This invention relates to garments which comprise brassieres and in particular to the design of brassiere suitable for wear in active sports. The brassiere may be worn as an outer garment or under other clothing.

There is a need in various types of sport such as athletics, aerobics, gymnastics and the like for a close fitting brassiere that not only looks attractive but is comfortable to wear and provides support to the breasts of the wearer and constrains the breasts to reduce the breasts bouncing. Furthermore, such a brassiere should perform all these functions and .remain in place despite extremes of movement of the wearer.

Many prior designs of garments such as leotards, sports vests, cropped tops, jogging suits and the like do not provide any support to the breasts of the wearer. Consequently, the wearer either does not wear a brassiere, and therefore risks serious injury, or has to wear a sports brassiere under the garment. Many of the sports brassieres designed to be worn under garments cannot be concealed very well under tight fitting garments such as elasticated body stockings, leotards and sports tops. Such garments are, therefore, not very flattering and usually results in the wearer not wearing a proper fitting brassiere.

Because many wearers prefer not to wear unsightly

brassieres under tight fitting elasticated garments, the manufacturers of such garments have resorted to making such garments an extremely tight fit in order to hold the breasts firmly and prevent the breasts bouncing. Such tight fitting garments tend to flatten the breasts and pull them apart and backwards towards the side of the torso. This is not only uncomfortable, but could cause harm to the wearer because it does not provide the correct sort of support to minimise harm.

An object of the present invention is to provide a cost effective design of elasticated close fitting brassiere which incorporates firmness, comfort, and support to the breasts of the wearer.

According to the present invention there is provided a garment which comprises a brassiere in the form of a one- piece outer elasticated bodice which has a front portion and a back portion which together define a neck opening and arm holes, at least the front portion of the bodice comprising elasticated fabric, and an inner front panel which is attached to the outer bodice at least at each side of the torso of the wearer, said inner panel comprising a fabric which is adapted to define pockets which form seamless cups for receiving and supporting the breasts of a wearer.

Preferably the front portion of the outer bodice is

shaped to provide accomodation for the breasts; advantageously this is achieved by the front portion being defined by a front panel and a pair of side panels.

Preferably the inner panel is attached around its periphery to the neck opening, the arm holes, and the side seams of the outer bodice.

In yet a further preferred embodiment the inner panel is secured to front of the outer bodice around the bottom edge of the inner panel which in use passes across the torso under the breasts of the wearer.

The invention will now be described by way of examples with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Figures 1 and 2 shows, schematically, respectively the

front and back views of a brassiere constructed in accordance with the present invention,

Figure 3 shows schematically the front view of an inner front panel of the garment of Figures 1 and 2,

Figure 4 shows a cross sectional section of the inner front panel along line 4-4 of Figure 3 showing the relaxed shape of the inner front panel shown in Figure 3,

Figure 5 shows schematically the front view of a leotard which incorporates a brassiere constructed in accordance with the present invention, and

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 3 but showing an alternative embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, and in particular to Figures 1 and 2, there is shown a garment in the form of a brassiere 10 intended to be worn as an outer garment. The garment 10 comprises a one-piece elasticated outer bodice which comprises a front portion 12 connected to a back portion 14 along the side seams 16 and 18 and the top shoulder seams 20 and 22, and further comprises an inner front panel 43. The outer garment is shaped to have two arm holes 24 and 26 and a neck hole 28. Preferably the front 12 comprises three pieces 30, 31 and 32 in order to shape the front portion for accommodating the breasts. The pieces 30 and 32 are joined to piece 31 along two seams 34 which extend from the bottom of each arm hole 24, 26 at the side seams 16 and 18 and pass over the centre of the cups 36 towards the centre of the bottom band 38. The back of the brassiere comprises 3 pieces 40, 41, 42 the pieces 40 and 42 are joined to the front pieces 30, 32 along the seams 16 and 18. Piece 42 is also joined to the front piece 31 at the shoulder strap seams 20 and 22. The whole of the back is shaped to provide arm holes which roughly encircle the shoulder blades of the wearer. The bottom

band 38 incorporates an elasticated band which in use encircles the torso of the wearer. The seams 34 can, if one so desires, actually meet at the centre of the bottom band 38 but this is not thought to be as attractive as the preferred design shown in Figure 1.

The fabric from which the front portion 12 and rear portion 14 are formed is preferably a knitted fabric knitted from a combination of non-elastomeric and elastomeric yarns. The non-elastomeric yarns may be cotton, polyamide or polyester. The elastomeric yarn is preferably an elastane yarn such as Lycra (RTM) .

