Garment with indicia

A shirt is configured as a novelty item and includes first and second indicia on the front panel thereof wherein the indicia are related to one another in meaning. The second indicia is covered by a flap which is readily movable by a person other than the wearer of the shirt to expose the second indicia.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The instant invention relates to garments with indicia thereon. More 
particularly, the instant invention relates to garments having indicia 
thereon wherein the garments are primarily novelty items. 
Garments are frequently used to display indicia in order to convey messages 
such as advertisements for products and services, cultural and political 
slogans and just about any message that a person may be interested in 
displaying. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,685,690 and 2,527,258 each 
disclose garments with detachable panels wherein the panels have 
advertising information thereon. U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,110 discloses a shirt 
with a panel having an erasable writing surface, while U.S. Pat. No. 
4,120,053 discloses a shirt which actually dispenses various items 
pictorially illustrated on the garment. Athletic jerseys with flaps for 
changing indicia are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,.277,848 and 4,296,498. 
Lately, an enormous market has developed for sweatshirts and T-shirts which 
display slogans and other indicia which the wearer hopefully believes will 
attract attention or admiration. While the sales of such garments have 
soared, the structure of the garments has remained substantially the same. 
These garments are essentially novelty items, but their novelty is limited 
to the message which is at all times visible on the garment. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the instant invention to provide a garment such as a 
shirt which provides a novel structure for displaying information. With 
this object and other objects in mind, the instant invention contemplates 
a garment having first and second sections, each of which have indicia 
thereon, with the indicia of the second section having some relationship 
to the indicia of the first section. The second section is normally 
covered by a movable panel or the like, which movable panel preferably has 
an instruction thereon suggesting that another person remove the panel so 
as to expose the indicia concealed therebehind. 
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the garment is a shirt, 
the first section of which has an inquiry thereon and the second section 
of which has an answer to the inquiry. The moveable panel overlies and 
conceals the answer, while the instruction on the panel suggests that the 
panel be "pulled" in order to expose the answer. In accordance with even a 
more specific embodiment of the invention, the panel has upper and lower 
edges with the lower edge being stitched to the shirt and the upper edge 
being detachably secured to the shirt with VELCRO fasteners or the like. A 
lanyard is attached to the panel adjacent the upper edge thereof for a 
person other than the wearer of the shirt to pull and thereby expose the 
answer concealed behind the panel.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to the drawings there is shown a shirt, preferably a 
sweatshirt, designated generally by the numeral 10. While a sweatshirt is 
shown as indicative of the preferred embodiment, the garment may be any 
garment. The sweatshirt 10 has a front side 11 with a panel portion 12 
generally disposed between sleeves 13 and 14, a collar 15 and a bottom 
edge 16. The panel 12 is divided into a first section 17 and a second 
section 18. The first section 17 includes indicia 19 thereon which, in the 
illustrated embodiment, is in the form of an inquiry. The second section 
18 includes indicia 20 thereon which is in some way related to the indicia 
19 of the first section. In the illustrated embodiment, the indicia 20 is 
an answer to the inquiry posed by the indicia 19. 
As is seen in FIG. 1, the indicia 20 is covered by a flap 21 which has side 
edges 22 and 23, an upper edge 24 and a lower edge 25. The lower edge 25 
is stitched to the lower section 18 of the panel 12 adjacent the bottom 
edge 16 of the garment 10 so as to be permanently attached to the garment 
at one edge. The panel 23 has an inside surface 27 to which is attached, 
by stitches, a pair of VELCRO pads 28 and 29 located adjacent the side 
edges 22 and 23 of the flap 21. A pair of complementary, identically 
spaced VELCRO pads 31 and 32 are attached to the second panel 18 of the 
shirt and have VELCRO hooks for coupling with the eyes of the VELCRO pads 
28 and 29. A lanyard 34 is attached at its ends to the upper corners 35 
and 36 of the flap 21. Preferably, the lanyard is of a different color 
than the flap 21 so as to be readily visible thereagainst. 
The flap 21 has an exterior surface 38 which has indicia 39 thereon, which 
indicia instructs or suggests that the lanyard 34 be pulled in order to 
reveal the indicia 20 concealed behind the panel when the flap 21 is 
closed, as is seen in FIG. 1. 
It has been found that the particular arrangement set forth in FIGS. 1 and 
2 provides an interesting garment which invites interaction between the 
person wearing the garment and other people and as such has resulted in a 
wide demand for shirts such as the shirt 10. 
While the illustrated garment is in the form of a shirt 10 and while a 
shirt is the preferred garment, the principles of the instant invention 
may be applied to other garments, such as jackets and pants. 
From the foregoing description, one skilled in the art can easily ascertain 
the essential characteristics of this invention, and without departing 
from the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and 
modifications of the invention to adapt it to various usages and 
conditions.