US20060117454A1

US20060117454A1 - Disposable exercise garment

Info

Publication number: US20060117454A1
Application number: US11/191,727
Authority: US
Inventors: John Smith
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-11-22
Filing date: 2005-07-28
Publication date: 2006-06-08

Abstract

A disposable weight loss garment is disclosed. The garment is made from a low cost, relatively thin plastic, in lieu of vinyl or other synthetic fabrics. The garment is designed to be worn under or over traditional exercise garments, or may alternatively be designed for stand alone use. The garment may be made of clear plastic to indicate its use as an under or over garment, or may be made of an opaque material. Opening in the top and trousers are elasticated to trap body heat under the garment thereby promoting a user to sweat. Multiple garments may be contained within a single package, the package being designed to dispense one garment at a time.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention pertains in general to exercise garments. More particularly, the invention relates to a disposable exercise garment which promotes water weight loss through sweating.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Exercise garments, often called sweatsuits, have been increasingly used for both exercise and leisure in recent years. These sweatsuits are typically made of a lightweight, highly flexible fabric, which is machine washable. Most of the garments are made of a soft, water absorbent material, such as cotton, for comfort and ease of care. It is also known to make such garments of a substantially water impervious material such as vinyl or plastic in order to trap and magnify body heat. These types of sweatsuit garments, sometimes called “water suits”, are primarily used to promote rapid weight loss. While these garments vary in effectiveness, they all suffer from the drawback that they are often unsanitary due to the difficulty involved in cleaning the garment, especially if they are used daily. The difficulty in cleaning the traditional plastic garment is primarily due to the difficulty in drying the garment, but there are difficulties associated with washing the garment as well. First, the garment must be washed in cold water or else it will strech and lose shape. Even if washed in cold water the garment might still lose its shape over time, and therefore be less effective. Drying cannot be accomplished at high temperature as the garment will rapidly deteriorate, low temperature air drying will bring about similar results, although over a longer period of time. Line drying is not an option, as a plastic garment will have creases and small pockets which overlap and don't allow sufficient airflow to permit rapid drying. This creates the possibility of irritating, even dangerous molds and mildew to build rendering the garment highly unsanitary and possibly toxic.
A further drawback is that any plastic or vinyl exposed to sunlight over an extended period of time will break down, so that daily workouts outdoors would seriously compromise the integrity and appearance of the garment.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,510 describes an exercise garment including a helmet, jacket, armlets, gloves, belt, shorts, thigh leggings, calf leggings and boots with these components being detachably connected together for the use of a total composite garment or for the use separately in various combinations, each component of the total garment having exterior pockets which may be filled or partially filled with a particular weight material of various densities. These types of garments promote weight loss by exertion due to the extra weight of the garment. These garments are also difficult to clean and can become stretched out of shape over time due to the extreme tension created by the weighted pockets.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,336 discloses a lightweight exercise garment having a plurality of panels positioned on various parts of the garment in order to heat various body parts. This highly specialized garment is primarily used by athletes engaged in high level competitive sports and is not useful for promoting weight loss.
The present invention is directed to a disposable weight loss garment. The garment is made from a low cost, relatively thin plastic, in lieu of vinyl or other synthetic fabrics. The garment is designed to be worn under or over traditional exercise garments, or may alternatively be designed for stand alone use. The garment may be made of clear plastic to indicate its use as an under or over garment, or may be made of an opaque material. Sleeves and leggings are elasticated to trap in more heat and to increase the range of body sizes accommodated by a single garment. Multiple garments may be contained within a single package, the package being designed to dispense one garment at a time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention preferably seeks to mitigate, alleviate or eliminate one or more of the above-identified deficiencies in the art and disadvantages singly or in any combination and solves at least the above mentioned problems by providing a disposable exercise garment that traps body heat under the garment to promote a user to sweat, according to the appended patent claims.
It is an object of the invention to provide a disposable exercise garment. It is another object of the invention to provide a disposable exercise garment which promotes weight loss by inducing perspiration. It is another object of the invention to provide a disposable exercise garment which is made of low cost synthetic material. It is yet another object of the invention to provide a disposable exercise garment which is sold in a one at a time dispenser.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a disposable exercise garment is disclosed. The disposable exercise garment comprises a top and trousers formed of at least a single layer of inexpensive water impervious material, said top having elasticated openings formed on sleeves, neck and bottom of said top and said trousers having elasticated openings formed on the legs and waist of the trousers, wherein said water impervious material is chosen to provide a low production cost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects, features and advantages of which the invention is capable of will be apparent and elucidated from the following description of embodiments of the present invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which
