Athletic performance garment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11021819-B2
Application number	US-201815980514-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 15, 2018
Priority date	May 15, 2017
Publication date	Jun 1, 2021
Grant date	Jun 1, 2021

Abstract

A garment is configured to be worn on a part of the body. The garment includes a fabric panel, a first material, and a second material. The garment includes an inwardly facing side, which faces toward the part of the body when the garment is worn, and an outwardly facing side, which faces away from the part of the body when the garment is worn. The first material is applied to the outwardly facing side to form a first unit of a first pattern, and the second material is applied to the inwardly facing side to form a second unit of a second pattern. At least one portion of the first unit is repeated to cover at least one first region of the fabric panel, and at least one portion of the second unit is repeated to cover at least one second region of the fabric panel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A garment to be worn on a part of a body, the garment comprising:
a fabric panel which has a fabric modulus of elasticity, the fabric panel including:
an inwardly facing side that faces toward the part of the body when the garment is worn; and
an outwardly facing side that faces away from the part of the body when the garment is worn;

a first material applied to the outwardly facing side of the fabric panel, the first material forming a first pattern, the first pattern comprising at least one first unit having a first basic shape, wherein the first basic shape is repeated to form the first pattern, and wherein at least one portion of the first unit covers at least one first region of the fabric panel such that the garment is defined by a first modulus of elasticity in the at least one first region, the first modulus of elasticity being greater than the fabric modulus of elasticity, wherein the at least one first region wraps from an anterior side of the garment, across a lateral side of the garment, and to a posterior side of the garment; and
a second material applied to the inwardly facing side of the fabric panel, the second material forming a second pattern, the second pattern comprising at least one second unit having a second basic shape that is different from the first basic shape, wherein the second basic shape is repeated to form the second pattern, and wherein at least one portion of the second unit covers at least one second region of the fabric panel such that the garment is defined by a second modulus of elasticity in the at least one second region, the second modulus of elasticity being greater than the fabric modulus of elasticity and different from the first modulus of elasticity, and wherein the at least one second region wraps from the anterior side of the garment, across the lateral side of the garment, and to the posterior side of the garment.

2. The garment of claim 1 , wherein:
the first material and the second material are elastomeric polymer materials.

3. The garment of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one first region and the at least one second region do not overlap one another on the garment.

4. The garment of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one first region of the fabric panel includes:
at least one upper first region located above a knee, and
at least one lower first region, which is spaced apart from the at least one upper first region and located below the knee.

5. The garment of claim 4 , wherein:
the at least one first region of the fabric panel further includes at least one middle first region, which is arranged between the at least one upper first region and the at least one lower first region.

6. The garment of claim 3 , wherein:
the at least one second region of the fabric panel includes:
at least one upper second region, and
at least one lower second region, which is spaced apart from the at least one upper second region;
wherein the at least one first region is positioned between the at least one upper second region and the at least one lower second region.

7. The garment of claim 6 , wherein:
the at least one second region of the fabric panel further includes at least one middle second region, which is arranged between the at least one upper second region and the at least one lower second region.

8. The garment of claim 1 , wherein:
at least one of the first material and the second material is a polymer ink.

9. The garment of claim 1 , wherein:
the second material is a silicone material.

10. A garment to be worn on a part of a body, the garment comprising:
a fabric panel, which has a fabric modulus of elasticity, the fabric panel including:
an inwardly facing side that faces toward the part of the body when the garment is worn; and
an outwardly facing side that faces away from the part of the body when the garment is worn;

a first material applied to the outwardly facing side of the fabric panel in at least one first region, the at least one first region having a first modulus of elasticity that is greater than the fabric modulus of elasticity; and
a second material applied to the inwardly facing side of the fabric panel in at least one second region, the at least one second region having a second modulus of elasticity that is greater than the fabric modulus of elasticity, and wherein the first modulus of elasticity is greater than the second modulus of elasticity.

11. The garment of claim 10 , wherein:
the first material is applied in the at least one first region in a first pattern comprising at least one first unit having a first basic shape, wherein the first basic shape is repeated to form the first pattern;
the second material is applied in the at least one second region in a second pattern comprising at least one second unit having a second basic shape, wherein the second basic shape is repeated to form the second pattern; and
wherein a composition of the first material is different from a composition of the second material.

12. The garment of claim 10 , wherein:
the at least one first region and the at least one second region do not overlap one another on the garment, wherein the at least one first region wraps from an anterior side of the garment, across a lateral side of the garment, and to a posterior side of the garment, and wherein the at least one second region wraps from the anterior side of the garment, across the lateral side of the garment, and to the posterior side of the garment.

13. A method of producing a garment to be worn on a part of a body, the method comprising:
selectively modifying a modulus of elasticity of a fabric panel of the garment in at least one first region by applying a first material in a first repeating pattern to an outwardly facing side of the fabric panel in the at least one first region such that the modulus of elasticity of the fabric panel of the garment in the at least one first region is increased to a first modulus of elasticity; and
selectively modifying the modulus of elasticity of the fabric panel of the garment in at least one second region by applying a second material in a second repeating pattern to an inwardly facing side of the fabric panel in the at least one second region such that the modulus of elasticity of the fabric panel of the garment in the at least second first region is increased to a second modulus of elasticity that is different than the first modulus of elasticity, wherein:
the outwardly facing side of the fabric panel faces away from the part of the body when the garment is worn, and the inwardly facing side of the fabric panel faces toward the part of the body when the garment is worn.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein:
applying the first material includes printing the first material on the outwardly facing side of the fabric panel; and
applying the second material includes printing the second material on the inwardly facing side of the fabric panel.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein at least a portion of the at least one first region and at least a portion of the at least one second region do not overlap one another.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein:
the at least one first region includes a plurality of first regions; and
the at least one second region includes a plurality of second regions.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein:
the first material is a different material than the second material, and
the first repeating pattern is different than the second repeating pattern.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the at least one first material is appli

Assignees

• Under Armour Inc

Inventors

• Miller Merida
• Roberts Maxi

Classifications

• A41D2500/54

  in coated form · CPC title

• D06N3/186

  one of the layers is on one surface of the fibrous web and the other layer is on the other surface of the fibrous web · CPC title

• D06N7/0092

  Non-continuous polymer coating on the fibrous substrate, e.g. plastic dots on fabrics · CPC title

• D04B1/18

  elastic threads · CPC title

• D06M23/16

  Processes for the non-uniform application of treating agents, e.g. one-sided treatment; Differential treatment · CPC title