Oh, patents! SKIMS™ Shapewear Solution Shorts

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Whoever says you cannot wear shapewear with high slit skirts and dresses has missed the SKIMS™ Shapewear Solution Shorts #1 and #2, respectively for left or right leg exposure. Designed by Kim Kardashian West et al., SKIMS™ Shapewear Solution Shorts precisely resolve the issue of women’s right or left leg exposure, when wearing high-slit skirts and dresses, while continuing to offer all the advantages of body sculpting shapewear, in terms of smooth lines, rear shaping, and lift. SKIMS™ Shapewear Solution Shorts simply offer more coverage on one leg than on the other. A solution that is patented in both the United States, and elsewhere, via the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)(1).

The SKIMS™ Shapewear Solution Shorts invention is disclosed in the US utility patent US10806190B, titled Shapewear undergarment. The patent was awarded on October 20th 2020, to Kim Kardashian West and Jens Grede, and assigned to SKIMS Body Inc. The patent discloses an asymmetrical pair of shorts with a greater distance of the thigh covered, on one side, relative to the other.  

Below, the abstract of the patent together with the patent Figures 2 and 9, respectively depicting front views of the patented solution shorts with left and right leg exposure. Images of a model wearing the SKIMS™ Shapewear Solution Shorts, respectively with right and left leg exposure, are also included.

A shapewear undergarment can include first and second leg openings where the first leg opening is located at a greater distance from a hip portion than the second leg opening, such that the shapewear undergarment will cover a greater portion of a wearer's first thigh than the wearer's second thigh when worn.
 [Abstract US10806190B1]

Specifically, the front view Figures 2 and 9 depict the shapewear undergarment worn by an imaginary person. The undergarment has a hip portion 12, a midsection portion 14, and two asymmetrical leg portions 22 and 24. The midsection portion 14 suggests a potential extension of the shorts, shaping the midriff.  Figure 2 depicts a leg portion 22 longer than the leg portion 24. Conversely, Figure 9 depicts a leg portion 24 longer than the leg portion 22.  Thus, on Figure 2, a greater portion of the wearer’s left thigh is exposed, whereas on Figure 9, a greater portion of the wearer’s right thigh is exposed. 

Figures 2 and 9 also respectively depict different leg openings 23 and 25. Figure 2 depicts a horizontal leg opening 23 on the longer side, whereas Figure 9 depicts an upswept leg opening 23 on the short side. Conversely, Figure 2 depicts an upswept opening 25 on the shorter side, whereas Figure 9 depicts a horizontal leg opening 25 on the longer side. The upswept openings 23 and 25, respectively depicted on Figures 9 and 2,  extending from the inner thigh to the hip, are both designed to accommodate more exposure of the hip, in case the slit garment, under which the Shapewear Solution Shorts are worn, has a slit that extends as far as the hip. 

Interestingly, the Shapewear Solution Shorts are also disclosed as alternatively reversible. In other words, instead of one pair of shorts for right-side exposure, and another pair of shorts for left-side exposure, the shorts might simply be turned around, so that the longer portion 22 for one leg becomes the longer portion 22 for the other leg. The Shapewear Solution Shorts are further disclosed as performing smoothing, enhancing, shaping, compression, or other sculpting functions, using material known to the state of the art.  Particularly, the Shapewear Solution Shorts are also disclosed as offering light, medium or high compression, with varying areas of compression, also variously graduated.  

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Note:

(1) The WIPO patent family member  WO2020251619A1,  titled Shapewear garment, also recites the Shapewear Solution Shorts invention.  

References
SKIMS™ www.skims.com 

Oh, patents! Spanx® (1)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

In 1998, Sara Blakely is purported to have cut off the feet on a pair of pantyhose for a smooth and tight look under a pair of white pants and the freedom to wear open-toe sandals to match. An idea that she then patented, and successfully marketed into a billion-dollar business called Spanx®. Thus, with a single control top, body smoothing and footless pantyhose product, the shapewear industry was re-born, providing women with a whole line of new and comfortable undergarments that support and lift, while offering the desirable aesthetics of “smooth” body contours. A shapewear line that also diversified to such products as bodysuits, slips, high-waisted shorts, camis, tanks and shaping thongs, boyshorts and briefs, while also expanding to include specific undergarments for Mamas during pregnancy, and more recently undergarrments  for men,

Add crimson packaging for the fine line of super comfortable body shaping products with cartoon characters featuring Sara Blakely, in a world of nudes, beige and blush, and the spectacular story of Spanx® also documents itself.

In 2012, the founder and inventor of the original product, Sara Blakely, was named the world’s youngest, self-made female billionaire by Forbes Magazine and one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential people.

The following is a list of the Spanx® US utility and design patent applications, and granted patents, including a WIPO patent. These patents cover both the Spanx® garments and Spanx® product display systems. Many more Spanx® patent family members have been filed at the European Patent Office, and at the national patent offices of Australia, Canada, Austria, Germany and elsewhere.   

• US2001035032 (A1) ― 2001-11-01 - Pantyhose under garment
• US2003196252 (A1) ― 2003-10-23 - Two-ply body-smoothing undergarment  
• US2016206012 (A1) ― 2016-07-21 - Abdominal-restraint garment and methods of assembling the same
• USD760471 (S) ― 2016-07-05 - Garment  
• US9320366 (B1) ― 2016-04-26 - Product storage unit and method of arrangement 
• US2015342265 (A1) ― 2015-12-03 - Flocked shapewear garments
• USD741631 (S) ― 2015-10-27 - Display tower 
• USD733994 (S1) ― 2015-07-14 - Garment
• US2015255011 (A1) ― 2015-09-10 - Display Fixture 
• USD724874 (S) ― 2015-03-24 - Multi-faceted display tower 
• US2014317823 (A1) ― 2014-10-30 - Reversible Compression Garments and Methods of Assembling and Using Same
• US2014273742 (A1) ― 2014-09-18 - Posterior-Lifting Garment and Methods of Assembling The Same 
• US2014273741 (A1) ― 2014-09-18 - Abdominal-restraint garment and methods of assembling the same 
• USD707920 (S) ― 2014-07-01 - Garment 
• US2008127683 (A1) ― 2008-06-05 - Tubular knit bra
• US2007199134 (A1) ― 2007-08-30 - Hosiery Garment and Method of Making the Same 
• WO0176398 (A2) ― 2001-10-18 - A pantyhose undergarment and method for manufacturing 

References

Spanx®

www.spanx.com