The present invention relates to a garment preferable as a garment suitable for movement, which is excellent in following a movement of an arm, in particular, an upward movement.

In a conventional garment, a sleeve is provided along an extension of a lateral axis extending from the center of a human body to a shoulder, regardless of normal sleeve or raglan sleeve. Thus, the garment does not follow an upward movement of an arm, in particular, a front upward movement, although there is no problem when the arm is in a stationary state. When the arm is raised above, a joint between a body portion and the sleeve is pulled therealong so that the body portion is pulled upward, which disturbs the arm movement and interferes with a body performance.

Even when an armhole of a back body portion is loosened, when an arm is raised above, an armhole of a front body portion is pulled therealong. Thus, such a structure cannot provide an ideal following function for an arm movement.

Particularly in a case of a garment suitable for movement, the disturbance against the arm movement is a fatal flaw. In a case of a working clothe, the disturbance tires a human body.

In view of the above circumstances, the inventor of the present invention found that, based on a study of a living body function related to such a garment, a body skin surrounded by a garment structural line has a certain feature, and that this feature can be utilized in a garment structure.

Namely, a body skin has two kinds of wrinkles: i.e., a physiological wrinkle and an acquired wrinkle that is formed by an action that is repeatedly done in the everyday life. The skin extends in a direction perpendicular to a crimp of the acquired wrinkle, but does not extend in a direction of the crimp of the wrinkle.

Thus, how a wrinkle is formed in a skin of a body corresponding to a back body portion of a garment was examined. As shown in Fig. 8, a skin surrounded by a shoulder line 121, a back neck hole 122, a back centerline 123, a waist line 124, a side line 125 and an armhole 126 extends in an A direction and a B direction. The extension in the A direction extends diagonally upward from a portion corresponding to the back body portion toward the armhole 126 to reach a deltoideus muscle part SS of a sleeve portion. The extension in the B direction extends from a portion corresponding to a waist line of the back body portion directly upward along a front surface of an arm through the side line to reach the deltoideus muscle part SS. The difference between the extension in the A direction and the extension in the B direction has a important significance, when a movement performance of a garment is expressed.

On the other hand, a body skin has a gusset skin 127 which expands to be adapted for a movement of a back axillary portion, and a gusset skin 128 which expands to be adapted for a movement of a front axillary portion. When these gusset skins 127 and 128 are taken into consideration in expressing a garment structure, there are defined a back axial space a₁, which is show in Fig. 8, and a front axial space b₁, which is shown in Fig. 9. How to express these spaces a₁ and b₁ on a garment pattern paper is very important.

On the other hand, among arm movements, an arm upward movement pose pulls a garment.

Thus, the arm upward movement pose was analyzed. As shown in Fig. 10, when the arm upward movement is viewed from the front of the arm, a front axillary portion 129 is moved upward. In other words, a clavicle 130 is pivoted about a sternoclavicular joint 131. At this time, as shown in Fig. 11, an acromial point 132 on an outside end is displaced upward by about 50 mm. In addition, when the arm upward movement is seen from above the arm, as shown in Fig. 12, the movement is a bending movement of a shoulder joint 133 and a bending movement of an elbow joint 134. These series of bending movements provide a forward movement of the arm as a whole. In addition, when the arm upward movement is seen from behind, as shown in Fig. 13, the back axillary portion is raised outside and inclined forward. This is shown in Figs. 13 and 14.

In view of the above circumstances, the inventor of the present invention has focused attention on the certain feature of the skin of a human body surrounded by a garment structural line, based on the study of a living body function related to a garment, and has proposed a garment in which an armhole portion of a front body portion is rarely pulled, when an arm is raised above (Patent Document 1: JP59-204905).

However, it was found that, although the garment of Patent Document 1 is less pulled when an arm is raised above than a conventional garment, there is still room for improvement.

Fig. 6 shows a garment 100 of Patent Document 1. The garment 100 is composed of: a front sleeve portion 101; a front body portion 102 that is cut integrally with the front sleeve portion 101 such that the front sleeve portion 101 is extended diagonally upward; a back sleeve portion 103; a back body portion 104 that is cut integrally with the back sleeve portion 103 such that the back sleeve portion 103 is extended diagonally upward; a side portion 105 stitched to a side edge of the front body portion 102 and a side edge of the back body portion 104; a lower sleeve portion 106 that is in continuous with an upper end of the side portion 105 and is stitched to a lower edge of the front sleeve portion 101 and a lower edge of the back sleeve portion 103; an upper sleeve portion 107; and a shoulder portion 108 that is cut integrally with the upper sleeve portion 107.

