US3296628A

US3296628A - Reversible garments

Info

Publication number: US3296628A
Application number: US383412A
Authority: US
Inventors: Arline J Collins
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1964-07-17
Filing date: 1964-07-17
Publication date: 1967-01-10
Anticipated expiration: 1984-01-10

Description

Jan. 10, 1967 COLLINS I 3,296,628

REVERSIBLE GARMENTS Filed July 17, 1964 INVENTOR. ARLINE .I COLL/N6 my?! My ATTORNEYS United States Patent Gffice 3,296,628 Patented Jan. 10, 1967 3,296,628 REVERSIBLE GARMENTS Arline J. Collins, 1510 E. Minnehaha Parkway, Minneapolis, Minn. 55417 Filed July 17, 1964, Ser. No. 383,412 1 Claim. (Cl. 2211) This invention relates to reversible garments of the type made from double-faced fabric, such that they may be worn with either of two different fabric faces exposed and showing. More particularly, this invention relates to reversible garments having inverted twin plackets for slide fasteners or similar fastening means. The twin plackets are so located that when the garment is worn one of the plackets is accessible for operation of the fastening means, and properly located as to fashion and custom, at all times, regardless of which fabric face of the reversible garment is exposed.

Some typical reversible fabric garments include the following: casual garments, such as sportswear and the like which permits alternation between a plain fabric and a patterned fabric, or between different colors; hunting garments in which one fabric face is drab for use in hunting upland game birds or migratory water fowl and the other fabric face is bright, as red, for example, for wearing while hunting deer or other big game where visibility to other hunters is required for safety; military camoufiage garments in which one fabric face is white to limit visibility against snow or sand and the other fabric face is drab to limit visibility against foliage; or the like.

Reversible garments have long been known. While they have achieved some degree of popularity from time to time, this has been limited largely because of awkardness and inconvenience in fastening such garments with equal facility and convenience, regardless of which fabric face is exposed. For example, by custom and fashion of long standing, womens garments such as skirts, slacks, dresses, etc., are usually fastened on the left hand side. Assuming reversible side-fastened reversible garments having distinctive fronts and backs, such as slacks or shorts, if the fastener is on the left hand side when worn with one face exposed, this garment when turned inside out to reverse it and expose the other fabric face then, of necessity, must be fastened from the opposite or right hand side. This is awkward and inconvenient for a worn an who is habitually accustomed to fasten similar garments from the left side only.

Where the reversible garment is secured by a slide fastener, it is often difficult to operate the fastener when the garment is reversed. Ordinary slide fasteners are intended to be operated from one side only. It is inconvenient to use such fasteners in reversible garments because when the garment is reversed the pull tab on the fastener is virtually inaccessible. While two-way slide fasteners are available which have pull tabs on both sides, these also are relatively unsatisfactory. With such fasteners it is not feasible to use lockable pull tabs because, when the inner pull tab is in down or locking position, then the fastener cannot be operated from the opposite exposed side. When the inner pull tab is up so that the outer or exposed tab may be used to operate the slide fastener, operation is unsatisfactory because the inner pull tab tends to catch in the undergarments of the user, or catch in the teeth of the slide fastener, or otherwise cause the slide fastener to jab.

It is the principal object of the present invention to overcome the difficulties associated with prior art reversible garments by providing such a garment with inverted twin plackets so spaced that one of the plackets is always properly located and readily accessible for fastening and unfastening of the garment, regardless of which fabric face of the reversible garment is exposed.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, this invention then comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claim, the following description setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.

The invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which the same numerals refer to corresponding parts and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of a reversible skint embodying the twin placket structure of the present invention, being partly broken away to show the pull tab of the slide fastener in one of the plackets;

FiGURE 2 is a fragmentary back view of the skirt of FIGURE 1, broken away to show the inside of the front portion of the skirt, which becomes the outside when the skirt is reversed;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevational view, showing in greater detail the construction and arrangement of reversible garment according to the present invenion; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary section on the line 44 of FIGURE 1 and in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a simple tailored reversible skirt, indicated generally at 10, embodying the inverted twin plackets according to the present invention. The skirt is comprised of a plurality of panels 11, 12, 13, etc., sewed together and suspended from a waistband 1445. The garment is reversible in the sense that it is made from a double-faced fabric and is adapted to be worn with either fabric face exposed. For illustrative purposes, one fabric face is shown as plain whereas the other is shown as being patterned.

The garment is provided with

twin plackets

16 and 17 extending generally longitudinally relative to the garment and spaced apart toward the right and left hand sides of the garment as worn. In the illustrated exemplary garment, the plackets form an ornamental front panel of the skirt, placket 16 being inserted in the seam between skirt panels 11 and 12 and placket 17 being inserted in the seam between skirt panels 11 and 13. The plackets are located symmetrically on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis of the garment. Both plackets are fully finished on both sides so that they present a completed finished appearance when exposed when either fabric face of the garment is outermost.

Each placket is fitted with a slide fastener. Placket 16 is fitted with a slide fastener 18 of the Zipper-type having a pull tab 19. Placket 16 is on the wearers left side, the customary location for closures on womens skirts. The slide fastener pull tab 19 of the zipper in this placket extends outwardly when the plain fabric face of the garment is outermost. The right hand placket 17 is identical in all respects except that the pull tab 20 of the slide fastener sewn into that placket faces inwardly against the body of the wearer. This is best seen in FIGURE 4.

