REBEL OFFICE SHIRT

Abstract

A multi-part menswear shirt wearable under a sports jacket or a suit jacket has parts that are visible to the outside world of a traditional office shirt fabric and color and overall appearance and has parts not visible to the outside world made of a non-traditional office shirt fabric, color and/or other non-traditional characteristic not associated with a traditional office shirt.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 60/719,961 filed Sep. 26, 2005 for “Rebel Office Shirt” by Peter Francis.

BACKGROUND

For men working in the United States and in many places throughout the world, a suit or a sport jacket is very typically worn by professional men, businessmen, men who are managers, men who are making certain calls on customers, etc. Such a men's suit or a men's sport jacket in many circumstances calls for a long-sleeved shirt to be worn (such as a long-sleeved button-down oxford-cloth shirt, a long-sleeved cuff-linked shirt, and other long-sleeved cotton and cotton-blend collared shirts) underneath the sports jacket or suit jacket.

The present inventor finds many of the conventional menswear shirts that are wearable under men's sports jackets or suits to be uncomfortable. For example, men's white office shirts tend to be relatively rigid and not soft. However, not any shirt that a man might find to be comfortable can be worn appropriately as a suit ensemble or sports jacket ensemble, in terms of the necessary appearance. Often-times, an office shirt that has gotten to a point of being relatively comfortable to wear fails to present a desired new, fresh look around the neck and cuff areas.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present inventor has considered this problem of lack of comfort from traditional men's shirts available to wear under suits and sport jackets, while at the same time needing to present a standard, conventional appearance, and has invented an office rebel shirt.

In the inventive office rebel shirt approach, the men's shirt is composed of two sections, an office-style section and a jersey-style section. Each section is not required to be all contiguous, for example, the office-style section comprises the left cuff, the right cuff, the collar, and the section adjoining the collar; the jersey-style section comprises the left sleeve, the right sleeve, and the bottom part(s). The jersey-style sections are not seen when the shirt is worn under a suit jacket or sports jacket.

In one preferred embodiment, the invention provides a menswear shirt wearable under a sports jacket or a suit jacket, comprising an office-style shirt of a first fabric which is a traditional office shirt fabric, wherein at least one section of the shirt which is not visible when the shirt is worn under a sports jacket or suit jacket is of a second fabric which is a non-traditional office shirt fabric, such as, e.g., a menswear shirt wherein the office shirt includes sleeve sections of jersey fabric; a menswear shirt wherein the office shirt has a back section that is of a jersey fabric; a menswear shirt wherein the office shirt includes a lower body front section of a jersey fabric; a menswear shirt wherein the shirt includes sleeve sections of a jersey fabric, a back section of a jersey fabric, and a lower body front section of a jersey fabric; etc.

In another embodiment, the invention provides a method of a man's presenting a conventional business menswear appearance without externally expressing unconventionality, comprising: wearing a rebel office shirt by the man underneath a conventional businessman's suit jacket or sport coat, wherein the rebel office shirt is: (A) an office-style shirt of a first fabric which is a traditional office shirt fabric, wherein at least one section of the shirt which is not visible when the shirt is worn under a sports jacket or suit jacket is of a second fabric which is a non-traditional office shirt fabric; or (B) a multi-part menswear shift, consisting essentially of: (1) at least one traditional part that when the shirt is worn under a traditional sports jacket or traditional suit jacket is visible to the outside world as a traditional office shirt fabric-wise, color-wise and overall appearance-wise and (2) at least one non-traditional part not visible to the outside world when the shirt is worn under the traditional sports jacket or traditional suit jacket, and having at least one selected from the group consisting of non-traditional men's office shirt fabric, non-traditional men's office shirt color and/or other non-traditional characteristic not associated with a traditional men's office shirt.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a front view of an exemplary embodiment of an inventive rebel office shirt.

FIG. 2 is a front view of another exemplary embodiment of an inventive rebel office shirt.