As shown in Fig. 6, in the conventional garment 100, the lower sleeve portion 106 has a shape that is modestly arcuate forward with respect to a longitudinal direction of the shoulder portion 105. In addition, the lower sleeve portion 106 is formed as a single component as a whole. Thus, as shown in Fig. 7, the conventional garment 100 has the following problems.

In Fig. 7, a point P depicts a front armpit point and a point Q depicts a back armpit point. A line connecting the front armpit point P and the back armpit point Q is an armpit point reference line L. A point M depicts an armpit midpoint M that is a midpoint of the armpit point reference line L. A line AH depicts an armhole.

In general, when a sleeve is moved up and down, there is formed an armpit fold line, which is a fold line near a position corresponding to an armpit. In the conventional garment 100, an armpit fold line S is formed above the armpit point reference line L in substantially parallel with the armpit point reference line L. Since the armpit fold line S of the garment 100 is formed above the armpit point reference line L in substantially parallel therewith, when a wearer of the garment 100 raises up the sleeve and then lowers it, the armpit fold line S cuts into the armpit to give an uncomfortable feeling to the wearer.

In addition, in the conventional garment 100, the lower sleeve portion 106 is formed as a single component as a whole and is merely formed to have a shape that is arcuate forward with respect to the longitudinal length of the shoulder portion 105. Thus, as shown by a curved line W in Fig. 7, the lower sleeve portion 106 and the shoulder portion 105 pull each other, which gives an uncomfortable feeling to the wearer.

Thus, the object of the present invention is to provide a garment which can solve the above-described conventional problems, in which when a wearer of the garment raises up a sleeve and then lowers it, it can be prevented that an armpit fold line cuts into an armpit to give an uncomfortable feeling to the wearer, and that the sleeve is pulled therealong.

In order to achieve the above object, a garment of the present invention including: a front sleeve portion; a front body portion in continuous with the front sleeve portion such that the front sleeve portion is extended diagonally upward; a back sleeve portion; a back body portion in continuous with the back sleeve portion such that the back sleeve portion is extended diagonally upward; a side portion stitched to a side edge of the front body portion and a side edge of the back body portion; a lower sleeve portion that is in continuous with an upper end of the side portion and is stitched to a lower edge of the front sleeve portion and a lower edge of the back sleeve portion; an upper sleeve portion; and a shoulder portion in continuous with the upper sleeve portion; wherein: the lower sleeve portion is composed of a lower sleeve front portion that is in continuous with the upper end of the side portion and is stitched to the lower edge of the front sleeve portion, and a lower sleeve back portion that is in continuous with the upper end of the side portion and is stitched to the lower edge of the back sleeve portion, the lower sleeve back portion being cut separately from the lower sleeve front portion; the lower sleeve front portion is formed to be arcuate forward at an angle having an angle range of greater than 0 degrees and not more than 20 degrees with respect to a longitudinal direction of the side portion; the lower sleeve back portion is formed to be bent forward near an armpit reference line, which is a line connecting a front armpit point and a back armpit point, at an angle having an angle range of not less than 20 degrees and not more than 40 degrees with respect to the longitudinal direction of the side portion; and before the lower sleeve front portion and the lower sleeve back portion are stitched to each other, the lower sleeve front portion and the lower sleeve back portion intersect with each other.

In addition, before the lower sleeve front portion and the lower sleeve back portion are stitched to each other, an upper half section of the lower sleeve back portion is positioned forward of the lower sleeve front portion.

In addition, an armpit fold line, which is formed when the front sleeve portion, the front body portion, the back sleeve portion, the back body portion, the lower sleeve portion, the upper sleeve portion and the shoulder portion are stitched to one another and a sleeve of the thus formed garment is oriented downward, is formed to have a V-shape in which an armpit midpoint, which is a midpoint of the armpit point reference line, serves as a bottom point.

