SHAPING GARMENT WITH FIT-ADJUSTABLE BRASSIERE PORTION
Designing garments that include brassiere cups can be challenging due to the natural fluctuation of a woman’s breast size, as well as a possible disconnect between the size of her breasts and the size of the rest of her body. The high range of size variability places pressure on stores to stock inventories that include great ranges of sizes. This places an inventory risk to the store, since rarer sizes may never sell. The disclosed garment addresses these issues by including a fit-adjustable brassiere portion. The cups of the fit-adjustable brassiere portion include fit-modifying panels that increase their flexibility and elasticity. The rear side of the fit-adjustable brassiere portion includes a back adjuster with highly elastic regions that enables the brassiere portion to fit a broader range of chest sizes. Each of these features give the garment a more universal fit and enable stores to carry fewer sizes.
1 . A garment comprising:
a torso-encircling portion comprising:
a left brassiere cup and a right brassiere cup;
an inner component permanently attached to the left brassiere cup and the right brassiere cup, at least a portion of the inner component further comprising a high friction coating configured to prevent sliding; and
an outer component attached to the inner component along a superior edge of the garment;
wherein at least a portion of the inner component has a higher elastic modulus than the outer component; and
wherein the outer component extends downward and away from the left and right brassiere cups to form an abdominal shaping region on a front side of the garment and a back shaping region on a rear side of the garment, the back shaping region defining a space.
2 . The garment of claim 1 , wherein the inner component is shorter than the outer component in a longitudinal direction.
3 . The garment of claim 1 , wherein an inferior area of the inner component is unattached to the outer component.
4 . The garment of claim 1 , wherein a superior area of the inner component is formed of a material having a higher elastic modulus than a material of the outer component.
5 . The garment of claim 4 , wherein the superior area of the inner component is configured to keep the garment from sliding.
6 . The garment of claim 1 , wherein the high friction coating is disposed along an interior surface a superior area of the inner component.
7 . The garment of claim 1 , wherein the high friction coating comprises a silicone bead or strip.
8 . The garment of claim 1 , wherein the space is U-shaped.
9 . The garment of claim 1 , wherein the space is V-shaped.
10 . The garment of claim 1 , wherein the superior edge of the garment extends downward at the back shaping region to form lateral edges that define the space.
11 . The garment of claim 1 , wherein the space is defined in an upper central area of the back shaping region.
12 . The garment of claim 1 , wherein the inner component further comprises a left brassiere wing permanently attached to the left brassiere cup and a right brassiere wing permanently attached to the right brassiere cup.
13 . The garment of claim 1 , further comprising a back adjuster comprising left and right elastic regions.
14 . A method of making a garment comprising:
permanently attaching an inner component of a torso-encircling portion to a left brassiere cup and a right brassiere cup, at least a portion of the inner component comprising a high friction coating configured to prevent sliding;
permanently attaching an outer component of the torso-encircling portion to the inner component along a superior edge of the garment, wherein the inner component has a higher elastic modulus than the outer component, wherein the outer component extends downward and away from the left and right brassiere cups; and
forming, via the outer component, an abdominal shaping region on a front side of the garment and a back shaping region on a rear side of the garment, the back shaping region defining a space.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the inner component is shorter than the outer component in a longitudinal direction.
16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein an inferior area of the inner component is unattached to the outer component.
17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein a superior area of the inner component is formed of a material having a higher elastic modulus than a material of the outer component, wherein the superior area of the inner component is configured to keep the garment from sliding.
18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the high friction coating is disposed along an interior surface a superior area of the inner component.
19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the high friction coating comprises a silicone bead or strip.
20 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the space is U-shaped or V-shaped.