion forming the body, wherein the belt has a stepped annular curvilinear shape that extends around a central axis and which comprises at least one first side portion and a second side portion that are axially upper, which are each designed to fit above the associated hip of the wearer, and an axially lower frontal portion which is designed to extend generally under the abdomen of the wearer.
Thus, the belt has an anatomical form which is naturally positioned above the hips of the wearer to help hold the tights.
In addition, the frontal portion of the belt dips downwards to position itself naturally under the abdomen of the wearer to avoid slipping downwards and to improve the comfort of the wearer.
According to another feature, the portions of the belt have different elasticity constants so that the side portions of the belt exert a radial compressive force on the wearer that is lower than the compressive force exerted by the frontal portion of the belt.
This feature allows the belt, inter alia, to adapt to different morphologies.
Similarly, the belt comprises a rear portion having an elasticity constant designed to exert a radial compressive force on the wearer which is greater than the compressive force exerted by said side portions.
In another aspect, the body comprises a dorsal portion for the buttocks and a frontal portion, the dorsal portion being designed to exert a radial compressive force on the wearer that is lower than the compressive force exerted by said frontal portion.
This feature allows favoring comfort and allows the garment to adapt to the morphology of the wearer.
In addition, the garment comprises a lower portion forming a first leg and a second leg which are connected to the body, and the body comprises a first supporting band and a second supporting band which are axially interposed between the portion forming the body and the first leg and the second leg respectively, and which are designed to be arranged under the buttocks of the wearer to exert a substantially radial tightening force on the top of the wearer's thighs to support said legs of the garment.
To avoid a tourniquet effect around the thigh, each supporting band generally forms a half-ring that is designed to be arranged under the buttocks of the wearer to extend around the back of the associated thigh of the wearer.
The garment is made of tricot and different elasticity constants are obtained by varying the type of mesh used.
In addition, the garment comprises a first half and a second half which are each designed symmetrically along an axial plane of symmetry, the first half and the second half defining a first assembly edge and a second assembly edge, respectively, which each extends axially along the plane of symmetry, at the center of the portion forming the body, said assembly edges being connected together to form the garment by a frontal seam and a dorsal seam of different elasticity, the frontal seam being designed to exert a radial compressive force greater than the radial compressive force of the dorsal seam.
This feature allows the garment to adapt to the morphology of the wearer and more particularly to the buttocks.
For this purpose, the frontal seam has a stitch density lower than the density of stitches of the dorsal seam.
In a preferred embodiment, the garment is tights.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other characteristics and advantages of the disclosure will appear upon reading the detailed description which follows for the understanding of which reference will be made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic back view showing tights having an anatomical belt and portions with different elasticities according to the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic frontal view of the tights of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the tights of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a detail view in perspective of the belt of the tights;

FIG. 5 is a side view illustrating the curvature of the belt of the tights.