In addition, the side portion is composed of a side front portion and a side back portion; the lower sleeve front portion and the side front portion are integrally cut as a one-piece lower sleeve side front portion; the lower sleeve back portion and the side back portion are integrally cut as a one-piece lower sleeve side back portion; and the lower sleeve side front portion and the lower sleeve side back portion are stitched to each other so that the lower sleeve portion and the side portion are formed.

In addition, the side portion is integrally cut as a one piece; and the lower sleeve front portion and the lower sleeve back portion are stitched to the side portion so that the lower sleeve portion and the side portion are formed.

According to the structure of the preset invention, the lower sleeve portion is composed of the lower sleeve front portion that is in continuous with the upper end of the side portion and is stitched to the lower edge of the front sleeve portion, and the lower sleeve back portion that is in continuous with the upper end of the side portion and is stitched to the lower edge of the back sleeve portion, the lower sleeve back portion being cut separately from the lower sleeve front portion; the lower sleeve front portion is formed to be arcuate forward at an angle having an angle range of greater than 0 degrees and not more than 20 degrees with respect to a longitudinal direction of the side portion; the lower sleeve back portion is formed to be bent forward near an armpit reference line, which is a line connecting a front armpit point and a back armpit point, at an angle having an angle range of not less than 20 degrees and not more than 40 degrees with respect to the longitudinal direction of the side portion; and before the lower sleeve front portion and the lower sleeve back portion are stitched to each other, the lower sleeve front portion and the lower sleeve back portion intersect with each other. Thus, when a wearer of the garment raises up the sleeve and then lowers it, it can be prevented that an armpit fold line cuts into an armpit to give an uncomfortable feeling to the wearer, and that the sleeve is pulled therealong.

• Fig. 1 shows a garment according to the present invention, in which Fig. 1(a) is a view showing a front sleeve portion and a front body portion, and Fig. 1(b) is a view showing a lower sleeve side front portion.
• Fig. 2 shows the garment according to the present invention, in which Fig. 2(a) is a view showing a back sleeve portion and a back body portion, and Fig. 2(b) is a view showing an upper sleeve portion and a shoulder portion.
• Fig. 3 shows the garment according to the present invention, in which Fig. 3(a) is view showing the lower sleeve portion and a side portion, and Fig. 3(b) is a view showing the lower sleeve back portion and a lower sleeve side back portion.
• Fig. 4 is a view showing the lower sleeve portion composed of a lower sleeve front portion and a lower sleeve back portion, in comparison with a conventional lower sleeve portion, in which the lower sleeve front portion of the present invention and the lower sleeve back portion thereof are indicated by F' and B'.
• Fig. 5 explains a displacement of a skin when an arm is raised above, in which Fig. 5(a) is a view showing a front body with an arm being lowered, Fig. 5(b) is view showing a back body with the arm being lowered, Fig. 5(c) is a view showing the front body with the arm being raised, and Fig. 5(d) is a view showing the back body with the arm being raised.
• Fig. 6 is a view showing a conventional garment.
• Fig. 7 is a view for explaining a problem of a conventional lower sleeve portion.
• Fig. 8 is a view showing a wrinkle formation condition of a skin of a human body corresponding to a back body portion of a garment.
• Fig. 9 is a view showing a wrinkle formation condition of a skin of a human body corresponding to a front body portion of a garment.
• Fig. 10 is a view showing an arm upward movement seen from front.
• Fig. 11 is a view showing the arm upward movement seen from front.
• Fig. 12 is a view showing the arm upward movement seen from above.
• Fig. 13 is a view showing the arm upward movement seen from behind.
• Fig. 14 is a vie showing the arm upward movement seen from the side.
• Fig. 15 is a cross-sectional view of a shoulder joint of an arm, showing that, in conjunction with the arm upward movement, a skin on the back side of a shoulder is extended upward (arrow C), and that a skin on the front side of the shoulder is linearly displaced upward (arrow D).

A garment according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described herebelow with reference to the drawings.

A garment 1 includes: a front sleeve portion 2; a front body portion 3 continuous with the front sleeve portion 2 such that the front sleeve portion 2 is extended diagonally upward; a back sleeve portion 4; a back body portion 5 in continuous with the back sleeve portion 4 such that the back sleeve portion 4 is extended diagonally upward; a side portion 6 that is stitched to a side edge 3a of the front body portion 3 and a side edge 5a of the back body portion 5; a lower sleeve portion 7 that is in continuous with an upper end 6a of the side portion 6 and is stitched to a lower edge 2a of the front sleeve portion 2 and a lower edge 4a of the back sleeve portion 4; an upper sleeve portion 8; and a shoulder portion 9 in continuous with the upper sleeve portion 8. An angle defined by the front sleeve portion 2 with respect to the side edge 3a of the front body portion 3 is, for example, 115 degrees. An angle defined by the back sleeve portion 4 with respect to the side edge 5a of the back body portion 5 is, for example, 110 degrees.

