Patent Publication Number: US-2013227758-A1

Title: Shirt with an Elastic Lower Portion and a Lower Protruding Band

Description:
The current application claims a priority to the U.S. Provisional Patent application Ser. No. 61/605,329 filed on Mar. 1, 2012. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to clothing. More particularly, the present invention relates to a shirt that remains firmly tucked in to a pair of trousers. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A shirt is a cloth garment worn on the upper body. A shirt was originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, but in American English, the word shirt has become a catch-all term for almost any upper body garment other than outerwear such as sweaters, coats, and jackets, or undergarments such as bras, vests or base layers. 
     One&#39;s appearance often affects how others perceive them, and the type of shirt worn has a large effect on being perceived as either disorderly or refined. There are several different styles of shirts, ranging from t-shirts, which are generally worn in casual settings, to polo shirts, which have a collar and are seen as slightly more proper, to dress shirts, which are buttoned down the front and are generally worn in more formal circumstances. Many occasions call for varying degrees of formal dress appearance, such as many professional settings, weddings, church services, and formal dinners, and in such situations a person, particularly men, is expected to tuck the lower end of their shirt into their trousers in order to foster a more proper appearance. 
     It is often a problem in formal attire that clothing may become dislodged. In regards to shirts, a person may accidentally cause their shirt to become untucked from their trousers by any number of movements which pull on the shirt such as reaching to a high shelf, bending over to tie their shoe or to pick something off the ground, or another similar movement that induces the shirt to move relative to their trousers. Generally, the lower end of the shirt is loosely held in place by the waistband of the person&#39;s trousers in combination with a belt, but friction alone is rarely sufficient to keep a shirt tucked in against forces that act to untuck the shirt. Particularly, if one has an expansive stomach, the shirt is more likely to become untucked due to pressure on the shirt by the stomach. In service professions where employees are constantly moving around and reaching for and placing items, such as serving tables or tending bar, the employee&#39;s shirt is particularly susceptible to becoming untucked. 
     In the past, inventions have been disclosed to keep a shirt tucked into trousers, pants, skirts, shorts, sweatpants, or other types of pant-like clothes. These inventions have included snaps, zippers, and hook and loop fasteners, in addition to attaching weights to shirts or using hold down straps attached to the wearer&#39;s body or another article of clothing. In general, any sort of permanent attachment to a special harness or attachment method about the body is uncomfortable for the wearer, and inconvenient to use. 
     It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a shirt with a lower elastic portion that allows the shirt to stretch when subjected to a force instead of being untucked, and a lower protruding band that serves to anchor the shirt within a pair of trousers or other pant-like garment without uncomfortable special harnesses or attachment means. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a front elevation view of a dress shirt embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a front perspective view of a polo shirt embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of a dress shirt embodiment of the present invention being tucked in to a pair of pants. 
         FIG. 4  shows the present invention in use as a user bends over with the lower elastic shirt portion being stretched and the lower protruding band pressing against the user&#39;s waistband. 
         FIG. 5  is a detail view showing one possible cross section of the lower protruding band. 
         FIG. 6  is a detail view showing another possible cross section of the lower protruding band. 
     
    
    
