Abstract:
A slipper having a sole and a foot covering that transforms into a toy play character by coupling the sole to the foot covering. The toy character may take the form of an animal, a human figure, or an imaginary, or abstract character, or other object. The transforming slipper toy may be made of plush material and having a head and torso extending upward from the foot covering. Conveniently, the character can be dressable where the toy clothing item can be coupled to the character using Velcro.RTM., button or snap fasteners, hooks, a zipper.RTM. or string. The sole may also have a pocket for receiving a heel portion of the sole whereby the sole and the foot covering are united.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/712,464, filed Aug. 30, 2005, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of Invention  
         [0003]     This invention relates generally to plush toys and plush clothing items such as plush slippers and, more particularly, to dressable plush slippers.  
         [0004]     2. Background Art  
         [0005]     Novelty slippers may take on the shape or part of the shape of an animal or other character. These slippers may bear the face along with floppy ears or other features of the character. Typically novelty shoes of this category include the main body of the slipper where the foot of the wearer is inserted and on the top portion of the toe portion of the slipper, the head portion of a plush toy teddy-bear character or other character is integrally stitched thereon. These type of novelty slippers can be designed for use as an actual house-slipper for a child or an adult. Such a novelty slipper can also be designed to be placed on the foot portion of a plush toy character so that the owner of the toy can dress the toy character. Alternatively the slipper may take the body shape of the entire character and the foot of the wearer is inserted into that character body. Typically, the wearer&#39;s foot will be inserted into the back of the character&#39;s body.  
         [0006]     However, none of these known slippers allows the owner of the slipper to vary the dress or costume of the integral character, particularly in recognition of certain special events such as the celebration of a birth date or holiday or to express various themes or display slogans or other verbiage, thereby changing the outward appearance of character for the given occasion or event or theme.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
       [0007]     In accordance with this invention, there is provided a dressable slipper toy having a sole and a foot covering and integral character. The slipper has coupling means for uniting a sole portion of the slipper with the foot covering portion of the slipper where the foot covering portion can have an opening so that a can foot access the interior cavity of the slipper that can be closed like a low top shoe or a high top boot/bootie covering the ankle of the wearer. The foot covering can also have the back portion of the foot covering open with the heel portion of the sole fully exposed to allow the foot of the wearer to easily slide into the slipper. On the top portion of the toe portion of the foot covering, a torso and head portion of a toy character can be integrally connected thereto and the torso portion can project upward above the foot covering and the torso portion of the toy character can further include articulated appendages extending from the torso of the toy character.  
         [0008]     The torso and head portion of the toy character can be designed to allow the owner to remove and change the toy clothing of character such that the slipper is a dressable slipper or a slipper with an integral dressable character. The articulated appendages and toy clothing of the toy character can be the designed such that the clothing has a releasable back seam and openings operable for inserting the appendages there through. The back seam of the toy clothing can be for example a releasable Velcro seam such that the back of the toy clothing can be fully opened and the clothing can then be draped about the toy character, inserting the appendages through the openings of the toy clothing, then reattaching the releasable seam. This type of replaceable doll clothing can be readily understood by one skilled in the art area. The Velcro releasable seam can be any other releasable seam such as a zipper and still remain within the scope of the invention.  
         [0009]     The head portion of the toy character can also be designed with various appendages such as floppy ears or hair such that toy head covering items can be removable replaced such as hats or ribbons. For example, hats or caps can have openings for inserting the appendages extending from the head there through. For example, ribbons could also be attached to the appendages of the head.  
         [0010]     One embodiment of the invention is a slipper having a sole and a foot covering upper portion where a toy play character head and torso extends upward from the foot covering. The toy character may take the form of an animal, a human figure, or an imaginary, or abstract character, or other object. The slipper may be made of plush material or other appropriate soft pliable material. The torso can have articulated appendages extending there from. This novelty slipper invention has the advantage of allowing the owner to dress their slipper or the slipper for a plush doll for a given occasion or event.  
         [0011]     These and other advantageous features of the present invention will be in part apparent and in part pointed out herein below.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]     For a better understanding of the present invention, reference may be made to the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a front-side perspective view of a dressable slipper;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a front perspective view of a dressable slipper;  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a side perspective view of a dressable slipper;  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a top view of a dressable slipper;  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a rear perspective view of a dressable slipper;  
         [0018]      FIG. 6  is a rear perspective view of a dressable slipper without an ankle covering portion;  
         [0019]      FIG. 7  is a bottom view of a dressable slipper;and 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION  
       [0020]     According to the embodiment(s) of the present invention, various views are illustrated in  FIG. 1-16  and like reference numerals are being used consistently throughout to refer to like and corresponding parts of the invention for all of the various views and figures of the drawing. Also, please note that the first digit(s) of the reference number for a given item or part of the invention should correspond to the Fig. number in which the item or part is first identified.  
         [0021]     One embodiment of the present invention comprising a slipper and an integral dressable torso portion of a character teaches a novel invention for a novelty house slipper that is variably dressable in recognition of events of interest and to display various themes. The dressable slipper comprising: a sole portion; a foot covering portion attached to the sole portion defining a cavity for receiving a wearer&#39;s foot where the foot covering portion has an opening for inserting a wearer&#39;s foot there through and into the cavity; a character having a head and torso integrally attached to the foot covering portion extending upward from a toe portion of the foot covering and where said torso having articulate appendages extending from said torso and articulately attached to said torso; and a toy clothing item having a releasable back seam and openings sufficiently sized to receive the appendages there through, where said clothing item is draped and attached about the torso by detaching the releasable seam, inserting the appendages through the openings, draping the clothing item about the torso from front to rear and reattaching the releasable seam along the rear of the torso.  
