Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
Garment with anatomical belt for the lower body
The invention relates to an underwear type garment for the lower part
of the body, comprising an anatomical belt.
The invention applies to any article of clothing to be worn preferably
next to the skin of the wearer and covering the lower part of the body.
By way of example, the garment may be a panty, Capri pants, stirrup
pants, etc.
However, the invention applies more particularly to tights.
Clothing of the tights type is used in particular to provide warmth, for
aesthetic reasons or for the comfort of the wearer.
This type of garment generally comprises an upper portion forming
an elastic belt, an intermediate portion forming the seat and a lower portion
forming a first leg and a second leg.
The limited number of available garment sizes does not allow the
garment to adapt to the great variety of the users morphologies, so that
wearing
this garment is sometimes uncomfortable.
Indeed, a pair of tights that is too large risks slipping down and a pair
of tights that is too small is uncomfortable.
In order to improve the retention of a garment, EP-A-1031292
discloses a garment having an elastic belt which is comprised of a plurality
of
sections having different elasticities.
Although this type of garment improves retention around the waist of
the wearer, it still presents a risk of slipping or compressing the wearer
depending on the morphology of this person.
The present invention aims, in particular, to solve these drawbacks
by providing a garment offering retention and comfort by adapting to the
morphology of the wearer.
To this end, the invention relates to a garment for the lower part of
the body, of the type comprising at least an upper portion forming a belt and
a
portion forming the seat, characterized in that the belt has a stepped annular
curvilinear shape that extends around a central axis and which comprises at
least one first side portion and a second side portion that are axially upper,
which
are each designed to fit above the associated hip of the wearer, and an
axially
lower frontal portion which is designed to extend generally under the abdomen
of the wearer.
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Thus, the belt has an anatomical form which is naturally positioned
above the hips of the wearer to help hold the tights.
In addition, the frontal portion of the belt dips downwards to position
itself naturally under the abdomen of the wearer to avoid slipping downwards
and to improve the comfort of the wearer.
According to another feature, the portions of the belt have different
elasticity constants so that the side portions of the belt exert a radial
compressive
force on the wearer that is lower than the compressive force exerted by the
frontal portion of the belt.
This feature allows the belt, inter alia, to adapt to different
morphologies.
Similarly, the belt comprises a rear portion having an elasticity
constant designed to exert a radial compressive force on the wearer which is
greater than the compressive force exerted by said side portions.
In another aspect, the seat comprises a dorsal portion for the
buttocks and a frontal portion, the dorsal portion being designed to exert a
radial
compressive force on the wearer that is lower than the compressive force
exerted
by said frontal portion.
This feature allows favoring comfort and allows the garment to adapt
to the morphology of the wearer.
In addition, the garment comprises a lower portion forming a first leg
and a second leg which are connected on the seat, and the seat comprises a
first supporting band and a second supporting band which are axially
interposed
between the portion forming the seat and the first leg and the second leg
respectively, and which are designed to be arranged under the buttocks of the
wearer to exert a substantially radial tightening force on the top of the
wearer's
thighs to support said legs of the garment.
To avoid a tourniquet effect around the thigh, each supporting band
generally forms a half-ring that is designed to be arranged under the buttocks
of
3o the wearer to extend around the back of the associated thigh of the
wearer.
The garment is made of tricot and in that different elasticity
constants are obtained by varying the type of mesh used.
In addition, the garment comprises a first half and a second half
which are each designed symmetrically along an axial plane of symmetry, the
first half and the second half defining a first assembly edge and a second
assembly edge, respectively, which each extends axially along the plane of
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symmetry, at the center of the portion forming the seat, said assembly edges
being connected together to form the garment by a frontal seam and a dorsal
seam of different elasticity. the frontal seam being designed to exert a
radial
compressive force greater than the radial compressive force of the dorsal
seam.
This feature allows the garment to adapt to the morphology of the
wearer and more particularly to the buttocks.
For this purpose, the frontal seam has a stitch density lower than the
density of stitches of the dorsal seam.
In a preferred embodiment, the garment is tights.
Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear
upon reading the detailed description which follows for the understanding of
which reference will be made to the accompanying drawings in which:
- Figure 1 is a schematic back view showing tights having an
anatomical belt and portions with different elasticities according to the
invention;
- Figure 2 is a schematic frontal view of the tights of Figure 1;
- Figure 3 is a schematic side view of the tights of Figure 1;
- Figure 4 is a detail view in perspective of the belt of the tights;
- Figure 5 is a side view illustrating the curvature of the belt of the
tights.
To clarify the description and claims, the non-limiting terms
longitudinal, vertical and transversal in reference to the trihedron L. V, T
indicated
in the figures, will be used.
In the present application, the terms "upper", "lower", "bottom",
"top", "vertical" and derivatives thereof refer to the position or orientation
of an
zs element or of a component, this position or orientation being considered
when
the wearer is standing on horizontal ground.
On all of these figures, identical or similar references represent
identical or similar bodies or sets of bodies.
A tricot tights 10 shown in Figure 1 is designed to be worn by a
person preferably next to the skin.
The tights 10 extends axially along a central axis A from an upper
portion forming the belt 12. an intermediate portion forming the seat 14 and a
lower portion forming a first leg 16a and second leg 16b which are connected
on
the seat 14.