     DETAIL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE INVENTION 
     All illustrations of the drawings are for the purpose of describing selected versions of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. 
     The present invention is a shirt that solves the problem of keeping a shirt tucked within a pair of trousers or other lower body garments without an uncomfortable or inconvenient apparatus by incorporating an elastic material and an anchor in a shirt at the lower portion of the shirt. The present invention allows a user to move freely without accidentally pulling the shirt from within their trousers or other lower body garment. The elastic material allows the shirt to stretch more than most normal shirt fabrics, dissipating any upward force applied to the shirt by standard motions of the user. As the user moves about or reaches in the air or toward the ground, the material stretches and retracts back into place once the user returns to a normal posture. 
     The present invention is a shirt with an elastic lower portion and a lower anchoring band. The present invention is primarily intended for shirts utilized in service industries, such as button-down shirts, polo shirts, dress shirts, and t-shirts, though any type of shirt may be comprised in the present invention, such as, but not limited to, the aforementioned shirts, a dinner shirt, a rugby shirt, a camp shirt, a poet shirt, a sweatshirt, or a tunic. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-4 , The present invention comprises an upper shirt portion  1 , an elastic lower shirt portion  2 , a fabric interface  3 , and a lower protruding band  4 . For reference, a saggital plane  5  is defined as a vertical plane that passes from the ventral (front) to dorsal (rear) sides on a human body. It should be noted that the present invention is comprised of fabric and is easily flexible, so that while the saggital plane  5  is used in defining components of the present invention, referring to the saggital plane  5  applies only in reference to wearing the present invention on a human body. 
     The upper shirt portion  1  and the elastic lower shirt portion  2  comprise the entirety of the present invention, with the exception of the lower protruding band  4 . The upper shirt portion  1 , the elastic lower shirt portion  2 , and the fabric interface  3  are positioned symmetrically about the saggital plane  5 . The upper shirt portion  1  is positioned adjacent to the elastic lower shirt portion  2 , and is perimetrically attached to the elastic lower shirt portion  2  by the fabric interface  3 . In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the upper shirt portion  1  and the elastic lower shirt portion  2  are the same color and the fabrics for each look similar, in order to prevent a mismatched appearance between the upper shirt portion  1  and the elastic lower shirt portion  2 . 
     The fabric interface  3  is a junction between the upper shirt portion  1  and the elastic lower shirt portion  2 . In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the fabric interface  3  is facilitated using existing fabric weaving methods that join the upper shirt portion  1  and the elastic lower shirt portion  2  seamlessly, so that a visible boundary between the upper shirt portion  1  and the elastic lower shirt portion  2  is not discernible to an observer. In addition, the fabric interface  3  should be implemented such that there is no bulge or other anomaly that could be irritating to the user or visible to others. In alternate embodiments of the present invention, the fabric interface  3  may be a standard stitching, or the fabric interface  3  may be an overlap of the upper shirt portion  1  and the elastic lower shirt portion affixed together by stitching or weaving the upper shirt portion  1  and the elastic lower shirt portion  2  together, or by using an adhesive, or by another attachment method. The fabric interface  3  is preferably positioned approximately at a user&#39;s waistline  6 , so that the majority of the user&#39;s torso is covered by the upper shirt portion  1 , while the majority of the elastic lower shirt portion  2  is near or below the waistline  6 , wherein the waistline  6  refers to the topmost portion of a pair of trousers or another lower body garment. The elastic lower shirt portion  2  should not be entirely below the user&#39;s waistline  6  so that the elastic lower shirt portion  2  is held between the waistline  6  and the user&#39;s body. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the upper shirt portion  1  is dimensioned to cover the majority of the user&#39;s upper body from the shoulders to the waistline  6 , according to the style of shirt. The upper shirt portion  1  may be made of any traditional shirt material or other appropriate shirt materials or weaving patterns, such as, but not limited to, cotton, wool, polyester, linen, silk, satin, rayon, twill, broadcloth, oxford, or gingham. The upper shirt portion  1  comprises a neck opening  11  and a torso zone  12 . The torso zone  12  is the main portion of the upper shirt portion  1  that covers the majority of the user&#39;s torso. The neck opening  11  and the torso zone  12  are positioned symmetrically about the saggital plane  5 . The torso zone  12  is positioned perimetrically adjacent to the neck opening  11 . The fabric interface  3  is positioned perimetrically adjacent to the torso zone  12  opposite the neck opening  11  along the upper shirt portion  1 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the elastic lower shirt portion  2  is an elastic material that stretches easily when a tensile force is applied, such as a force that acts to pull a shirt out of trousers. The elastic lower shirt portion  2  is made of a stretchable material such as, but not limited to, spandex, nylon spandex, polyester spandex, rayon lycra, lycra spandex, cotton lycra, sateen fabric, nylon, elastane, latex, polybutylene terephthalate, neoprene, or any other material that stretches in a reformable manner when subjected to tensile stress. The stiffness of the material of the elastic lower shirt portion  2  should be low. The elastic lower shirt portion  2  comprises a waist zone  21  and a lower shirt edge  22 . The waist zone  21  is the majority of the elastic lower shirt portion  2 , and is positioned around the user&#39;s waist when the user is wearing the present invention. The lower shirt edge  22  and the waist zone  21  are positioned symmetrically about the saggital plane  5 . The lower shirt edge  22  is positioned perimetrically adjacent to the waist zone  21 . The fabric interface  3  is positioned perimetrically adjacent to the waist zone  21  opposite the lower shirt edge  22  along the elastic lower shirt portion  2 . When the present invention is being worn by a user and is tucked into trousers or another lower body garment, the majority of the waist zone  21  and the lower shirt edge  22  are below the waistline  6  of the user&#39;s trousers, while the fabric interface  3  is slightly above the waistline  6 . The elastic lower shirt portion  2  is preferably 5 to 10 inches in length, though in alternate embodiments the elastic lower shirt portion  2  may have different dimensions. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4-6 , the lower protruding band  4  acts as an anchor to keep the elastic lower shirt portion  2  tucked into the user&#39;s trousers. The lower protruding band  4  is positioned symmetrically about the saggital plane  5  adjacent to the lower shirt edge  22 . The lower protruding band  4  encircles the elastic lower shirt portion at the lower shirt edge  22 , and is perimetrically attached to the lower shirt edge  22 . In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the lower protruding band  4  has a generally circular or ovoidal cross-section that is larger than a typical gap between the waistline  6  and the user&#39;s body. When a tensile force is applied to the present invention that would pull an ordinary shirt out of the user&#39;s trousers, the lower protruding band  4  is blocked from being pulled out of the user&#39;s trousers due to its size, effectively anchoring the lower shirt edge  22  within the user&#39;s trousers until the user loosens the waistband  6  or removes their trousers. In one embodiment of the present invention, the lower protruding band  4  is created by rolling the lower shirt edge  22  onto itself and affixing the resulting roll of material in place by stitching the roll of material onto the elastic lower shirt portion  2 , by using an adhesive, or by another appropriate method. In another embodiment of the present invention, a separate piece of flexible material, preferably having a generally tubular cylindrical cross section, is attached to the lower shirt edge  22 , such as, but not limited to, foam material or another similarly lightweight, compressible material, or additional shirt material. 
     An alternate embodiment of the present invention does not include the lower protruding band  4 , and relies solely on the elasticity of the elastic lower shirt portion  2  to keep the present invention tucked within a pair of trousers. 
     Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.