         [0022]     The details of the invention and various embodiments can be better understood by referring to the figures of the drawing. Referring to  FIG. 1 , a front side perspective view is shown of a dressable slipper. The dressable slipper  100  is shown having a sole portion  102  and an upper foot covering shell portion  104  attached to the sole portion  102  thereby defining a inner cavity (not shown) for covering the foot of a wearer. The foot covering portion  104  further comprises a rear foot covering portion  106  and a front foot covering portion  108  and further an ankle covering portion  107  and a toe portion  110 . The embodiment shown defines a boot-like for booty-like covering of the foot and ankle portion of the wearer thereby forming a slipper. Alternative configurations of the slipper can be possible. For example, the front portion  108  and the toe portion  110  can have an opening such that the slipper becomes an open toe slipper. Further, the rear portion of the slipper  106  can be removed such that the slipper is an open heal slipper. Further, the ankle covering portion  107  could be removed as shown in  FIG. 7  such that it forms a typical shoe covering rather than a boot covering as shown in  FIG. 1 . The dressable slipper  100  is further shown with a dressable character  112  integrally attached to the foot covering portion  104  of the slipper. The dressable character  112  shown is that of a teddy bear, however, any other dressable toy character could be utilized. The dressable toy character  112  is shown having a torso portion  114  and further having a head portion  116 . The head and torso portions of the toy character extend upward from the toe portion  110  of the foot covering. The torso further has appendages  118  and  120  extending therefrom. The front portion  108  of the slipper can further have additional appendages extending therefrom such as that representative of a foot or leg.  
         [0023]     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a front perspective view of the dressable slipper  100  is shown. The front perspective view in  FIG. 2  further reveals the front portion  108  of the foot covering  104 . As indicated above, the front portion  108  can further have additional frontal appendages extending therefrom such as that representative of legs or feet. The torso portion  114  of the toy character  112  is shown extending upward from the toe portion  110  of the foot covering. The torso portion  114  further has articulating appendages  118  and  120  extending outwardly from the torso portion  114 . The appendages  118  and  120  as shown in  FIG. 2  are representative of arms for the toy character. However, the appendages can be any other outwardly extending appendages such as wings. The appendages  118  and  120  are articulately attached as shown by the articulating joints  202  and  200 . The toy character  112  is shown with an article of clothing  204  draped thereabout. The article of clothing  204  as shown in  FIG. 2  is that of a simple t-shirt. However, the article of clothing  204  could be any other article of clothing that would typically be draped about the torso of a character such as that of a dress or jacket. The article of clothing can also have some decorative indicia recognizing a particular occasion or event. The article of clothing  204  is shown with openings  206  and  208 . The article of clothing is draped about the toy character  112  by inserting the appendages  118  and  120  through the openings  208  and  206  respectively of the article of clothing  204 . The article of clothing  204  can be draped from front to rear or from the rear to the front.  
         [0024]     Referring to  FIG. 3 , a side perspective view of the dressable slipper  100  is shown. The side perspective view further reveals the ankle covering portion  107  and opening  300  for inserting wearer&#39;s foot there through. The dressable slipper and the opening  300  can be sufficiently sized to accommodate the foot of the wearer. As indicated above, this dressable slipper can be sufficiently sized for a child or adult human wearer. Further, the dressable slipper  100  can be sufficiently sized and designed for a toy character. For example, the dressable slipper can be sized and designed to be inserted about the foot of a toy character such as a teddy bear.  
         [0025]     Referring to  FIG. 4 , a top view of the dressable slipper  100  is shown. The top view further reveals the opening  300  for insertion of the wearer&#39;s foot. As indicated above, the rear portion  106  and the ankle covering portion  107  of the foot covering can be removed such that the slipper is an open heel slipper. Further, the top view reveals additional appendages  400  and  402  extending from the head portion  116  of the toy character. As indicated above, the appendages  400  and  402  can be utilized to attach various head gear clothing such as a cap or ribbon. Other appendages extending from the head portion  116  can also be accommodated such as hair or horns.  
         [0026]     Referring to  FIG. 5 , a rear perspective view of the dressable slipper  100  is shown. The rear perspective view of  FIG. 5  further reveals the ankle covering portion  107  and rear portion  106  of the foot covering portion  104 . The rear perspective view of  FIG. 5  also reveals the releasable seam  500  and the rear of the article of clothing  204 . The releasable seam can be a Velcro seam or other releasable seam such as a zipper. As shown, the article of clothing  204  is straight from front to rear about the toy character such that the article of clothing  204  is draped about the torso of the toy character by inserting the appendages  118  and  120  through the openings  206  and  208  and draping the article of clothing about the rear and re-attaching the releasable seam  500 .  FIG. 7  further reveals the complete releasable seam  500  as well as showing an alternative foot covering having an opening  700  that does not comprise the ankle covering portion  107 .  FIG. 6  reveals the bottom of the sole portion of the dressable slipper.  
         [0027]     The various dressable slipper examples shown above illustrate a novel invention for a novelty slipper for a human wearer or for use with a toy doll or toy character such as a teddy bear. A user of the present invention may choose any of the above dressable slipper embodiment, or an equivalent thereof, depending upon the desired application. In this regard, it is recognized that various forms of the subject dressable slipper invention could be utilized without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.  
         [0028]     As is evident from the foregoing description, certain aspects of the present invention are not limited by the particular details of the examples illustrated herein, and it is therefore contemplated that other modifications and applications, or equivalents thereof, will occur to those skilled in the art. It is accordingly intended that the claims shall cover all such modifications and applications that do not depart from the sprit and scope of the present invention.  
         [0029]     Other aspects, objects and advantages of the present invention can be obtained from a study of the drawings, the disclosure and the appended claims.