Patent Description:
Fasteners such as hook fittings and eye fittings are attached to end portions of side belts of a brassiere by sewing or adhesion. Meanwhile, as for recent brassieres, non-sewn type brassieres that are hardly rugged, fit well to the skin, and have a good fit tend to be preferred (for example, non-sewn brassiere of <CIT>).

For this reason, the fasteners such as hook fittings and eye fittings are also required to have a good fit without steps of seams. Therefore, as in Patent Literature <NUM> (<CIT>), a brassiere has been proposed in which fasteners such as hook tapes and eye tapes are attached to end portions of side belts by adhesion instead of sewing, and such a brassiere has already been put into practical use.

From <CIT>, a clothing connector with tensile components is known, where a soft roughness insulating covering layer is attached to one side and then moved to the other side in an inside-out process which provides a soft finish. This structure and process enables quick application of a softening, but attachment and detachment operations of the fittings are not easy.

<CIT> shows a brassiere according to the preamble of claim <NUM>.

Since a wearer performs operations of attaching and detaching fasteners at end portions of side belts with both hands on the back side, the operations are not always easy if movable ranges of arms are small, although there are individual differences. In addition, there is a problem that, since the operations rely only on the feeling of fingers, if a surface is smooth as in a non-sewn brassiere, positions of the fasteners are difficult to find, hands may slip, and it may take time to perform the operations of attaching and detaching the fasteners.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a fixing structure for side belt fasteners in which positions of fasteners at end portions of side belts are easy to find by touch, so that attachment and detachment operations are facilitated.

Tthe above problems are solved with a brassiere according to claim <NUM>. According to the invention, a fixing structure for side belt fasteners is provided, wherein the side belt fasteners of the brassiere with a hook fitting and an eye fitting sewn on tape-shaped interlinings are attached between a front fabric and a back fabric of the brassiere via adhesive layers, outer edges of the interlinings are set back inward with a predetermined length from outer edges of the front fabric and the back fabric, and the back fabric covering the interlinings is limited to one end portion sides of the interlinings.

In the fixing structure for side belt fasteners of the present invention, the outer edges of the interlinings of the fasteners are set back inward with a predetermined length from the outer edges of the front fabric and the back fabric, and the back fabric covering the interlinings is limited to one end portions of the interlinings, and thus positions of the fasteners are easy to find by touch, and operations of attaching and detaching the fasteners can be facilitated.

A fixing structure for fasteners and a brassiere <NUM> having the fixing structure according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. <FIG> are a front view and a back view of the brassiere <NUM>.

A pair of right and left cup portions <NUM> of the brassiere <NUM> are connected to each other by a connecting portion <NUM> at the center of the brassiere <NUM>. In the illustrated example, the cup portions <NUM> are illustrated as full cups, but the cup portions <NUM> may each have the size that covers at least half or more of a bust from a bottom of the bust, and may also be half cups or two-thirds cups.

Sides of the cup portions <NUM> opposite to the connecting portion <NUM> are connected to side belts <NUM>. An eye tape <NUM> is attached to an end portion of one side belt <NUM>, and a hook tape <NUM> is attached to an end portion of the other side belt <NUM>.

The eye tape <NUM> and the hook tape <NUM> are connected on a back side when the brassiere <NUM> is worn. Instead of the eye tape <NUM> and the hook tape <NUM>, for example, snaps, hook-and-loop fasteners, strings, buttons and button holes, or the like can also be used.

Both ends of straps <NUM> to be hung on shoulders are connected to upper edges near the end portions of the side belts <NUM> and upper edges of the cup portions <NUM>. Moving rings 7a and fixed rings 7b are attached to end portions of the straps <NUM> on sides of the cup portions <NUM> so that the length of the straps <NUM> can be adjusted.

