Reversible garment foldable into pocket section
A reversible garment has a pocket into which a remainder of the garment can be inserted. In preferred embodiments the garment is a jacket, and the pocket is located at an upper rear portion of the jacket. The pocket can be oversized relative to space needed to accommodate the remainder of the garment, thereby providing significant additional carrying space for other items. Preferred garments include one or more carrying strap, situated about the pocket such that the user can wear the pocket by slinging a strap over her shoulder, or wearing the pocket as a backpack. One or both of the two finished sides of the garment can be treated with a stain resistant composition, and the two sides can have the same, similar, or different colors, textures, and fabrics.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/989,567 filed Nov. 19, 2001, which claims priority to provisional application No. 60/253,001 filed Nov. 27, 2000.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe field of the invention is reversible garments.
BACKGROUNDBag garments are characterized by having a pocket into which the remainder of the garment can be folded or stuffed. A relatively recent example of a convertible coat is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,121 to Harris (December 1999). Earlier bag jackets are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,154 to Itoi (March 1985). These and all other referenced extrinsic materials are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
It is also known to combine a bag garment with a shoulder step or other carrying strap, and in the '154 application it is disclosed that the straps can be used to wear the pocket section of a bag garment as a knapsack. Significantly, however, known bag garments have pockets that are only just large enough to fit the remainder of the garment. That makes sense because the pockets must contain the entire remainder of the garment, and one of ordinary skill in the art would think that a much larger pocket would be unnecessary and possibly unsightly.
The fact is that in the many decades that bag garments have been known, the pockets of bag garments have always been sized and dimensioned to just barely contain the remainder of the garment. In U.S. design Pat. No. 277,049 to Peyser (January 1985), for example, the pocket/carrier bag can only hold one item, the jacket itself and nothing more. The same is true of the combination beach towel and tote bag found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,912 to Damus (August 1989), the jacket and bag found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,629 to Itoi (September 1982), and the combination coat with a built in sleeping bag found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,892 to Gonzales (June 1979).
Reversible garments are characterized by being finished on both sides (what would normally be an inside and an outside), such that the garment has a finished appearance when worn either side out. Such garements usually consist of two shells that are colored, patterned or textured differently from one another to provide two different “looks”. The shells can be coupled together in any suitable fashion, including sewing, zippering, and so forth. Recent examples of reversible jackets are set forth in US publication no. 2004/0163155 to Haughey (published August 2004), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,550,066 to Brassey (April 2003). Earlier examples of reversible garements are set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 2,711,539 to Loscher (June 1955).
One significant feature of reversible jackets is that the use of two shells makes them bulkier than normal jackets, and certainly bulkier than a jacket made with either shell by itself. This is generally not a problem, but would dissuade one of ordinary skill in the art from applying the garment-in-a-bag concept to a reversible garment. Thus, it appears that there has never been a reversible garment that has a pocket large enough to receive the remainder the garment, nor any teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention provides apparatus, systems and methods in which a reversible garment has a pocket into which a remainder of the garment can be inserted, and that is oversized so that the pocket can concurrently contain other contents as well.
In preferred embodiments the garment is a jacket, and the pocket is located at an upper rear portion of the jacket. The pocket can be oversized relative to space needed to accommodate the remainder of the garment, thereby providing significant additional carrying space for other items. The additional space is preferably at least 1000 cm3, 2000 cm3, or 3000 cm3.
In another aspect of preferred embodiments, the garment includes one or more carrying strap, situated about the pocket such that the user can wear the pocket by slinging a strap over her shoulder, or wearing the pocket as a backpack.
In another aspect of preferred embodiments, one or both of the two finished sides of the garment can be treated with a stain resistant composition, and the two sides can have the same, similar, or different colors, textures, and fabrics.
Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
It should also be appreciated that the garment of
The main pocket 30 can be positioned in any suitable functional position on the garment. In this particular embodiment, trunk portion base 6 forms a side wall of the main pocket 30.
In
Also shown in
To convert the tote bag back into a jacket, simply reach inside the tote bag and pull out the sleeves 4 and the entire trunk portion 5, button hole track 2 and button 3 will unfold to reveal itself once again as an outerwear garment. You could then place drawstrings 21 inside the mouth opening 20 identified in
Thus, specific embodiments and applications of a reversible tote bag garment have been disclosed. It should be apparent, however, to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those already described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims. Moreover, in interpreting both the specification and the claims, all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possible manner consistent with the context. In particular, the terms “comprises” and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring to elements, components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that the referenced elements, components, or steps may be present, or utilized, or combined with other elements, components, or steps that are not expressly referenced. Where the specification claims refers to at least one of something selected from the group consisting of A, B, C . . . and N, the text should be interpreted as requiring only one element from the group, not A plus N, or B plus N, etc.
Claims
1. A reversible garment having opposing first and second finished sides, and a pocket into which a remainder of the garment can be inserted.
2. The garment of claim 1, further comprising a carrying strap coupled to the pocket.
3. The garment of claim 1, wherein the strap is sufficiently long that a user can wear the pocket comprising a carrying strap coupled to the pocket.
4. The garment of claim 1, further comprising first and second carrying straps sized, dimensioned and positioned to operate as shoulder straps to wear the garment as a backpack.
5. The garment of claim 1, wherein at least one of the sides is treated with a stain resistant composition.
6. The garment of claim 1, wherein the first side has a different color from the second side.
7. The garment of claim 1, wherein the first side has a different texture from the second side.
8. The garment of claim 1, wherein the first side includes a different type of fabric from the second side.
9. The garment of claim 1, wherein the garment comprises a jacket.
10. The garment of claim 1, wherein the pocket is located at an upper rear portion of the jacket.
11. The garment of claim 1, wherein the pocket is oversized relative to space needed to accommodate the remainder of the garment, thereby providing significant additional carrying space for other items.
12. The garment of claim 11, wherein the significant additional carrying space is greater than 1000 cm3.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 14, 2006
Publication Date: Jul 13, 2006
Inventor: Carla Turner (Yorba Linda, CA)
Application Number: 11/376,473
International Classification: A41D 13/00 (20060101);