Patent ID: 8782813

Claim:
An outerwear suspension system, comprising: a garment of outerwear having: an upper portion, a lower portion, a waist portion between the upper and lower portions, a front opening defined by right and left opening edges, a right front panel horizontally bordered by the right opening edge, a left front panel horizontally bordered by the left opening edge, a rear portion disposed between the right and left front panels, a left armhole in the upper portion and between the left front panel and the rear portion, a right armhole in the upper portion between the right front panel and the rear portion, an interior surface extending from the right opening edge, across the right front panel, rear portion and left front panel, and to the left opening edge, and an exterior surface extending from the right opening edge, across the right front panel, rear portion and left front panel, and to the left opening edge, wherein: the right and left front panels are separable by the front opening, the interior and exterior surfaces face away from each other and meet at the left opening edge and at the right opening edge, and the upper portion is configured to engage a user's shoulders while the outerwear is worn by the user in a first configuration; a suspension element consisting of left and right straps, the left strap coupled to the interior surface of the left front panel at a left attachment location located in the waist portion and spaced away from the left opening edge, and the right strap coupled to the interior surface of the right front panel at a right attachment location located in the waist portion and spaced away from the right opening edge; a left retaining member, located on the interior surface of the left front panel and spaced away from the left attachment location, wherein the left retaining member is complementary to a left coupling component disposed on a free end of the left strap; and a right retaining member, located on the interior surface of the right front panel and spaced away from the right attachment location, wherein the right retaining member is complementary to a right coupling component disposed on a free end of the right strap; wherein: the left coupling component and the right coupling component are further complementary to each other, and while the outerwear is worn by the user in a second configuration in which the upper portion is disengaged from the user's shoulders, the upper portion hangs downwardly from the suspension element.