A garment

Abstract

 A garment particularly intended for women and comprising trousers or pants (1) having a trouser bottom that includes leg openings, wherein the trousers or pants reach to a height of at least 50 cm from their bottoms and have an upper border portion that is folded down inside out concentrically over the trousers to form a skirt, and wherein the garment includes elastic means (6) for retaining the upper border of the skirt in a set position relative to the trousers.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a garment and then particularly to a female garment, of the kind defined in the preamble of Claim 1.

[0002] The invention thus relates to a garment of the kind that comprises trousers or pants which include a trousers bottom that has leg openings.

[0003] Women often find garments in the form of trousers or pants comfortable to wear. However, when the trousers shall have a high waist line it is often difficult to seat the upper part of the trousers correctly in the absence of braces. This particularly applies to pregnant women or women that are "tubby", especially if the trousers do not reach above the largest expanse of the wearer's stomach.

[0004] In the case of pregnant women or women that are "round" there is often a general desire to hide their rotundity to some extent.. The ability to adjust the trousers to a selective height is also desirable so that the upper edge or border of the trousers can be caused to reach above the widest expanse of the wearer's stomach. This possibility of adjusting the height of the trousers is particularly important in the case of pregnant women, whose stomach shapes and sizes change comparatively quickly, therewith requiring continuous adjustment to the form of the trousers.

[0005] Accordingly it is an aim of the present invention to provide a garment with which the aforementioned drawbacks are overcome either completely or at least partially and said desiderata are achieved either fully or at least in part.

[0006] This aim is achieved by means of the present invention.

[0007] The invention is defined in the accompanying Claim 1.

[0008] Further embodiments of the invention will be apparent from the accompanying dependent claims.

[0009] The inventive garment finds particular use in the case of pregnant women and/or in the case of young or older women who wish to accentuate or hide certain parts of their bodies, or in the case of women engaged in sporting or leisure activities for which the possibility of adjusting the garment may be important with regard to providing full freedom of movement for the activities concerned while still providing the indicated cooling and/or warming properties over selected parts of the body.

[0010] Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawing.

[0011] Figure 1 is a front view of an inventive garment.

[0012] Figures 2 and 3 illustrate respectively the garment according to Figure 1 as worn in a different arrangement by a woman.

[0013] Figure 4 is a front view of a variant of the garment according to Figure 1.

[0014] Figure 1 illustrates a pair of trousers or pants 1 that have an upwardly extended tubular border part 3 which forms a trouser waist line that stretches to a height of at least about 50 cm from the bottom of the trousers 1, i.e. from the lower limit of the leg openings.

[0015] Figures 1 - 4 show long trouser legs joined to the leg openings.

[0016] The trousers according to Figure 1 are comprised of a knitwear-type material or a Jersey-type material, in other words from a woven or knitted material that will provide a significant degree of elasticity in the peripheral direction of the trousers.

[0017] As indicated by the arrow 5, the upper border part 3 of the trousers 1 according to Figure 1 is folded down concentrically over/outwardly of the lower part of the trousers such as to form an outer skirt whose upper border 4 is positioned above the bottom of the trousers a place that is determined by the wearer herself, wherewith the lower border 7 of the skirt will, of cause be situated in a vertical position determined by the position to which the upper border 4 was set.

[0018] As an example, this property of the inventive garment can be utilized by a pregnant woman by placing the upper down-fold border 4 at the level of the upper roundness extremity of her stomach, so that the garment can be caused to cover her entire stomach for the whole of her pregnancy, wherewith the garment will, at the same time, be carried stably provided that the garment is provided with elastic means, which may have the form of elastic threads (not shown) woven into the woven fabric and/or choosing the threads of the fabric and the structure of the threads such as to impart typically an elastic nature to the fabric of the garment in its circumferential direction (jersey fabric or knitted fabric).

[0019] In the case of the Figure 4 embodiment the elastic means have the form of a separate elastic waistband 6 which can be displaced vertically for placement in the folding border 4, 4'. The waistband 6 is shown to be enclosed vertically between circumferentially spaced vertically extending strap or ribbon elements 70 whose top and bottom ends 71, 72 are connected the outsides of the trousers in the region covered by the skirt part of the garment.

[0020] Although not shown, a slit ring of flat yam or fabric may be used as an alternative to the mutually spaced strap-like elements 70 around the circumference of the trousers.

[0021] The strap-like elements or corresponding ring of yarn or fabric prevent the waistband 6 from being moved from a position of use on the garment.

[0022] The waistband serves to enhance retention of the down-fold border 4 of the garment in its set position, particularly if the material of the garment fails to provide sufficient contribution towards keeping the upper border 4 of the garment in the vertical position to which it has been adjusted.

[0023] The properties of the inventive garment may, of course, be used selectively with respect to adjusting the skirt to a desired length or adjusting the upper border of the skirt to a desired position, as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3.

[0024] Although Figures 1 - 4 show the trousers of the garment to have long legs 2 it will be understood that the garment may be devoid of legs or may have short legs, by way of an alternative (not shown).

Claims

1. A garment particularly intended for a woman and comprising trousers or pants (1) having a trousers or pants bottom that includes leg openings, wherein the trousers reach to a height of at least 50 cm from their bottoms and have an upper border portion that is folded down inside out concentrically over the trousers to form a skirt, and wherein the garment includes elastic means (6) for retaining the upper border of the skirt in a set position relative to the trousers, characterized in that the elastic means include a ring-shaped elastic waistband that surrounds the trousers in the down-fold region (4) thereof, and in that localizing means (7) are provided for keeping the ring-shaped elastic band (6) within a limited axial region of the trousers (1).

2. A garment according to Claim 1, characterized in that at least the skirt part (3) of the garment includes an elastic material; and in that the skirt of the garment is designed to lie against the trousers (19) under an elastic bias.

3. A garment according to Claim 1 or 2. characterized in that the trousers are long.

4. A garment according to any one of Claims 1 - 3 , characterized in that the trousers are short.

5. A garment according to any one of Claims 1 - 3 , characterized in that the trousers lack legs (2).

6. A garment according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterized in that the axial height of the trousers is at least 60 cm and preferably at least 75 cm and more preferably at least 85 cm.

7. A garment according to any one of Claims 1 - 6, characterized in that the localizing means comprise one or more band-like or ribbon-like elements whose mutually spaced ends (72, 72) in the axial direction of the garment are joined to the trousers in the area covered by said skirt part.

Drawing