To clarify the description and claims, the non-limiting terms longitudinal, vertical and transversal in reference to the trihedron L, V, T indicated in the figures, will be used
In the present application, the terms “upper”, “lower”, “bottom”, “top”, “vertical” and derivatives thereof refer to the position or orientation of an element or of a component, this position or orientation being considered when the wearer is standing on horizontal ground.
On all of these figures, identical or similar references represent identical or similar bodies or sets of bodies.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A tricot tights 10 shown in FIG. 1 is designed to be worn by a person preferably next to the skin.
The tights 10 extends axially along a central axis A from an upper portion forming the belt 12, an intermediate portion forming the body 14 and a lower portion forming a first leg 16 a and second leg 16 b which are connected on the body 14.
The tights 10 have a first half 18 a and a second half 18 b which are each designed symmetrically along an axial symmetry plane P of general design which extends here in a vertical direction.
To clarify the description and claims, identical or similar elements have the same numerical reference followed by the letter “a” for elements referring to the first half 18 a of the tights 10, and followed by the letter “b” for the elements referring to the second half of the tights 10.
As can be seen in FIGS. 2 to 5, the belt 12 has an axially stepped annular curvilinear shape extending about the central axis A.
The belt 12 includes a first side portion 20 a and a second side portion 20 b, which are axially higher about the central axis A, each designed to fit above the associated hip of the wearer, and a frontal portion 22 which is arranged axially lower to extend generally under the abdomen of the wearer.
Indeed, with reference to FIG. 5, the belt 12 undulates axially around the wearer to adapt to the morphology of the wearer, each side portion 20 a, 20 b drawing an upwardly curved convex wave designed to fit over the associated hip the wearer.
In addition, each side portion 20 a, 20 b of the belt 12 comprises at least one frontal portion 24 a, 24 b which plunges axially downwards for connecting the frontal portion 22 of the belt 12.
Also, the belt 12 has a dorsal portion 26 which is connected on the side portions 20 a, 20 b.
The dorsal portion 26 may optionally have similar characteristics to the characteristics of the frontal portion 22, such as being connected by a dorsal portion which may optionally have identical characteristics to the characteristics of the frontal portion 24 a, 24 b, such as plunging axially downwards to connect the dorsal portion 26 of the belt 12, and be axially lower.
Of course, the dorsal portion may also not include these characteristics of the frontal portion 22 and be axially neutral or greater and/or be directly connected to the side portions 20 a, 20 b.
According to another aspect of the disclosure, the different portions 20 a, 20 b, 22, 26 of the belt 12 have different elasticity constants so that the side portions 20 a, 20 b of the belt 12 exert a radial compression force on the wearer which is lower than the compressive force exerted by the frontal portion 22 of the belt 12.
For this purpose, the side portions 20 a, 20 b of the belt 12 have a stretchability capacity which is greater than the stretchability capacity of the frontal portion 22, along the circumference of the belt 12.
Indeed, a belt portion 12 which has a low elasticity constant, that is to say which is nervous, exerts a radial compressive force towards the body of a wearer which is greater than a belt portion having a high elasticity constant, that is to say which is little nervous and more easily stretchable.
This feature promotes the comfort and the retention of the belt 12 about the waist of the wearer.
Similarly, the dorsal portion 26 of the belt 12 has an elasticity constant designed to exert a radial compressive force on the wearer which is greater than the compressive force exerted by each of the side portions 20 a, 20 b.
The body 14 of the tights 10 comprises a dorsal portion 28 for the buttocks and a front portion 30, the dorsal portion 28 being designed to exert a radial compressive force on the wearer which is lower than the radial compressive force exerted by the frontal portion.
In other words, the dorsal portion 28 has a stretchability capacity greater than that of the front portion 30.
This feature helps promote the comfort of the wearer, the tights 10 thus adapting to different morphologies by stretching more or less.
As can be seen in FIG. 2, the frontal portion draws a triangle flared towards the belt which covers generally the lower abdomen of the wearer, the dorsal portion 28 forming the remainder of the body 14.
According to another aspect of the disclosure, the body 14 of the tights 10 comprises a first supporting band 32 a and a second supporting band 32 b which are interposed axially along the central axis A, between the portion forming the body 14 and the first leg 16 a and the second leg 16 b, respectively.
The supporting bands 32 a and 32 b are designed to be arranged under the buttocks of the wearer to exert a radial tightening force substantially over the top of the wearer's thighs in order to support the legs 16 a, 16 b of the tights 10 to prevent them from slipping downwards.
To this end, each supporting band 32 a, 32 b has a stretchability capacity which is lower than that of the dorsal portion 28 of the body 14, to substantially tighten the thigh of the wearer.
As can be seen in FIG. 3, each supporting band 32 a, 32 b generally form a half-ring which extends around the back of the thigh along a vertical axis.
This half-ring shape allows avoiding the tourniquet effect on the thigh while promoting the support of the associated leg 16 a, 16 b.
As an indication, the different elasticity constants of the portions of the tights 10 are obtained by varying the type of mesh used.
In reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, the first half 18 a and the second half 18 b of the tights 10 define an assembly edge 34 a and a second assembly edge 34 b respectively, each edge 34 a, 34 b extending axially along the plane P of symmetry and the central axis A, to the center of the portion forming the body 14.
Assembly edges 34 a, 34 b are interconnected to form the tights 10 in its final form by a frontal seam 36 and a dorsal seam 38 of different elasticity.
Indeed, the frontal seam 36 is designed to exert a radial compressive force to the wearer's body, greater than the radial compressive force of the dorsal seam 38.
For this purpose, the frontal seam 36 has a stitch density lower than the stitch density of the dorsal seam 38.
This feature improves the comfort and elasticity of the dorsal portion 28 of the body 14.

Claims

1. A garment for the lower body, the garment of the type comprising:

at least one upper belt portion; and

a portion forming a body;

wherein the at least one upper belt portion includes a stepped annular curvilinear shape that extends around a central axis (A) of the garment and comprises a first side portion and a second side portion positioned in an axially upper location about the central axis, the first side portion and the second side portion configured to fit above an associated hip of a wearer of the garment, and a frontal portion, positioned in an axially lower location about the central axis and configured to extend generally under an abdomen of the wearer.

