Billboard garment

Abstract

A garment is disclosed having a detachable billboard panel on the back having indicia thereon for advertising a movie or sporting event or the like, an entertainment program, etc. The billboard panel is a removable panel that is quickly and easily mounted to or removed from the back of the garment and flaps on the back of the garment cover the securing elements.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to garments, and, more particularly a garment having a removable billboard panel having indicia thereon.

2. Related Art

Various garments are known having pictorial representations thereon which can be changed to display a different representation. One such garment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,516. However, the garment bearing the pictorial representation cannot be worn without it since it gives the appearance of a jacket that has something missing on the back thereof.

Another such garment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,476 to Danzy. However, this garment has a transparent panel on the back so one can display a tattoo through the panel. There is no removable billboard panel.

Some garments, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,981 to Sanchez, have panels that can be opened or closed to display a message or other indicia. There is no completely removable panel.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,757 to Blanks shows a pouch on a garment in which images can be displayed. Without such image, the garment would appear unfinished or incomplete without the image thereon.

It can be seen that there is a need for a garment, complete in itself, which can be used to display a totally removable billboard panel having indicia thereon which can be changed to display differing indicia.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide a garment, such as a jacket, complete in itself, having a completely removable billboard panel having indicia thereon on the back thereof.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such a garment wherein the detaching means are not visible from the back of the garment.

It is still further an object of this invention to provide a garment wherein flaps may be secured to a preexisting garment and detaching means, such as pieces of a Velcro® material so a removable billboard panel, having indicia thereon, may be quickly and easily applied to or removed from the back of the garment.

These and other objects are preferably accomplished by providing a garment having a detachable billboard panel on the back thereof having indicia thereon for advertising a music or sporting event, a movie, etc. The billboard panel is a removable panel that is quickly and easily mounted to or removed from the back of the garment and flaps on the back of the garment cover the means for releasably securing the removable panel to the back of the garment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a rear perspective view of a person wearing a garment in accordance with the teachings of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side perspective view, similar to FIG. 1, illustrating how the billboard panel is removably attached to the garment; and

FIG. 3 is a view taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawing, a person 10 is shown wearing a garment 11 in accordance with the teachings of the invention. As will be discussed, garment 11 may be any suitable type of garment worn by a man, woman or child as long as it presents a rear view of the garment as shown in FIG. 1. thus, the garment 11 illustrated, in the conventional sense, has a collar 12, an integral main body portion 13 (see also FIG. 2) and a pair of spaced apart integral sleeves 14, 15 (FIG. 1) on opposite sides of the upper portion of main body portion 13.

As shown in FIG. 1, sleeves 14, 15 may be short sleeves and the main body portion 13 may be worn outside of trousers 16.

Of course, the main body portion 13 may be worn inside of trousers 16 and sleeves 14, 15 may be long sleeves, if desired.

In any event, the size of garment 11 is not critical to the teachings of the invention and may be of any suitable size for a man, woman or child. It may also be of any suitable style.

As particularly contemplated in the present invention, the garment 11 has a border 17 along the top and two spaced sides on the rear of garment 11. This border 17 extends about the periphery of an integral back panel 18 (FIG. 2) of garment 11. a removable billboard panel 19 is adapted to be removably secured within border 17 of garment 11 and against back panel 18. This removable billboard panel 19 has indicia 20 thereon which can be of any suitable type. For example, one could advertise a particular recording group, a sporting event, etc. One could advertise an upcoming movie or attraction in an amusement park or the like.

One desirable use of the billboard panel 19 of the invention is that, since it is removable, the subject matter of indicia 20 can be quickly and easily changed. For example, employees of an amusement park can wear garment 11 with panel 19 advertising a new park attraction or a recent movie related to the park.

Panel 19 can then be quickly and easily removed and a new panel, with a different movie or park attraction or the like, can be substituted.

Any suitable means may be used to enable panel 19 to be quickly and easily removed.

For example, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, a plurality of patches of one mating portion of a conventional hook and loop material, such as Velcro®, registered trademark of Velcro Industries BV Limited Liability Company, may be used sewn or otherwise secured in place as shown. Thus, as seen in dotted lines in FIGS. 1 and 2, four such patches 21 are provided on the underside 22 (FIG. 2) of one side flap 23 with four such patches 21 also provided on the underside of the other side flap 24. Three such patches 21 may be provided on the underside of top flap 25.

Removable billboard panel 19, has a like number of patches 21¹ (FIG. 2) at spaced locations along the top and sides of the border thereof corresponding to the location of patches 21. As seen, patches 21¹ normally face outwardly of garment 11. Of course, patches 21 may be of one mating piece of Velcro® material, such as the hook portion, and patches 21¹ may be of the other mating portion, such as the loop portion.

As can be seen by comparing FIG. 1 with FIG. 2, it can be appreciated that panel 19 can be placed against integral back panel 18 of garment 11 and removably secured in place by engagement of patches 21 and 21¹ as seen in FIG. 3. These patches 21, 21¹ are not visible to the viewer as seen in FIG. 1 since flaps 23 to 25 cover the same. When it is desired to remove panel 19, the patches are disengaged and the panel 19 is removed as seen in FIG. 2.

It can be appreciated that, although a conventional hook and loop material, such as Velcro®, has been discussed, other quick release means such as zippers, snaps, etc. may be used. Velcro® is preferred since it is readily available, waterproof, adheres together firmly then easily released, etc. It will not rust as metallic elements would.

It can also be seen that a conventional garment, such as a jacket, can be modified to add flaps 23 to 25 thereto, such as by stitching. Also, the garment of the invention, as shown in FIG. 2 with panel 19 removed, functions as a conventional jacket since no visible securing means is displayed. That is, the patches 21 are covered by flaps 23 to 25.

Although a particular embodiment of the invention is disclosed, variations thereof may occur to an artisan and the scope of the invention should only be limited to the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1-21. (cancelled)

22 A garment adapted to be worn on by an individual and adapted to cover the individual's upper torso, the garment comprising:

a main body portion having a back panel;

a plurality of flaps integral with said garment and forming a border about at least a portion of said back panel, each of said flaps having flat appearance and a first side engaged with said garment and second free side spaced from said first side;

said flaps having an outer facing surface and an inner facing surface overlying said back panel;

a plurality of quick release fasteners disposed on said inner surface of said flaps and spaced from said free side and thereby hidden from view by said outer facing surface of said flaps;

a removable billboard panel covering at least a portion of said back panel, said billboard panel having a back surface overlying said back panel and a front surface having indicia thereon;

said flaps overlying a portion of said billboard and said billboard panel front surface further including a plurality of quick release fasteners for cooperating with and engaging said quick release fasteners on said inner surface of said flaps.

23. The garment of claim 22 wherein said flaps comprise a first flap extending along the upper portion of the back of said garment and a pair of spaced second and third flaps extending on opposite sides of the back of said garment.

24. The garment of claim 23 wherein said quick release fasteners include a plurality of sets of mating elements, each set including a first mating elements adapted to be releasably secured to a second mating element.

25. The garment of claim 24 wherein said first mating elements are provided on the underside of said flaps.

26. The garment of claim 24 wherein said second mating elements are provided on the side of said billboard panel away from the back of said garment.

27. The garment of claim 24 wherein said flaps normally cover said first and second mating elements when said billboard panel is removably secured to said garment.

28. The garment of claim 22 wherein said mating elements comprise patches of mating hook and loop material.