Referring now to Figure 3 , there is shown a front view of the inner panel 43 of the brassiere shown in Figures 1 and 2. The inner panel 43 is preferably made of an elasticated fabric which has similar elastic properties to those of the outer bodice. The outer profile shape of the inner panel 43 is exactly identical to that defined by the arm holes and the neck hole of the panel 31 and the side seams 16, 18 and the bottom seam 38 of the front part of the garment shown in Figure l. The inner panel 43 is premoulded before attachment to the bodice to form pockets which define seamless cups to receive the breasts of the wearer. The whole of the shape and size of the garment is sized so as to fit the standard shapes and sizes of wearers, for example, in cup sizes from 32aa up to 38d.

The pockets are formed by stretching the panel 43 over a former which defines the shape and size of the pockets. The fabric is then heat-set so that the pockets retain their shape when removed from the former and so define moulded seamless cups. It is desirable therefore that the fabric of the panel 43 is not only stretchable but contains a sufficient quantity of heat-settable yarns to enable the pockets to retain their shape after heat setting.

Preferably heat setting is performed only in the area of the pockets. This tends to provide the fabric of the pockets with less elasticated properties than the fabric of the remainder of the panel 43. Preferably the combination of yarns and/or the heat setting process is chosen so as not to entirely remove all elastication properties in the fabric of the pockets.

Referring now to Figure 4 , there is shown a cross sectional view along line 4-4 of Figure 3 showing the premoulded cups of the panel 43 prior to fitting the inner panel 43 to the outer bodice. It will be appreciated that because the outer bodice is shaped to accommodate the breasts, when the garment is worn the elasticated outer bodice tends to apply compression on the breasts without causing excessive flatening whilst the pockets in the inner panel 43 provide cups within which the breasts may be accommodated, the cups serving to resist sideways spread of the breasts as well as also providing support. In this

way, the breasts are held firmly, but comfortably, and are not stretched backwards as with prior known brassieres which do not incorporate a premoulded inner panel.

Since the pockets in the inner panel are made from a stretchable knitted fabric, the compression applied by the bodice is not resisted by the inner panel although sideways spread of the breasts is resisted. Accordingly the outer bodice may apply sufficiently high compression to control movement without causing spread or distortion in shape of the breasts.

Accordingly the prime purpose of the inner panel is to provide shape and support for the breasts and for the outer bodice to provide sufficient elasticated compression to the supported breasts for desired control of movement of the breasts.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the inner panel 43 is only secured around its entire periphery. In this way the back of the garment 14 cooperates with the front panel 43 to form the back of a pre-moulded brassier formed by the inner panel and provide effectively an elasticated band which encircles the torso of the wearer. This ensures that the panel 43 is held close to the body of the wearer under the breasts. If desired, however, the bottom edge of the inner panel 43 need not actually be attached to the bottom edge 38 of the front of the garment,

providing it is attached at the side seams 16 and 18. The hoop tension produced by the outer bodice will tend to hold the bottom edge 45 against the body of the wearer immediately under the breasts. In fact, in some designs of garment which incorporate the brassiere of Figures 1 and 2, it may be better that the lower edge 45 of the inner panel 43 is not attached. An example of one such garment is shown in Figure 5.

Referring to Figure 5 there is shown, schematically, a front view of a leotard incorporating a brassiere constructed in accordance with the present invention and constructed essentially as shown in Figures 1 to 4. In the garment shown in Figure 5 the bottom edge 45 of the inner panel 43 is not attached to the front of the leotard.

Alternatively, the inner panel 43 may be shaped so as to be an exact replica of the whole of the front of the leotard shown in Figure 5 in which case the bottom edge of the front panel 43 would be sewn in at the gusset 46 and the inner panel would be secured around its entire periphery to the edges of arm holes, the neck hole, and the leg holes of the front panel of the leotard.

It is envisaged that the pockets in the inner panel 43 may be formed in alternative ways to stretching and heat setting.

For example, it is envisaged that the pockets may be formed by fabric inserts which are seamed into openings formed in the panel. This is schematically illustrated in

Figure 6, wherein the panel 43 includes two fabric inserts 44a which in use define seamless cups for the wearer. The fabric inserts 44a are secured by seams 44b into openings

(not shown) formed in the panel 43. The fabric inserts 44a comprise knitted fabric which is more stretchable than the fabric of the panel 43 and so when worn enable the breasts to stretch the fabric inserts to define cups.