Hidden Sleeve Zipper for Tailored Clothing

Abstract

The invention comprises a non-outerwear garment having at least one sewn seam on a sleeve of the garment and at least one said sleeve has an upper arm portion, a lower arm portion, and a cuff portion. A zipper extends from at least the upper arm portion through the lower arm portion and comprises a plurality of teeth. The plurality of teeth / coils has an open and a closed configuration, and in an at least partially closed configuration, a respective closed portion of the zipper or a fully closed zipper is substantially indistinguishable from the at least one seam.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]Garments which have sleeves to cover the arms of a wearer have, of course, been known and used for thousands of years. However, the sleeves of such garments, while providing dignity to the wearer and protection from the elements, are often difficult to move away from the arm when desired. It is often not practical, socially acceptable, or desirable for a wearer to switch to a short-sleeved or other garment when the wearer wants to remove the garment from covering his arm.[0002]Prior art garments, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,999 to Lurry disclose modular clothes, whereby attachment means which are transverse to the length of an arm are provided to disconnect sleeve fabric from the rest of the garment. Other garments, such as are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,089 to Nesse, and sweaters known in the art are designed as bulky and heavy outerwear garments. The Nesse device, for example, is designed to change from a long sleeve to a no sleeve ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a non-outerwear garment, such as a shirt, which is as similar as possible, at least in outward appearance, to long sleeve garments commonly worn, while having the ability to easily access the naked flesh of the arm of the wearer.

Problems solved by technology

However, the sleeves of such garments, while providing dignity to the wearer and protection from the elements, are often difficult to move away from the arm when desired.

It is often not practical, socially acceptable, or desirable for a wearer to switch to a short-sleeved or other garment when the wearer wants to remove the garment from covering his arm.

Many of these prior art garments further have visible zippers which are not suited or acceptable for wear in a professional setting.

However, both the zipper 20 and tab 22 are visible at all times. Such a garment is not practical for professional use or many social settings.

Outerwear garments, such as this sweater, provide little gain to a user needing quick access to the arm while being able to quickly reconfigure or assemble their garment, because such garments are designed to be worn over other garments which do not have such removable features.

Images