FIG. 1 illustrates a frontal view of the disposable exercise garment worn over another exercise garment according to one embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 illustrates a frontal view of the disposable exercise garment worn under another exercise garment according to one embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 3 illustrates a rear view of the disposable exercise garment worn under another exercise garment according to one embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 4 illustrates a package containing several garments according to one embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of the trousers of the disposable exercise garment according to one embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIGS. 1-4, the disposable exercise garment of the present invention, generally indicated by the numeral 10, is shown. The garment 10 is somewhat loose fitting and should not be skin tight. The garment 10 is, of course, offered in a range of standard sizes such as small, medium, large, X-large, etc. A user may select the size based on whether the garment 10 is intended for use as an undergarment, over garment, or stand alone garment as will be explained in more detail later. Alternatively, the garment may be produced in one size to fit most or all people.
Each garment 10 comprises trousers 12 and/or a top 14. The trousers 12 and top 14 are formed in conventional fashion with seams 16 holding together major portions of the material. The trousers 12 may also have an elasticated waistband or a drawstring arrangement 20 within an overlap 22 as shown in FIG. 5. Both trousers 12 and top 14 have elasticated openings 23, 24 for legs/arms to allow for accommodation of a range of body sizes. The material for trousers and top 12, 14 may be clear or visually opaque depending upon intended use. If intended for use as an over or undergarment the material is clear, while a visually opaque material would be usable as a stand alone garment 10. In addition, the garments can be of different colors and include various designs and logos.
While the garment 10 may be loose fitting, the opening in the sleeves and legs are elasticated, i.e. the openings are provided with elastic or a similar material. In addition, the neck opening and the bottom of the top 14 may also be elasticated. The openings should snugly but comfortably form to the body of the user when the garment is worn. The elasticated openings allow the garment to effectively trap the heat of the user's body inside the garment by not letting the heat escape through the openings. The trapped heat then causes the user's body to sweat or perspire at a greater rate which helps to promote weight loss. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the openings of the garment could also be made with other types of means for creating a snug and comfortable fit such as Velcro or drawstrings and the invention is not limited thereto.
The garment 10 is preferably made of a low cost, durable plastic, such as that used for grocery bags and the like. Cost is a primary factor in selecting the material, and as new lower cost suitable materials become available, it would be within the scope of the invention to employ them. As it is an object of the invention to provide a disposable garment, the material used should allow for the garment 10 to be inexpensive enough to be roughly competitive with a permanent garment, with respect to average cost over the life of a typical permanent garment.
As the garments 10 are disposable, they are preferably sold in multiple unit dispensers 30 as shown in FIG. 4, separated by tops 14 and trousers 12, to allow for more flexibility with respect to accommodating users having varying body types and various uses. The dispenser 30 has an opening 32 shaped and sized to permit a single unit to be extracted at a time. The garments 10 may be packaged as single units with both trouser 12 and top 14.
In use, a consumer would select a garment based on whether the garment 10 is to be used as an under or over garment and, of course, the particular consumer's size. Once the garment is selected, the consumer would then wear the garments 10 for at least one use and then discarded as appropriate.
Although the present invention has been described above with reference to a specific embodiment, it is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein. Rather, the invention is limited only by the accompanying claims and, other embodiments than the specific above are equally possible within the scope of these appended claims.
In the claims, the term “comprises/comprising” does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps. Furthermore, although individually listed, a plurality of means, elements or method steps may be implemented by e.g. a single unit or processor. Additionally, although individual features may be included in different claims, these may possibly advantageously be combined, and the inclusion in different claims does not imply that a combination of features is not feasible and/or advantageous. In addition, singular references do not exclude a plurality. The terms “a”, “an”, “first”, “second” etc do not preclude a plurality. Reference signs in the claims are provided merely as a clarifying example and shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims in any way.

Claims

1. A disposable exercise garment comprising:

a top formed of at least a single layer of inexpensive water impervious material, said top having elasticated openings formed on sleeves and bottom of said top;

wherein said water impervious material is chosen to provide a low production cost.

2. The disposable exercise garment according to claim 1, further comprising:

trousers formed of at least a single layer of inexpensive water impervious material, said trousers having elasticated openings formed on legs and waist of said trousers;

3. The disposable exercise garment according to claim 2, wherein said trousers have a drawstring at said waist.

4. The disposable exercise garment according to claim 2, wherein said water impervious material traps body heat from a user thereby promoting the user to sweat.

5. The disposable exercise garment according to claim 2, wherein said water impervious material is plastic.

6. The disposable exercise garment according to claim 1, wherein the neck of the top is elasticated.