SE543910C2 - Websuit having shoulder straps and a connecting arrangement - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a wetsuit (10). The wetsuit (10) comprises leg portions (12) and a waist portion (16). The wetsuit (10) further comprises two shoulder straps (22), the shoulder straps (22) being connected to a front side (24) of the wetsuit (10) and being connected to a backside (26) of the wetsuit (10). Further, the wetsuit comprises a connecting arrangement (18) which is fixedly attached to the two shoulder straps (22) and to the back side (26) of the wetsuit (10) for connecting the two shoulder straps (22) to the back side (26) of the wetsuit (10). The connecting arrangement (18) includes a locking member (30) and a loop (32). The locking member (30) includes a first fastening member (36), which is arranged at an engaging end (34) of the locking member (30), and a second fastening member (38), which is arranged at a distance from the first fastening member (36) and the engaging end (34) of the locking member (30), the first and second fastening members (36, 38) are arranged to lockingly engage with each other. The loop (32) is arranged to engage with the locking member (30) by allowing the engaging end (34) of the first fastening member (36) to pass through the loop (32) and then being detachably fastened to the second fastening member (38). The further includes an opening defined by the loop (32) having a length L of at least 20 percent of the width of the waist portion (16).

Description

WETSUIT HAVING SHOULDER STRAPS AND A CONNECTINGARRANGEIVIENT Technical field of the inventionThe present invention relates to activity garments and suspenders foractivity garments.

Background of the invention l\/lany garments and especially in functional garments such as worktrousers, ski trousers, sailing trousers, wetsuits, etc., are mainly designed formale users. For this reason, females using these clothing experiencesdifficulties removing the functional garment during use to urinate. This is aparticular problem when using high waistline garments such as long johnwetsuits, high waistline wetsuits, skiing bibs, high waistline skiing trousers,work overalls, work bib trousers, etc.

One way to facilitate the removal of the garment to urinate for femalesis to use functional trousers having a low waistline, making them easy to pulldown on the backside. However, such trousers are prone to slip down whenthe user is involved in physical activities. For instance, if the wearer of thetrousers is sailing and is hiking there is a great risk that the trousers will slipdown, which, besides being inconvenient will lessen the warming effect of a pair of wetsuit trousers as they are being misplaced from an effective position.

Low waistline trouser may slip down during skiing, when working, e.g. if thewearer is crawling or sliding. ln order to prevent the slipping down of thetrousers the trousers may be used together with suspenders. However, thenthe wearer will experience problems again when removing the trousers forurinating, e.g. the suspenders being too rigid to enable pulling down thetrousers or the suspenders, if simply slid down from the shoulders, being inthe way and possibly getting hit by unwanted fluids. These problems are evenmore evident and difficult to avoid when high waistline trousers as indicatedabove is used.

When it comes to using wetsuits, the problem of getting the trousersout of the way, particularly in high waistline ones such as a long john modelbefore urinating becomes even worse as the material and the shape of thewetsuit material. lt is well known in the art of wetsuit design and wetsuit manufacturing that wetsuits are used to provide thermal insulation duringwater activities such as sailing, sailboarding, surfing, paddling, diving, etc.Wetsuits are traditionally made from closed-cell foam neoprene, which is asynthetic rubber that contains small bubbles of, for example, nitrogen gas.The neoprene is often combined with a nylon or lycra backing allowing theneoprene to stretch while decreasing the risk of the wetsuits being tearedapart when removed or applied to the body of the user. The wetsuit shouldhave a tight fit to work efficiently. The tight fit makes the wetsuit difficult toremove and especially because tight fit at the openings for feet, arms, neck,torso, etc. is particularly important the removal of the suit becomescumbersome. For instance, a longjohn model covering a large portion or all ofthe torso of a user is provided with shoulder straps for removal of the wetsuit.ln order to urinate the user will have to release the shoulder straps and pullthe entire torso portion down over the back.

Summary of the invention One object of the present invention is to provide an activity garment orsuspenders that makes it easier for a user of an activity garment to removethe garment sufficiently before urinating.