FIG. 3 is a partial back view for the inventive shirt of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a man wearing the shirt of FIGS. 2-3 under a suit jacket.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Front appearances of inventive rebel office shirts 1, 2 may be appreciated by referring to FIGS. 1 and 2. A rebel office shirt includes traditional office shirt components and at least one non-traditional section, preferably part of a sports team shirt such as a baseball shirt (such as, e.g., a baseball road jersey, etc.). A baseball road jersey type component is most preferable to use. Generally a baseball road jersey is cotton and a darker color (such as grey). Usually in baseball, the home shirts are white and are a stiffer fabric than the road jerseys. In this invention the fabric of the baseball road jersey is preferred because of comfort. The color of the non-traditional section is not particularly limited. In an inventive rebel office shirt, the traditional office shirt components and the at least one non-traditional section must be arranged such that when the rebel office shirt is worn under a conventional business suit jacket or sport jacket, the non-traditional components cannot be seen.

One method of making an inventive rebel office shirt is as follows: using a baseball shirt, stitch respective office-shirt sleeves onto arms of the baseball shirt; and sew an office shirt collar onto the collar area of the baseball shirt. The preferred type of stitching is internal stitching, to give less rubbing when the shirt is worn. This internal stitching also is preferable because an office shirt tends to be narrower than the baseball shirt worn by the same size man, therefore the office shirt sleeve preferably is inserted inside the baseball shirt for sewing together the components of the rebel office shirt.

EXAMPLE 1

One preferred embodiment of the invention may be appreciated by referring to FIG. 1. In the inventive shirt 1 of FIG. 1, the cuff, the collar, and the section adjoining the collar are of “office” appearance, such as according to a typical men's shirt for wearing under a suit jacket or sport jacket. At junctions 100, 110, 120, an office-style section joins (e.g., is sewn to) a jersey-style section. (In FIG. 1, the left sleeve is not shown to keep the figure simple.)

The junctions in FIG. 1 are shown by way of example, and are not necessarily required to be cut along those exact lines, on those exact angles, in those exact shapes, etc.

The back (not shown) of shirt 1 is preferably of jersey, or mainly of jersey, except that the collar is office-style.

The shirt 1 of FIG. 1 preferably is front-buttoning (not shown) all the way down the front of the shirt.

When the inventive shirt 1 of FIG. 1 is worn under a sport jacket or suit jacket, importantly, the visible parts are office-style and only non-visible parts are jersey-style.

Herein, an “office shirt” or an “office-style” shirt means a traditional menswear shirt wherein the sleeves, cuffs, collar and body are of a same fabric. A white long-sleeve cotton or cotton-blend menswear shirt is a typical example of an “office shirt.”

An advantage of an inventive rebel office shirt 1 is that the wearer is permitted to work in “their” world, and live in his own. The wearer of the multi-part shirt 1 is able to present a certain traditional business appearance that he desires to convey while improving his comfort.

EXAMPLE 2

Referring to FIG. 4, a man wears a rebel office shirt (such as, e.g., shirt 2 (FIG. 2)) underneath a suit jacket or sport jacket SJ and tie. The jacket SJ and tie cover all non-traditional parts of the rebel office shirt 2 so that the man's appearance is entirely conventionally businesslike.

A rebel office shirt 2 is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and consists of a traditional office shirt collar section 20 that will protrude from the jacket SJ (FIG. 4) at the neck area, and further consists of traditional office shirt sections 21R, 21L including at least a traditional cuff shirt. Traditional office shirt sections 21R, 21L preferably include a traditional sleeve section of sufficient length for comfortable wear when sewn to a sleeve 28 of a short-sleeve baseball jersey 29. Preferably internal stitching is used for sewing the traditional office shirt sections 21R, 21L inside the sleeves 28 of the baseball jersey 29. Where the baseball jersey 29 is sewn to the traditional office shirt sections 21R, 21L, the baseball jersey 29 preferably is permitted to overlap a bit, such as ˜1 cm. Office shirt collar section 20 is sewn to a baseball jersey 29 at neck area 27.

