Split sports jacket

Abstract

A split sports jacket includes a pair of mating right and left jacket halves with dependent sleeves that cover a person's upper torso and arms. The jacket halves include respective halves of a collar around a neck opening and halves of an elasticized waist band around a waist opening thereof. Respective front and rear zippers retain the jacket halves mated together that extend vertically are laterally centered on the person's upper torso. The front zipper is of upright configuration that zips up from bottom to top. The rear zipper is of inverted configuration that zips up from top to bottom utilizing gravity to stay closed. Respective front and rear flaps allow covering of the front and rear zippers and are securable by snap fasteners. The jacket halves are interchangeable with other mating jacket halves having differing external visual characteristics to change an overall look of the sports jacket such as colors, patterns, patches, logos, indicia, or emblems. These preferably include affiliations with sports teams, sports players, schools, religions, and the like.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field [0002] The present invention generally relates to sports apparel, and more particularly to sports jackets and other sports apparel worn covering the torso and upper body of a person which includes indicia such as player names, player numbers, team logos, school names, and the like on an outer surface thereof representative of various entities such as sport teams and schools. [0003] 2. State of the Art [0004] Sports jackets are designed to cover the upper torso and arms extending downwardly to the waist of a wearer. Sports jackets may be filled with goose down or synthetic insulating materials to provide added warmth particularly suitable for extended periods of outdoor use such as watching outdoors sports events. Other sports jackets are of a vest type that have no sleeves to cover the wearer's arms. Sports jackets cover the torso or upper trunk of the wearer's body and may or may not necessarily include sleeves to cover the wearer's arms....

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is a split sports jacket that can be worn by a person. The jacket has a body with mating halves that can be interchanged to change the overall look of the jacket. The front and rear closure devices secure the halves together covering the person's upper torso. The jacket also has sleeves that can be adjusted to fit different arms and a zipper to secure the jacket. The jacket halves can be different in visual characteristics such as colors, patterns, and logos. The technical effect of this invention is a versatile and customizable sports jacket that can be easily adjusted to fit different needs and preferences."

Problems solved by technology

One problem with outer garments is that they provide only one “look” for the wearer, typically being of a solid color, a single decorative pattern, a combination of colors, or a combination of patterns.

However, the look of the individual garments is typically not changeable.

The construction of the garment is such that it does not keep the entire upper half of the torso warm because the garment is cut high on the bottom in front and back and does not include any means for securing the bottom of the garment close to the body.

As a result, body heat may escape through draft holes which can lead to excess heat loss, causing stiffness and tightening of the muscles.

In turn, this can cause injury, thereby defeating its purpose.

This would restrict movement because of the bulky garments.

However, in so doing, the sports sleeve would serve no purpose.

This may lead to excess heat loss, causing stiff and tight muscles.

This could result in injury, thereby defeating the purpose of the sleeve.

The warm-up sleeve also suffers from many of the same problems as the sports sleeve of Perry.

This protector would not be useful for warming one arm and shoulder of an athlete.

It exhibits many of the disadvantages of the sleeves described by the patents mentioned above and it was not intended for use by athletes.

This can be an expensive proposition since most sports jackets with team or player logos currently cost upwards of seventy-five dollars and are likely to rise in price in coming years.

While the prior art garments are generally adequate for the purposes for which they were intended, they still have significant shortcomings including: 1) not being designed to display sports logos and multiple interchangeable sports logos; 2) having non-symmetrical sections such as removable sleeves or body sections which do not equally display the desired sports logos; 3) not being easily manufacturable due to the diagonal cuts and non-symmetry of the sections; and 4) requiring removal and storage of relatively small removable sections or patches that are easily lost or misplaced.

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