Garment with lowered waist portion

Abstract

A garment comprises a span member having a right upper portion, a left upper portion, and a lower middle portion and defining an open space between the right and left upper portions. A waistband is connected to the right and left upper portions of the span member. The span member is substantially rigid such that movement of the right upper portion away from the left upper portion is resisted, and such that circumferential tension is maintained along the waistband sufficient to maintain the garment in a desired location on a wearer's body. The fabric of the garment is attached to the span member to form a garment with an open space between the right and left upper portions of the span member.

Description

[0001]This invention is in the Held of clothing and in particular garments with a waistband such as pants, shorts, skirts, swim suit bottoms, and the like.BACKGROUND[0002]Fashion trends in clothing often make it desirable to expose more or less of certain portions of the body, such as the lower torso, and particularly in current fashion the lower abdomen. Low-rise pants reduce the distance from the crotch of the pants to the top of the waistband, and the waistband is made somewhat larger causing the waistband of the pants to ride lower on the hips, and thereby exposing more of the lower abdomen. Similarly skirt waistbands are made somewhat larger such that the waistband rides lower on the hips.[0003]In conventional clothing construction with standard fabric, the waistband typically includes a fly opening that is opened to put the garment on, and then closed with a zipper, buttons, snaps, ties, belts, or a combination thereof. Once closed, in order to maintain the garment in position...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]The present invention provides in one embodiment, a garment comprising a span member comprising a right upper portion, a left upper portion, and a lower middle portion, the span member thereby defining an open space between the right upper portion and the left upper portion. A waistband is connected at a right end thereof to the right upper portion of the span member and connected at a left end thereof to the left upper portion of the span member. The span member is substantially rigid such that movement of the right upper portion away from the left upper portion is resisted, and such that circumferential tension is maintained along the waistband sufficient to maintain the garment in a desired location on a wearer's body, and the fabric of the garment is attached to the span member to form a garment with an open space between the right and left upper portions of the span member.

[0011]The rigid span member allows circumferential tension to be exerted across the open space with no downward pull on the garment. The tension in the waistband is exerted on the right and left upper portions of the span member, tending to pull the right and left upper portions apart Since the span member is essentially rigid, movement of the right upper portion away from the left upper portion is resisted, and the circumferential tension is maintained in the waistband from one side of the span member around the wearer's body to the opposite side. Thus the lower middle portion of the span member can be located below the waistband to create an open space and expose the desired body area between the upper portions of the span member, while avoiding any downward tension in the waistband that would tend to move the waistband in an undesirable downward direction. This open space can vary is size totally dependant on the size and shape of the span member incorporated into the garment.

Problems solved by technology

To expose more of the lower abdomen, the waistband can be lowered somewhat at the front compared to the sides, however doing so creates problems in maintaining the garment in position.

The line of force of the circumferential tension exerted by the waistband on the wearer generally follows the waistband with the result that lowering the waistband in one area will result in a downward force on the higher areas.

Lowering the waistband in one area excessively thus results in an unsatisfactory and uncomfortable feel, and the higher areas of the garment will move downward in response to the downward force exerted by the waistband, and can lead to undesired exposure of other body areas, particularly the buttocks.

Conventional clothing construction thus limits the ability of designers to accommodate features that a significant number of customers might desire.

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