Patent Publication Number: US-2016227849-A1

Title: Reflective activity garment

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present invention relates to an activity garment that includes reflective strips for visibility purposes. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Individuals engaged in various forms of exercise for health and competition purposes. One popular form of exercise is running. Running helps individuals maintain reasonable health due to its vigorous nature. Runners many times run at various times of day and thus one of the advantages of participating in running. Many runners choose to run in the evening or early hours in the morning where the sun has not risen or at the end of day where after the sun is set. When jogging or running or in low light or in the darkness the visibility of the runner is substantially diminished. Runners typically jog on the sidewalk or along a roadway for convenient purposes. However, jogging along a roadway or even on the sidewalk can present dangers when the runner is running at night. The reduced visibility of nighttime hours increases the risk of an accident involving a runner and a motor vehicle. In order to reduce these risks various devices have been developed to increase the visibility of the runner while participating in their periodic activity. Such devices include reflective vests, caps and reflective indicators on an individual&#39;s running shoes. Although these may be suitable because of the high risk and dire consequences if an accident should occur it is always advisable to have other alternative methods of illumination and detection while running during nighttime hours. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an activity garment for use in darkness comprising: a shirt; a means for reflective visibility over at least one side of the shirt; a pair of pants, where the pair of pants are worn in conjunction with the shirt; and a means for reflective visibility extending over the length of each respective leg of the pair of pants. The means for reflective visibility over at least one side of the shirt may include a series of reflective strips, where the series of reflective strips include a grouping over a chest area of the shirt and a grouping over an abdominal area. The means for reflective visibility extending over the length of each respective leg of the pair of pants may include reflective strips along a first side of each pants leg. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  depicts an activity garment in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present invention relates to an activity garment that an individual may wear while running or jogging. The activity garment in accordance with the present invention includes a shirt and pants that have reflective strips positioned on the garment to increase the visibility of the user. In reference to  FIG. 1 , an activity garment  100  in accordance with the present invention is depicted. As shown, the activity garment  100  includes a shirt  20  and a pair of pants  30 . The shirt  20  includes a series of reflective strips that are positioned along the front of the shirt for visibility purposes. The series of reflective strips provide a means for reflective visibility during darkness. As shown in  FIG. 1 , chest reflective strips  21  are shown that are placed along the chest area of the shirt  20 . Below the chest strips  21  include a series of abdominal reflective strips  23 . Just one side of the shirt  20  is shown in  FIG. 1 . However it is contemplated that similar reflective strips may be placed along the back of the shirt  21  where the reflective strips are placed in the upper back area and the lower back area to provide increased visibility for the user. 
     A pair of pants  30  are also shown in  FIG. 1 . The pants  30  include a right pants leg  34   a  and a left pants leg  34   b.  Along the length of each pants leg  34   a,    34   b  is a series of reflective strips as shown in  FIG. 1 . Reflective strips  32   a  are placed along the right pants leg  34   a  and a similar stripping configuration is shown on the left pants leg  34   b.  Although not shown in  FIG. 1  the reflective strips may extend along the length of the top portion of each pants leg, however these reflective strips may extend downwardly even to the hem of the pants  30 . 
     This particular system in accordance with the present invention provides increased reflective awareness for any user alerting any driver along a road of the user&#39;s position and presence. The placement of the reflective strips is indicative to the overall body shape of an individual. This configuration helps the driver to recognize that someone is jogging along the side of the road or on the sidewalk. This configuration is aligned to provide a quicker recognition so that a passing vehicle proceeds with care when passing the runner. The instant invention has been shown and described in what it considers to be the most practical and preferred embodiments. It is recognized, however, that departures may be made there from within the scope of the invention and that obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.