Outdoor Pants For Women

Abstract

A relief opening for a pair of women's pants, the opening formed in a center relief panel joining leg portions of the pants in at least a downward-facing central portion of the crotch area. The relief panel includes two separable and overlapping layers or flaps of fabric over at least a center portion of the panel in the downward-facing central portion of the crotch region of the panel. Each separable flap has an unattached, reinforced relief seam or edge facing and adjacent the opposite leg, each relief seam over- or under-lapping the other separable flap. At rest, the relief seams are positioned on opposite sides of a centerline of the center relief panel, and the flaps are closed, such that the center portion of the panel generally appears and functions as a single, solid, closed panel from at least the front and back of the pants. When the relief seams are pulled apart, the flaps are separated along the narrowed center portion of the panel to create a generally ovoid opening in the crotch area, positioned for a woman's anatomy during urination.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS / PRIORITY BENEFIT CLAIM[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 61 / 751,580 and 61 / 870,616 filed Jan. 11, 2013 and Aug. 27, 2013, respectively, by the same inventor (Namy), the entireties of which provisional applications are hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD[0002]The subject matter of the present application is in the field of clothing for women, in particular active wear for outdoor activities.BACKGROUND[0003]Women generally find it more inconvenient than men to relieve themselves when outdoors, because the need to remove pants and undergarments to do so leaves them more exposed. One solution has been to provide outdoor-oriented pants or shorts with a relief opening centered in the crotch between the front and back of the pants. For modesty and weather protection, the relief opening is closeable with a mechanical closure such as snaps, hook-and-loop, or a zipper.[0004]Such relief openings generally seem to provide closu...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005]I have invented a pant with a woman-specific relief opening in the crotch that solves the foregoing problems with the prior art. My opening is believed to be simpler, less expensive, more comfortable, less visible, more durable, and more practical than prior pants with relief openings for women.

[0007]In a further form, the outermost relief seam (on the outer separable flap) coincides with the pant seam where the inner separable flap is attached to a leg of the pant, in order to visually minimize the outermost relief seam.

[0008]In a further form, at least the outermost relief seam terminates at points in the central region of the center relief panel, so that the points are generally downward-facing when the pants are worn, further minimizing the visibility of the relief seam.

Problems solved by technology

Women generally find it more inconvenient than men to relieve themselves when outdoors, because the need to remove pants and undergarments to do so leaves them more exposed.

Problems with such solutions include unsightly lines; unwanted visibility of the relief feature; bulk and discomfort between the legs, especially for active pursuits like hiking, running, and biking; and potential seam failure with the introduction of snaps, zips, etc. into the seams of the pants at natural stress points.

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