Abstract:
Articles of clothing which include outwear combined with an intermediate garment are provided. Such articles include a jacket combined with a vest, a coat or overgarment combined with a jacket, or a coat or overgarment combined with a vest. Such articles of clothing can include an outwear and an intermediate garment, wherein said outwear and said intermediate garment comprise respective shoulders, wherein said outwear and said intermediate garment are joined at said shoulders by connecting members.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to and benefit of Italian Patent Application No. MI2012A001773 filed Oct. 19, 2012, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to combined clothing items, in particular outwear that is combined with an intermediate garment. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Garments such as those described herein above are quite common in clothing, especially in men&#39;s clothing. In particular, combining a jacket with a vest is typical of men&#39;s clothing of a classic type, especially during cool or cold weather. However, even in cool or cold weather it is sometimes necessary or desirable to rest the jacket on the shoulders, rather than wearing it in a conventional fashion. In so doing, the jacket can easily drop from the shoulders, unless the movement of the jacket wearer is limited to prevent this. 
         [0004]    The same problem exists when wearing an overgarment on a jacket. In such cases, it is not infrequent that the need arises simply to rest the overgarment on the shoulders, again creating a risk of it dropping to the ground. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The present invention provides comfortable and easy-to-use systems that avoid the above-mentioned drawbacks. 
         [0006]    This is achieved by systems and items of clothing as set forth in the annexed claims. 
         [0007]    Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the description of exemplary embodiments, given herein below by way of indicative, non-limiting examples, with reference to the following Figures. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         [0008]      FIG. 1A  represents a front view of a combined clothing item; 
           [0009]      FIG. 1B  represents a rear view of the item of clothing of  FIG. 1A ; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2A  represents a front view of an item of clothing worn in an informal manner; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2B  represents a rear view of the item of clothing of  FIG. 2A ; and 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  represents an exploded view showing details of the item of clothing of  FIG. 2A . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    Clothing items according to the present invention include combined garments comprising outwear and an intermediate garment. The term “outwear” relates to garments provided with shoulders, such as jackets, coats, and other overgarments, etc. 
         [0014]    Typical examples of clothing items according to the invention are a jacket combined with a vest, a coat or overgarment combined with a jacket, a coat, overgarment or outwear combined with a vest, a raincoat combined with a vest, a peacoat combined with a vest and other such combinations. 
         [0015]    In the following description, with reference to the annexed Figures, a jacket combined with a vest will be described by way of exemplary, non-limiting example. 
         [0016]    Items of clothing of the invention, generally indicated with the numeral  1 , may include a jacket  2  and a vest  3 . 
         [0017]    The jacket  2  may include two front flaps  4 ,  4 ′, two rear flaps  5 ,  5 ′ and two sleeves  6 ,  6 ′. 
         [0018]    The rear flaps  5 ,  5 ′ may be joined by a seam that ends at the lower edge, or slightly thereabove. 
         [0019]    Each of the front flaps  4 ,  4 ′ may include a cuff  7 ,  7 ′, pockets  8 ,  8 ′, buttons  9  and respective loops  10 . The two cuffs  7 ,  7 ′ may be joined by a collar  11 . 
         [0020]    The front  4 ,  4 ′ and rear  5 ,  5 ′ flaps may be joined at the respective shoulders  12 ,  12 ′. 
         [0021]    The vest  3  may include, in turn, two front flaps  13 ,  13 ′, joined at the shoulders  14 ,  14 ′ to a rear flap  15 . 
         [0022]    The outwear and the intermediate garment, specifically in this case a jacket and a vest, may be joined at respective shoulders  12 ,  12 ′ and  14 ,  14 ′ by a connecting member  16 , as shown in detail in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0023]    In certain embodiments, the connecting member  16  may be a fabric flap of a substantially rectangular shape, including a first joining portion  16   a  for the attachment to the shoulder  12 ,  12 ′ of the outwear, a second joining portion  16   b  for the attachment to the shoulder  14 ,  14 ′ of the intermediate garment, specifically in this case the vest, and a central portion  16   c  providing clearance between the two garments. 
         [0024]    In certain embodiments, the first joining portion  16   a  of the connecting member  16  may be secured between the folded edges  17   a ,  18   a  of the covers  17 ,  18 , respectively, of each front flap  4 ,  4 ′ and of each rear flap  5 ,  5 ′ of the outwear  2 . Vice versa, the second joining portion  16   b  may be secured between the folded edges  13   a ,  19   a , respectively, of each front flap  13 ,  13 ′ and of the cover  19  of the rear flap  15  of the intermediate garment  3 , such as a vest. 
         [0025]    The connecting member  16  may be secured to the outwear  2  and to the intermediate garment  3 , for example by seams. 
         [0026]    In a different embodiment, joining may be carried out using a hook-and-loop fastener (like VELCRO), so as to make the coupling between the two garments reversible. In other embodiments, the joining portions  16   a ,  16   b  may include one or more buttons couplable with inner loops to form a connection within the folded edges  17   a ,  18   a ,  13   a , and  19   a  of the two garments  2 ,  3 . 
         [0027]    In certain embodiments, the joining portions  16   a ,  16   b  and the folded edges  17   a ,  18   a  and  13   a ,  19   a  may include snap-type buttons instead of conventional buttons and loops. 
         [0028]    In other embodiments, the joining portions  16   a ,  16   b  and the folded edges  17   a ,  18   a  and  13   a ,  19   a  may be connected using a zipper. 
         [0029]    The shape of the connecting member  16  may be rectangular, but also be any shape that allows coupling of two garments  2 ,  3  as described above. Furthermore, it is not necessary that the connecting member  16  extends the entire length of the shoulders  12 ,  12 ′ and  14 ,  14 ′, it being sufficient that only a portion thereof is stably joined. 
         [0030]    The connecting member  16  may be made of various materials, such as material employed for the cover or the fabric of the article of clothing. In certain embodiments, it may be preferable to use a fabric having low thickness. 
         [0031]    From what has been described above, it is apparent that combined items of clothing according to the invention may be easily worn in a classical manner, that is, by sliding one&#39;s arms into the armhole of the intermediate garment, such as a vest, and into the sleeves  6 ,  6 ′ of the outwear; or, alternatively, it may be worn in an informal manner by sliding one&#39;s arms into the armhole of the vest, but leaving the outwear  2  resting on the shoulders. In this case, the connecting member  16  will prevent the garment from slipping from the wearer&#39;s shoulders. 
         [0032]    It shall be apparent that particular embodiments of the present invention have been described, to which those skilled in the art, based on the present description, will be able to make modifications for adaptation to particular applications, without departing from the scope of the present invention.