The lower sleeve portion 7 is composed of a lower sleeve front portion 10 that is in continuous with the upper end 6a of the side portion 6 and is stitched to the lower edge 2a of the front sleeve portion 2, and a lower sleeve back portion 11 that is in continuous with the upper end 6a of the side portion 6 and is stitched to the lower edge 4a of the back sleeve portion 4, the lower sleeve back portion 11 being cut separately from the lower sleeve front portion 10. As shown in Fig. 3(a), since the lower sleeve front portion 10 and the lower sleeve back portion 11 are partially overlapped with each other, the lower sleeve front portion 10 and the lower sleeve back portion 11 cannot be cut integrally with each other.

The lower sleeve front portion 10 is formed to be arcuate forward at an angle θ1 having an angle range of greater than 0 degrees and not more than 20 degrees with respect to a longitudinal direction 6b of the side portion 6. The lower sleeve back portion 11 is formed to be bent forward near an armpit reference line L, which is a line connecting a front armpit point P and a back armpit point Q, at an angle θ2 having an angle range of not less than 20 degrees and not more than 40 degrees with respect to the longitudinal direction 6b of the side portion 6. Herein, the meaning of the angle defined by the lower sleeve front portion 10 with respect to the longitudinal direction 6b of the side portion 6 being larger than 0 degrees is that the angle defined by the lower sleeve front portion with respect to the longitudinal direction 6b of the side portion 6 may be small that is very close to 0 degrees but not 0 degrees.

Before the lower sleeve front portion 10 and the lower sleeve back portion 11 are stitched to each other, the lower sleeve front portion 10 and the lower sleeve back portion 11 intersect with each other.

In more detail, before the lower sleeve front portion 10 and the lower sleeve back portion 11 are stitched to each other, an upper half section of the lower sleeve back portion 11 is positioned forward of the lower sleeve front portion 10. The lower sleeve front portion 10 is formed to be arcuate modestly forward with respect to the longitudinal direction 6b of the side portion 6. On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 3(a), the lower sleeve back portion 11 is bent forward near the armpit point reference line L with respect to the longitudinal direction 6b of the side portion 6 and is further extended linearly. When the garment 1 has a short sleeve instead of a long sleeve, the section of the lower sleeve back portion 11 located in front of the lower sleeve front portion 10 may be omitted.

Although it is not necessary that the front body portion 3 and the front sleeve portion 2 are cut integrally with each other, the front body portion 3 is generally cut integrally with the front sleeve portion 2 in continuous with the front sleeve portion 2 such that the front sleeve portion 2 is extended diagonally upward. Although it is not necessary that the back body portion 5 and the back sleeve portion 4 are cut integrally with each other, the back body portion 5 is generally cut integrally with the back sleeve portion 4 such that the back sleeve portion 4 is extended diagonally upward.

The side portion 6 is composed of a side front portion 12 and a side back portion 13. The lower sleeve front portion 10 and the side front portion 12 are cut integrally with each other as a one-piece lower sleeve side front portion 14. The lower sleeve back portion 11 and the side back portion 13 are cut integrally with each other as a one-piece lower sleeve side back portion 15. The lower sleeve side front portion 14 and the lower sleeve side back portion 15 are stitched to each other so that the lower sleeve portion 7 and the side portion 6 are formed.

The side portion 6 may be integrally cut as a one piece. Fig. 3(a) shows the side portion 6 whose part lower than the upper end 6a of the side portion 6 is integrally cut as a one piece. In this case, the lower sleeve front portion 10 and the lower sleeve back portion 11 are stitched to the integrally cut side portion 6 so that the lower sleeve portion 7 and the side portion 6 are formed.

Fig. 4 shows the lower sleeve portion 7 according to the present invention composed of the lower sleeve front portion 10 and the lower sleeve back portion 11, in comparison with a conventional lower sleeve portion 106.