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The tights 10 has a first half 18a and a second half 18b which are
each designed symmetrically along an axial symmetry plane P of general design
which extends here in a vertical direction.
To clarify the description and claims, identical or similar elements
S have the same numerical reference followed by the letter "a" for elements
referring to the first half 18a of the tights 10, and followed by the letter
"b" for the
elements referring to the second half of the tights 10.
As can be seen in Figures 2 to 5, the belt 12 has an axially stepped
annular curvilinear shape extending about the central axis A.
The belt 12 includes a first side portion 20a and a second side
portion 20b, which are axially higher about the central axis A, each designed
to
fit above the associated hip of the wearer, and a frontal portion 22 which is
arranged axially lower to extend generally under the abdomen of the wearer.
Indeed, with reference to Figure 5, the belt 12 undulates axially
is around the wearer to adapt to the morphology of the wearer, each side
portion
20a, 20b drawing an upwardly curved convex wave designed to fit over the
associated hip the wearer.
In addition, each side portion 20a, 20b of the belt 12 comprises at
least one frontal portion 24a, 24b which plunges axially downwards for
connecting the frontal portion 22 of the belt 12.
Also, the belt 12 has a dorsal portion 26 which is connected on the
side portions 20a, 20b.
The dorsal portion 26 may optionally have similar characteristics to
the characteristics of the frontal portion 22, such as being connected by a
dorsal
zs portion which may optionally have identical characteristics to the
characteristics
of the frontal portion 24a, 24b, such as plunging axially downwards to connect
the dorsal portion 26 of the belt 12, and be axially lower.
Of course, the dorsal portion may also not include these
characteristics of the frontal portion 22 and be axially neutral or greater
and/or
be directly connected to the side portions 20a, 20b.
According to another aspect of the invention, the different portions
20a, 20b, 22, 26 of the belt 12 have different elasticity constants so that
the side
portions 20a, 20b of the belt 12 exert a radial compression force on the
wearer
which is lower than the compressive force exerted by the frontal portion 22 of
the
belt 12.
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For this purpose, the side portions 20a, 20b of the belt 12 have an
stretchability capacity which is greater than the stretchability capacity of
the
frontal portion 22, along the circumference of the belt 12.
Indeed, a belt portion 12 which has a low elasticity constant, that is
to say which is nervous, exerts a radial compressive force towards the body of
a
wearer which is greater than a belt portion having a high elasticity constant,
that
is to say which is little nervous and more easily stretchable.
This feature promotes the comfort and the retention of the belt 12
about the waist of the wearer.
Similarly, the dorsal portion 26 of the belt 12 has an elasticity
constant designed to exert a radial compressive force on the wearer which is
greater than the compressive force exerted by each of the side portions 20a,
20b.
The seat 14 of the tights 10 comprises a dorsal portion 28 for the
buttocks and a frontal portion 30, the dorsal portion 28 being designed to
exert a
radial compressive force on the wearer which is lower than the radial
compressive force exerted by the frontal portion.
In other words, the dorsal portion 28 has a stretchability capacity
greater than that of the frontal portion 30.
This feature helps promote the comfort of the wearer, the tights 10
thus adapting to different morphologies by stretching more or less.
As can be seen in Figure 2, the frontal portion draws a triangle flared
towards the belt which covers generally the lower abdomen of the wearer, the
dorsal portion 28 forming the remainder of the seat 14.
According to another aspect of the invention, the seat 14 of the tights
10 comprises a first supporting band 32a and a second supporting band 32b
which are interposed axially along the central axis A, between the portion
forming
the seat 14 and the first leg 16a and the second leg 16b, respectively.
The supporting bands 32a and 32b are designed to be arranged
under the buttocks of the wearer to exert a radial tightening force
substantially
over the top of the wearer's thighs in order to support the legs 16a, 16b of
the
tights 10 to prevent them from slipping downwards.
To this end, each supporting band 32a, 32b has a stretchability
capacity which is lower than that of the dorsal portion 28 of the seat 14, to
substantially tighten the thigh of the wearer.
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As can be seen in Figure 3, each supporting band 32a, 32b generally
form a half-ring which extends around the back of the thigh along a vertical
axis.
This half-ring shape allows avoiding the tourniquet effect on the thigh
while promoting the support of the associated leg 16a, 16b.
As an indication, the different elasticity constants of the portions of
the tights 10 are obtained by varying the type of mesh used.
In reference to Figures 1 to 3. the first half 18a and the second half
18b of the tights 10 define an assembly edge 34a and a second assembly edge
34b respectively, each edge 34a, 34b extending axially along the plane P of
lo symmetry and
the central axis A, to the center of the portion forming the seat 14.
Assembly edges 34a, 34b are interconnected to form the tights 10 in
its final form by a frontal seam 36 and a dorsal seam 38 of different
elasticity.
Indeed, the frontal seam 36 is designed to exert a radial compressive
force to the wearers body, greater than the radial compressive force of the
dorsal
seam 38.
For this purpose, the frontal seam 36 has a stitch density lower than
the stitch density of the dorsal seam 38.
This feature improves the comfort and elasticity of the dorsal portion
28 of the seat 14.
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