Patent Publication Number: US-2021161229-A1

Title: Athletic Clothing Assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     The disclosure relates to clothing assemblies and more particularly pertains to a new clothing assembly for convenient stowage of a mouthguard. 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The prior art relates to clothing assemblies. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a garment configured to position over and at least partially cover at least one of an upper body and a lower body of an athlete. A first panel is coupled by opposing edges and a bottom edge to a surface of the garment to define a pocket. The pocket is configured to insert a mouthguard to removably stow the mouthguard. A closure that is coupled to the garment and the first panel proximate to an upper edge of the first panel is positioned to selectively close the pocket to retain the mouthguard in the pocket. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of an athletic clothing assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a side view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is an interior view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a detail view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 4  thereof, a new clothing assembly embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 4 , the athletic clothing assembly  10  generally comprises a garment  12  that is configured to position over and at least partially cover at least one of an upper body and a lower body of an athlete. A first panel  14  is coupled by opposing edges  16  and a bottom edge  18  to a surface  20  of the garment  12  to define a pocket  22 . The pocket  22  is configured to insert a mouthguard to removably stow the mouthguard. The first panel  14  is meshed so that the first panel  14  is configured to vent the pocket  22  to dry the mouthguard. Prior art garments for athletes lack a pocket  22  specifically designed to stow a mouthguard in a sanitary manner. As a result, mouthguards are often inappropriately stored while not in use, leading to contamination and an increased probability that the mouthguard will not be used when required. 
     The first panel  14  comprises elastomer so that the first panel  14  is resiliently stretchable. The first panel  14  is configured to be stretched to insert the mouthguard and to rebound to couple to the mouthguard. The first panel  14  may be coupled to an interior surface  24  of the garment  12 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . The bottom edge  18  may be arcuate adjacent to the opposing edges  16 . 
     A closure  26  that is coupled to the garment  12  and the first panel  14  proximate to an upper edge  28  of the first panel  14  is positioned to selectively close the pocket  22  to retain the mouthguard in the pocket  22 . The closure  26  may comprise a hook and loop fastener  30 , or other closing means, such as, but not limited to, zippers, buttons, snaps, and the like. 
     A slit  32  may be positioned in the garment  12  so that the slit  32  opens into the pocket  22 . The slit  32  is configured to allow the athlete to insert the mouthguard into the pocket  22  without inserting a hand between the garment  12  and the upper body or lower body. 
     The garment  12  may comprise pants  34 , as shown in  FIGS. 1-4 , but also may comprise other athletic wear, such as, but not limited to, shorts, shirts, jerseys, and the like. A set of second panels  36  is coupled to the interior surface  24  of the garment  12  so that each second panel  36  defines pouch  38 . The set of panels may comprise four second panels  36  that are coupled to the garment  12  so that the pouches  38  are positioned over each thigh and each knee of the athlete upon donning the pants  34 . 
     Each of a set of openings  40  is positioned in a respective second panel  36  proximate to an upper end  42  of the respective second panel  36  so that the opening  40  is configured to selectively insert a respective pad into an associated pouch  38 . 
     In use, the garment  12  is donned by the athlete. The pocket  22  is available as needed to stow the mouthguard of the athlete when it is not required but keeping the mouthguard readily available to the athlete when use is required. Having the mouthguard sanitarily stowed and easily accessible promotes use of the mouthguard and reduces a risk of injury due to failure to use the mouthguard. 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the elements is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.