Next, with reference to Fig. 5, a displacement when an arm is raised above is explained. Fig. 5(a) shows a front body with an arm being lowered, Fig. 5(b) shows a back body with the arm being lowered, Fig. 5(c) shows the front body with the arm being raised, and Fig. 5(d) shows the back body with the arm being raised. The reference characters AH depict an armhole, D depicts a deltoid eminence part, B depicts a belly-side extension direction, and R depicts an acromion point. As shown in Figs. 5(c) and 5(d), when the arm is raised above, an armpit surface is oriented forward and twisted upward, and a front armpit point P is positioned on the armhole that is largely displaced.

Fig. 15 is a cross-sectional view of a shoulder joint of an arm taken along a surface passing through the acromion point R, the front armpit point P and the back armpit point Q. When the arm is raised above, the skin is moved as follows. At an initial movement of the arm, as shown in the arrow C, a skin on a back side of the shoulder is extended diagonally upward (arrow C). Then, while the front armpit point P is raised up along the armhole AH, a skin on a front side of the shoulder is linearly displaced directly upward, as shown in the arrow D.

In this manner, at the initial movement of arm when it is raised above, namely, at a first stage of the arm upward movement, the skin on the back side of the shoulder is extended diagonally upward as shown by the arrow C. In addition, the movement of the skin extending diagonally upward as shown in the arrow C is dominant only at the first stage. In a second stage succeeding to the first stage of the upward movement of the arm, as shown by the arrow D, the skin on the front side of the shoulder is linearly displaced directly upward, and the armpit is twisted up forward. The second stage is dominant during a long period in the upward movement of the arm. Then, at a third stage as a final stage, the shoulder joint of the arm is moved upward as a whole.

In the present invention, in order that the sleeve is not pulled along the arm upward movement, the shape of the lower sleeve back portion 11 is designed to correspond to the extension movement shown by the arrow C, and the shape of the lower sleeve front portion 10 is designed to correspond to the displacement movement shown by the arrow D. The lower sleeve front portion 10 has a more linear shape than that of the lower sleeve back portion 11. This is because the lower sleeve front portion 10 is mainly related to the aforementioned movement at the second stage. The lower sleeve back portion 11 has a more bent shape than that of the lower sleeve front portion 10. This is because the lower sleeve back portion 11 is mainly related to the aforementioned movement at the first stage.

As shown in Fig. 5, in the present invention, the lower sleeve portion 7 is composed of the lower sleeve front portion 10 and the lower sleeve back portion 11, taking account that, when an arm is raised above, an armpit surface is twisted upward while facing forward. Thus, the present invention can solve the above-described conventional problems, for example, an armpit fold line cuts into an armpit and a sleeve is pulled along.

In this embodiment, the lower sleeve front portion 10 is formed to be arcuate forward at an angle θ1 having an angle range of greater than 0 degrees and not more than 20 degrees with respect to a longitudinal direction 6b of the side portion 6, and The lower sleeve back portion 11 is formed to be bent forward near the armpit reference line L at an angle θ2 having an angle range of not less than 20 degrees and not more than 40 degrees with respect to the longitudinal direction 6b of the side portion 6. Thus, as shown in Fig. 3(a), an armpit fold line T is formed to have a V-shape, in which an armpit midpoint M, which is a midpoint of the armpit point reference line L, serves as a bottom point. As a result, since the armpit fold line T has a V-shape in which the armpit midpoint M serves as a bottom point, when a raised hand is lowered down, it can be prevented that the armpit fold line T cuts into an armpit of a wearer to give an uncomfortable feeling to the wearer, which is different from the armpit fold line S shown in Fig. 7.

In addition, since the lower sleeve front portion 10 and the lower sleeve back portion 11 have the aforementioned shapes, it can be prevented that the lower sleeve front portion 10 and the lower sleeve back portion 11 are pulled together to give an uncomfortable feeling to a wearer, which is shown by the curved line W in Fig. 7.

1

Garment

2

Front sleeve portion

3

Front body portion

4

Back sleeve portion

5

Back body portion

6

Side portion

7

Lower sleeve portion

8

Upper sleeve portion

9

Shoulder portion

10

Lower sleeve front portion

11

Lower sleeve back portion

12

Side front portion

13

Side back portion

14

Lower sleeve side front portion

15

Lower sleeve side back portion