The fixed rings 7b are attached to the upper edges of the cup portions <NUM> by loop-shaped strap tabs <NUM>. To form each of these strap tabs <NUM>, a strip-shaped fabric is folded in half so as to wrap and hold a horizontal bar of the fixed ring 7b and is formed in a loop shape, and base end portions of the two layers are welded with resin dots between a front fabric 10a and a back fabric 10b.

The front fabric 10a and the back fabric 10b, which have elasticity and have almost the same shape, are attached to each other to be integrated by welding with the resin dots between the both fabrics, so that the brassiere <NUM> is formed. A type of fabric is not particularly limited, but for example, a two-way tricot fabric having elasticity in both vertical and horizontal directions can be used.

Adhesion positions of the resin dots may be random or may be regularly arranged vertically and horizontally in a matrix form. As materials of the resin dots, for example, polyurethane hot melt resin, polyester hot melt resin, EVA hot melt resin, polyolefin hot melt resin, styrene elastomer, moisture curable urethane hot melt resin, and reaction hot melt resin can be used.

The diameter of each of the resin dots can be, for example, about <NUM>. The adhesion density of the resin dots can be, for example, <NUM> to <NUM> dots/<NUM>, and an occupied area ratio of the resin dots to the fabric can be, for example, <NUM>%.

The cup portions <NUM> are each shaped into a bowl shape by molding, and pad pockets <NUM> are formed inside the cup portions <NUM> by the back fabric 10b. Each of the pad pockets <NUM> is for accommodating a bowl-shaped pad inside through a pad insertion port C, and has a substantially flat bag shape as a whole.

Next, details of the eye tape <NUM> and the hook tape <NUM> will be further described with reference to <FIG>. The eye tape <NUM> attached to the end portion of one side belt <NUM> includes an interlining 4a and eye fittings 4b sewn on the interlining 4a, as illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG>.

The interlining 4a uses a fabric with low elongation. Cover cloths 4d are attached to both upper and lower sides of the interlining 4a via adhesive layers to hide seams.

As illustrated in <FIG>, a raised fabric 4e may be further attached to the cover cloth 4d on the lower side in order to soften the contact with the skin. In the illustrated example, the eye fittings 4b are arranged in two rows and three stages so that the length of the side belts <NUM> can be adjusted, but it goes without saying that each of the number of rows and the number of stages is any number.

As illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG>, a urethane elastomer film 4c is adhered to a surface of the eye tape <NUM> on a side where the eye tape <NUM> is attached to the front fabric 10a. Furthermore, heads of the eye fittings 4b are exposed from slits 3a formed in the front fabric 10a as illustrated in <FIG>, and then the eye tape <NUM> is heat-pressed to be welded to a back surface of the front fabric 10a by resin dots D and the urethane elastomer film 4c.

After this welding, one end portion of the eye tape <NUM> is covered with the back fabric 10b as illustrated in <FIG> and is welded to the back fabric 10b. In most of conventional eye tapes, the entire back surface is covered with the back fabric 10b, but in the present invention, most of the back surface is exposed except for one end portion side of the eye tape <NUM>. Similarly, most of a surface of the hook tape <NUM>, which will be described later, is exposed except for one end portion side.

The reason why most of the tapes <NUM> and <NUM> are exposed without being covered with the back fabric 10b in this way is as follows. That is, since a wearer uses both hands on the back side to attach and detach the eye tape <NUM> and the hook tape <NUM>, attachment and detachment are not always easy if movable ranges of arms are small, although there are individual differences.

Furthermore, if the tapes <NUM> and <NUM> are completely covered with the back fabric 10b as in a conventional case, positions of the tapes <NUM> and <NUM> are more difficult to find in a case of a non-sewn brassiere with a smooth surface because attachment and detachment operations rely only on the feeling of fingers. For this reason, and partly because tape parts are slippery, it takes time to perform the operations of attaching and detaching the tapes <NUM> and <NUM> in some cases.