EXAMPLE 2A

An experiment was conducted as follows. A man wearing a dark suit jacket (of size 44L) and a conservative red silk tie (˜2½ inches wide just below the knot and ˜3¾ inches wide at its widest point at the bottom of the tie before narrowing to a tip), and a white shirt approached an observer to within conversation distance. He presented a conservative, conventional, business-like appearance, such as would be suitable for appearing in court as an expert witness or lawyer, attending a board meeting with conservative executives, etc. The jacketed man removed his jacket to, surprisingly, reveal a rebel office shirt 2 (FIG. 2). The suit jacket and tie had completely covered the non-traditional components of the shirt 2. Dimensions of the rebel office shirt in this Example 2A were measured and were as follows:

traditional office shirt used: Raleighs by Hathaway. Regency Oxford, 60% cotton, 40% polyester.

size of traditional office shirt: 16, 35

length of traditional office shirt sleeve, from cuff to where sewn to baseball jersey: ˜16 inches

length of baseball jersey front button placket: ˜25.5 inches

length of office shirt collar section at front button placket: ˜5 inches

neck-to-baseball shirt length of office shirt collar section at back, middle: ˜3¾ inches

The color of the office shirt in this example was white. The color of the baseball jersey section in this example was white, with red and navy sleeve trim and red, navy and gold 3.5 inch letters on the front of the baseball shirt (NATIONALS).

While the invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A menswear shirt wearable under a sports jacket or a suit jacket, comprising an office-style shirt of a first fabric which is a traditional office shirt fabric, wherein at least one section of the shirt which is not visible when the shirt is worn under a sports jacket or suit jacket is of a second fabric which is a non-traditional office shirt fabric.

2. The menswear shirt of claim 1, wherein the office shirt includes sleeve sections of jersey fabric.

3. The menswear shirt of claim 1, wherein the office shirt has a back section that is of a jersey fabric.

4. The menswear shirt of claim 1, wherein the office shirt includes a lower body front section of a jersey fabric.

5. The menswear shirt of claim 1, wherein the shirt includes sleeve sections of a jersey fabric, a back section of a jersey fabric, and a lower body front section of a jersey fabric.

6. A multi-part menswear shirt, consisting essentially of: (1) at least one traditional part that when the shirt is worn under a traditional sports jacket or traditional suit jacket is visible to the outside world as a traditional office shirt fabric-wise, color-wise and overall appearance-wise and (2) at least one non-traditional part not visible to the outside world when the shirt is worn under the traditional sports jacket or traditional suit jacket, and having at least one selected from the group consisting of non-traditional men's office shirt fabric, non-traditional men's office shirt color and/or other non-traditional characteristic not associated with a traditional men's office shirt.

7. The multi-part menswear shirt of claim 6, including at least a traditional pair of cuffs and a traditional collar.

8. The multi-part menswear shirt of claim 6, wherein the traditional part(s) and the non-traditional part(s) are securely affixed to each other.

9. The multi-part menswear shirt of claim 8, wherein the traditional part(s) and the non-traditional part(s) are securely sewn to each other.

10. The multi-part menswear shirt of claim 6, wherein the traditional part(s) and the non-traditional part(s) are securely sewn to each other including at least one non-sewn attachment point.

11. A method of a man's presenting a conventional business menswear appearance without externally expressing unconventionality, comprising:

wearing a rebel office shirt by the man underneath a conventional businessman's suit jacket or sport coat, wherein the rebel office shirt is:

(A) an office-style shirt of a first fabric which is a traditional office shirt fabric, wherein at least one section of the shirt which is not visible when the shirt is worn under a sports jacket or suit jacket is of a second fabric which is a non-traditional office shirt fabric; or

(B) a multi-part menswear shirt, consisting essentially of: (1) at least one traditional part that when the shirt is worn under a traditional sports jacket or traditional suit jacket is visible to the outside world as a traditional office shirt fabric-wise, color-wise and overall appearance-wise and (2) at least one non-traditional part not visible to the outside world when the shirt is worn under the traditional sports jacket or traditional suit jacket, and having at least one selected from the group consisting of non-traditional men's office shirt fabric, non-traditional men's office shirt color and/or other non-traditional characteristic not associated with a traditional men's office shirt.

12. The method of claim 11, including wearing a conventional tie.