Patent ID: 7735152

Claim:
Apparatus, comprising: a garment sized to be worn by a human, the garment having a front and back side to face one another defining a right arm space and a left arm space between them, wherein the front and back side are coupled at a right line of weakness and a left line of weakness, with the right arm space extending away from the right line of weakness to a right portion of a releasably coupled belt of the garment, with the front and back side separated from one another from the right line of weakness to the right portion of the releasably coupled belt, and the left arm space extending away from a left line of weakness to a left portion of the releasably coupled belt of the garment, with the front and back side separated from one another from the left line of weakness to the left portion of the releasably coupled belt, the garment adapted to separate along the line of weakness when the front side is pulled from the back side with a sufficient force, the front side including a left and right front portion releasably joined at a front seam and sized to extend at least from a waist of the human to the shoulder of the human to partially define a neck opening, with the front seam extending from a bottom of the garment to the neck opening; at least one electroluminescent (EL) lighting element positioned on the front portion of each of the left and right front side of the garment; and at least one EL circuit that connects the EL lighting elements and includes at least one separable portion that can be pulled apart when the front side is pulled from the back side with the sufficient force, the separable portion of the EL circuit aligned proximate to the line of weakness, wherein the line of weakness and the separable portion of the EL circuit provide tear away functionality for at least a portion of the garment.