Therefore, the present invention positively exposes most of the tapes <NUM> and <NUM>, so that the positions of the tapes <NUM> and <NUM> can be clearly found by a touch with the fingers. However, since the back surface of the eye tape <NUM> comes into direct contact with the skin, in order to soften the contact of the eye fittings 4b with the skin, it is desirable to attach the raised fabric 4e to an exposed surface of the eye tape <NUM>, as illustrated in <FIG>, to suppress the irritation to the skin, in addition to covering the end portion of the eye tape <NUM> on a side of the cup portion <NUM> with the back fabric 10b. Since the back fabric 10b is elastic and thin (about <NUM>), there is almost no step at a part covering the end portion of the eye tape <NUM>, and a good texture is maintained.

The hook tape <NUM> attached to the end portion of the other side belt <NUM> includes an interlining 5a and a pair of hook fittings 5b sewn on the interlining 5a, as illustrated in <FIG>, and <FIG>. The interlining 5a also uses a fabric with low elongation. Cover cloths 5d are attached to both upper and lower sides of the interlining 5a via adhesive layers to hide seams.

As illustrated in <FIG>, a raised fabric 5e may be further attached to the cover cloth 5d on the lower side in order to improve the feeling of touch. As illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG>, a urethane elastomer film 5c is adhered to the surface of the hook tape <NUM> on a side where the hook tape <NUM> is attached to the front fabric 10a. In addition, the hook tape <NUM> is heat-pressed to be welded to the back surface of the front fabric 10a by the resin dots D and the urethane elastomer film 5c.

Since the hook tape <NUM> is overlapped on the end portion of the side belt <NUM> on the opposite side, the hook tape <NUM> does not come into direct contact with the skin. However, if the end portion of the hook tape <NUM> on a side of the cup portion <NUM> is exposed, such an exposure causes the hook tape <NUM> to tend to come off, and is not preferable in terms of appearance. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated in <FIG>, the end portion of the hook tape <NUM> on the side of the cup portion <NUM> is also covered with the back fabric 10b up to the vicinity of the hook fittings 5b.

Outer edges of the eye tape <NUM> and the hook tape <NUM> are set back (d) about <NUM> to <NUM> inward from outer edges of the front fabric 10a. If the outer edges of the tapes <NUM> and <NUM> are aligned with the outer edges of the front fabric 10a without the setback d, the outer edges of the tapes <NUM> and <NUM> tend to irritate the skin, resulting in a poor texture with a tingling feeling or the like.

As described above, in the fixing structure for fasteners according to the embodiment of the present invention, the back fabric 10b covering the tapes <NUM> and <NUM> is limited to one end portion sides of the tapes <NUM> and <NUM>, and the outer edges of the tapes <NUM> and <NUM> exposed to the outside from the end portions of the back fabric 10b are set back inward with a predetermined length from the outer edges of the front fabric 10a and the back fabric 10b. Therefore, the positions of the eye tape <NUM> and the hook tape <NUM> are easy to find by touch, and the wearer can easily perform the attachment and detachment operations with both hands on the back side.

Furthermore, since the outer edges of the tapes <NUM> and <NUM> are set back and the outer edges of the tapes do not easily touch the skin, a good texture without a tingling feeling can be obtained. Therefore, it is possible to provide a fastener fixing structure particularly suitable for a non-sewn type brassiere having a good fit.

Claim 1:
Brassiere (<NUM>) with side belt fasteners and a fixing structure for the side belt fasteners, wherein side belt fasteners are provided with a hook fitting (5b) and an eye fitting (4b) sewn on tape-shaped interlinings (4a, 5a) are attached between a front fabric (10a) and a back fabric (10b) of the brassiere (<NUM>) via adhesive layers,
characterized in that
outer edges of the interlinings are set back inward with a predetermined length from outer edges of the front fabric (10a) and the back fabric (10b), and the back fabric (10b) covering the interlinings (4a, 5a) is limited to one end portion sides of the interlinings.