2. A garment for the lower body according to claim 1, wherein the at least one upper belt portion has different elasticity constants so that the first side portion and the second side portion exert a radial compressive force on the wearer which is lower than the compressive force exerted by the frontal portion of the at least one upper belt portion.

3. A garment for the lower body according to claim 1, wherein the at least one upper belt portion includes a dorsal belt portion having an elasticity constant configured to exert a radial compressive force on the wearer which is greater than a compressive force exerted by the first side portion and the second side portion.

4. A garment for the lower body according to claim 1, wherein the body comprises a dorsal portion at the buttocks of the wearer and a front portion, the dorsal portion being configured to exert a radial compressive force on the wearer which is lower than the compressive force exerted by the front portion.

5. A garment for the lower body according to claim 4, comprising a lower portion forming a first leg and a second leg which are connected to the portion forming the body, wherein the portion forming the body comprises a first supporting band and a second supporting band which are interposed axially between the portion forming the body and the first leg and the second leg, respectively, the first supporting band and the second supporting band configured to be arranged under the buttocks of the wearer to exert a radial tightening force substantially over upper thighs of the wearer to support the first leg and second leg.

6. A garment for the lower body according to claim 5, wherein each of the first supporting band and the second supporting band forms overall a half-ring that is configured to be arranged under the buttocks of the wearer to extend around a back of the respective leg of the wearer.

7. A garment for the lower body according to claim 1, wherein the garment is formed of tricot, and different elasticity constants are obtained by varying the type of mesh used.

8. A garment for the lower body according to claim 1, wherein the garment is formed from a first half and a second half which are each designed symmetrically along an axial plane (P) of symmetry, the first half and the second half defining a first assembly edge and a second assembly edge respectively, which each extend axially along the plane (P) of symmetry in a center of the portion forming the body, said first assembly edge and second assembly edge being connected together to form the garment by a frontal seam and a dorsal seam of different elasticity, the frontal seam being designed to exert a radial compressive force greater than the radial compressive force of the dorsal seam.

9. A garment for the lower body according to claim 8, wherein the frontal seam has a stitch density lower than the stitch density of the dorsal seam.

10. A garment for the lower body according to claim 1, wherein the garment is tights.

11. A garment for the lower body according to claim 1, wherein the first side portion and the second side portion each form an upwardly curved convex wave designed to fit over the associated hip of the wearer.

12. A garment for the lower body according to claim 1, wherein the first side portion comprises a first front side portion which plunges axially downward to connect the first side portion to the frontal portion, and the second side portion comprises a second front side portion which plunges axially downward to connect the second side portion to the frontal portion.

13. A garment for the lower body according to claim 1, wherein the first side portion and the second side portion have a stretchability capacity which is greater than a stretchability capacity of the frontal portion along a circumference of the at least one upper belt portion.

14. A garment for the lower body according to claim 4, wherein the dorsal portion has a stretchability capacity greater than a stretchability capacity of the front portion.

15. A garment for the lower body according to claim 5, wherein each of the first supporting band and the second supporting band has a stretchability capacity which is lower than a stretchability capacity of the dorsal portion of the body, to substantially tighten the thigh of the wearer.

16. A garment for the lower body according to claim 1, comprising a lower portion forming a first leg and a second leg which are connected to the portion forming the body, wherein the portion forming the body comprises a first supporting band and a second supporting band which are interposed axially between the portion forming the body and the first leg and the second leg, respectively, the first supporting band and the second supporting band configured to be arranged under the buttocks of the wearer to exert a radial tightening force substantially over upper thighs of the wearer to support the first leg and second leg.

17. A garment for the lower body according to claim 16, wherein each of the first supporting band and the second supporting band forms overall a half-ring that is configured to be arranged under the buttocks of the wearer to extend around a back of the respective leg of the wearer.

18. A garment for the lower body according to claim 2, wherein the at least one upper belt portion includes a dorsal belt portion having an elasticity constant configured to exert a radial compressive force on the wearer which is greater than a compressive force exerted by the first side portion and the second side portion.

19. A garment for the lower body according to claim 2, wherein the garment is formed of tricot, and different elasticity constants are obtained by varying the type of mesh used.

20. A garment for the lower body according to claim 2, wherein the garment is formed of tricot, and different elasticity constants are obtained by varying the type of mesh used.