When the plain fabric face of the garment is worn outermost, the closure which is used in putting on and taking off the garment is that in placket 16 which is properly located on the left side, according to custom, and has a pull tab 19 which is readily accessible. When the plain face of the garment is worn outermost the fastener in placket 17 is not used either in putting the garment on or taking it off.

However, when the garment is turned inside out to expose the patterned fabric face, then the relative positions of the plackets relative to the wearer become reversed. Then, placket 16 is on the right hand side and pull tab 19 faces inwardly. Placket 17 is on the left side and pull tab 20 is on the outside where it is readily accessible to the wearer. Thus, when thes reverse or patterned side is outermost the fastener in placket 17 is used exclusively in putting the garment on and taking it off. The fastener in placket 16 is not used, but is maintained closed. Thus, it will be seen that whichever fabric face of the garment is exposed the garment may be put on and taken 011? with equal facility using the fastener in that placket which is located according to custom and has a readily accessible pull tab.

Although the garment illustrated shows the

plackets

16 and 17 installed in seams on opposite sides of the front center panel 11 of the skirt, it will be readily apparent that the plackets may be installed in the side seams, or in seams in the back of the garment, as desired. Similarly, while the illustrated garment shows a center line placket, particularly one in which the slide fastener is concealed when the placket is closed, it will be apparent that a lapped placket may be used as Well. In a lapped placket the slide fastener is hidden behind a single fold of material and these are installed so as to present a symmetrical appearance.

The illustrated garment includes an optional waistband 14-15. The waistband portion 14 extends only part way around the waist of the wearer. The gap between the ends of the waistband portion 14 is bridged by an ornamental Waistband panel attached to the center front panel 11 of the skirt. Waistband panel 15 includes button-down

tabs

21 and 22 at opposite ends provided with

button holes

23 and 24, respectively. The

opposite ends

25 and 26 of waistband portion 14 are provided with

buttons

27 and 28, respectively, on the plain fabric face side and

buttons

29 and 30, respectively, on the patterned face side.

When the skirt is worn with the plain fabric side outermost,

button holes

23 and 24 of the waistband portion 15 engage

buttons

27 and 28, respectively, as illustrated. Then, when the garment is reversed, the

tabs

21 and 22 are unbuttoned and extended around to the opposite sides of the

end portions

25 and 26 of the waistband 14 so as to engage

buttons

29 and 30, respectively. Thus, the structural arrangement of the garment is identical when either fabric face is worn outermost.

While the invention has been described and illustrated with particular reference to a womans skirt, it will be immediately apparent that it is equally adapted to other reversible garments whether of men, Women or children. It will be apparent that the invention is adapted to use in connection with reversible garments of all types, such as skirts and dresses, blouses, sweaters, jackets, coats, slacks and shorts and other pants, and the like. The reversible twin plackets may be Widely spaced apart, as in the side seams of skirts or slacks, or they may be more closely spaced together so as to form an ornamental front panel, as in the illustrated example. The twin plackets are equally useful for back openings where desired. In Womens jackets, for example, the twin plackets may be spaced on the front of the jacket so as to define a removable panel, so that when desired this center panel may be detached and the jacket worn as a weskit.

Although the invention has been described with particular reference to slide fasteners of the zipper-type and is especially useful in connection with such fasteners, the twin placket concept may be used with other type fasteners. For example, other garment closures such as the Velcro fabric fastener, or buttons, snap fasteners, hooks and eyes, etc., are adapted to incorporate into the twin plackets. In every instance there is made possible a reversible garment with a properly located and properly facing opening and closing placket, regardless of which fabric face of the garment is outmost.

It is apparent that many modifications and variations of this invention as hereinbefore set forth may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. The specific embodiments described are given by way of example only and the invention is limited only by the terms of the appended claim.

I claim:

A reversible garment having two different fabric faces and adapted to be worn with either fabric face outermost,

(A) a pair of laterally spaced apart plackets incorporated into said garment,

(B) each of said plackets presenting a finished appearance from both sides,

(C) said plackets being located symmetrically relative to the central longitudinal axis of said garment,

(D) each of said plackets extending generally longitudinally of the garment and enclosing a single elongated zipper-type slide fastener garment closure means,

(E) each of said slide fastener closure means being adapted for operation from only one fabric face of said garment by virtue of each fastener being provided with a pull tab adapted to extend outwardly for grasping by the wearers fingers when in use in operating the closure means, the pull tab of one of said slide fasteners being on the same side of the garment as one of the fabric faces and the pull tab of the other of said slide fasteners being on the same side as the other fabric face of the garment whereby only one of the slide fastener pull tabs is readily accessible on the outside of the garment regardless of which fabric face is outermost,

(F) one of said plackets being incorporated into the garment for operation of its closure means from the outside of the garment and at a predetermined location relative to the body of the wearer when worn with one fabric face outermost,

(G) the other of said plackets being incorporated into the garment for operation of its closure means from the outside of the garment and at the same predetermined location when Worn with the other fabric face outermost and (H) one of said closure means normally remains closed while the other is used for ingress to and egress from said garment.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 573,650 12/1896 Haas 2-211 1,031,112 7/1912 Fox 2-2l1 1,879,898 9/1932 Gerisch 2-211 2,277,492 3/ 1942 Kamhi 2 2,747,197 5/1956 Bailey 22l1 2,838,760 6/1958 Lilie 221l FOREIGN PATENTS 908,484 9/1945 France.

References Cited by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS 573,650 12/1896 Haas. 1,031,112 7/1912 Fox. 1,879,898 9/1932 Gerisch. 2,747,197 5/1956 Bailey.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner. A. R. GUEST, Assistant Examiner.