The object is achieved by means of an activity garment according toclaim 1 and by means of suspenders according to claim 10. Furtherembodiments of the invention are presented in the dependent claims. l\/lore specifically, according to embodiments of the invention, a wetsuitcomprises leg portions and a waist portion, the wetsuit further comprising twoshoulder straps, the shoulder straps being connected to a front side of thewetsuit and being connected to a backside of the wetsuit, and a connectingarrangement which is fixedly attached to the two shoulder straps and to theback side of the wetsuit for connecting the two shoulder straps to the backside of the wetsuit. The connecting arrangement including a locking memberand a loop, the locking member including a first fastening member, which isarranged at an engaging end of the locking member, and a second fasteningmember, which is arranged at a distance from the first fastening member andthe engaging end of the locking member, the first and second fasteningmembers being arranged to lockingly engage with each other, the loop beingarranged to engage with the locking member by allowing the engaging end ofthe first fastening member to pass through the loop and then beingdetachably fastened to the second fastening member and an opening defined by the loop having a length L of at least 20 percent of the width of the waistportion. One advantage of arranging a connecting arrangement as above isthat the shoulder straps keeping the wetsuit in place is easily released.Another advantage is to have a connecting arrangement that is possible torelease at the end of the shoulder straps is that when released and a seatportion of the wetsuit is pulled down, the shoulder straps is either stillhanging high on the back of the user or they are sliding upwards towards theneck and out of an area where there is a risk that the shoulder straps get inthe way and get hit by the urine released by the user.ln some embodiments the locking member is fixedly attached to thetwo shoulder straps and wherein the loop is fixedly attached to the back sideof the wetsuit. One advantage of fixing the loop to the backside of the wetsuitis that the insertion of the locking member through the loop will be facilitatedand the connecting of the two fastening members will also be facilitated.ln further embodiments each one of the first and the second fasteningmembers is strips of connecting material arranged to attach to each other andrelease from each other, the material of the fastening members is at least ofone of the types in the group of hook and loop material and materials havingan array of coupling heads arranged to engage with another array of couplingheads. The advantage of using this type of fastening members is that they areeasily released and attached to each other and therefore facilitating therelease of the shoulder straps from the wetsuit.ln yet further embodiments the loop is formed to receive the engagingend of the locking member which then is being secured to the lockingmember itself after the first fastening member has been pulled through theloop and has been lockingly engaged with the second fastening memberbefore the second fastening member has passed through the loop.ln some embodiments the loop is forming a loop opening that have awidth that is at least 20 percent of the width of the waist portion. Anadvantage of having a wide loop and loop opening is that the loop will beeasier for the user to reach behind his/hers back. Further, the attaching of theshoulder straps using the connecting arrangement will enabled to beperformed faster than with a small loop opening.ln further embodiments the loop is formed as an elongated shapedefining an elongated opening.ln yet further embodiments the loop is formed from a rigid material allowing the loop to substantially retain its shape when subject to tension from the shoulder straps. One advantage of this is that the shape of the waistportion of the wetsuit is less likely to bunch up in the middle of the back as aless rigid loop will collapse. ln further embodiments the activity garment is a wetsuit and the legportions, the seat portion and waist portion are made from a thermalinsulation material. ln yet further embodiments the end of the shoulder straps connectingto the front side of the garment is fixedly attached to an end of a chest portionextending over the shoulders to the back side of the garment. ln further embodiments the loop is forming a loop opening that have awidth that is at least 10 cm. ln some embodiments the loop is formed from a rigid material. ln further embodiments the locking member has an insertion direction,being the direction of the locking member that coincide with the direction thelocking member is inserted through the loop opening, wherein the width of thelocking member is the size of the locking member in the direction transversalto the insertion direction, and wherein the width of the locking member is ofessentially the same size as the loop opening.

A further scope of applicability of the present invention will becomeapparent from the detailed description given below. However, it should beunderstood that the detailed description and specific examples, whileindicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way ofillustration only, since various changes and modifications within the scope ofthe invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detaileddescription. Hence, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited tothe particular component parts of the device described or steps of themethods described as such device and method may vary. lt is also to beunderstood that the terminology used herein is for purpose of describingparticular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting. lt must benoted that, as used in the specification and the appended claim, the articles"a," "an," "the," and "said" are intended to mean that there are one or more ofthe elements unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example,reference to "a sensor" or "the sensor" may include several sensors, and thelike. Furthermore, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements orsteps.

Brief description of the drawinqs Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description of a presently preferredembodiment, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1a is a schematic view of a back side of a wetsuit according tosome embodiments of the invention, Fig. 1b is a schematic view of a front side of the wetsuit of Fig. 1a, Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a connecting arrangement in anunfastened state according to some embodiments of the invention, Fig. 3 is a schematic view of the connecting arrangement of Fig. 2 in afastened state, Fig. 4a is a schematic view from a back side of suspenders, accordingto some embodiments of the invention, being attached to a pair of wetsuittrousers, Fig. 4b is a schematic view from a front side of the suspenders of Fig.4a, Fig. 5a is a schematic view of a back side of a wetsuit according tosome embodiments of the invention, and Fig. 5b is a schematic view of a front side of the wetsuit of Fig. 5a, Further, in the figures like reference characters designate like orcorresponding parts throughout the several figures.

Detailed description of embodiments The present invention relates to a wetsuit designed to facilitate removalfor instance when the user needs to urinate. The present invention alsorelates to suspenders for use with the wetsuit, the suspenders being designedto facilitate removal for urinating. The designs are particularly helpful forfemale users.

A wetsuit 10 according to some embodiments is depicted in Figs 1aand 1b. The wetsuit may be made from closed-cell foam neoprene, which is asynthetic rubber that contains small bubbles of, for example, nitrogen gas.The neoprene is often combined with a nylon or lycra backing allowing theneoprene to stretch while decreasing the risk of the wetsuits being tearedapart when removed or applied to the body of the user.

The front of the wetsuit 10 is showed in Fig 1b and the back of thewetsuit is showed in Fig 1a. The wetsuit 10 comprises leg portions 12, a seatportion 14 and a waist portion 16, a connecting arrangement 18, and a chest portion 20. Further, the wetsuit 10 comprises two shoulder straps 22connecting a front side 24 of the wetsuit 10 to a backside 26 of the wetsuit 10.The two shoulder straps 22 are connected to the chest portion 20 on the frontside 24 at two separately spaced locations allowing for a user's neck to passin between the two shoulder straps 22 when the wetsuit is in use. On the backside 26 the shoulder straps 22 are connected to the waist portion 16 via theconnecting arrangement 18. The shoulder straps 22 connects to theconnecting arrangement 18 at a shoulder strap end 28 of the connectingarrangement 18. The two shoulder straps converge to this connecting positionon the connecting arrangement 18 and is fixedly attached to the shoulderstrap end 28 of the connecting arrangement 18. ln some embodiments thematerial of the shoulder straps 22 is a rigid woven material of some natural orsynthetic textile that is less elastic than the wetsuit material in order to preventthe waistline 16 of the wetsuit from easily sliding down when the user of thewetsuit is active. ln some embodiments this may be achieved by a less rigidmaterial as well, e.g. making the shoulder straps 22 from the same materialas the wetsuit 10.

The connecting arrangement 18 is further fixedly attached to the waistportion 16 of the backside 26 of the wetsuit and is arranged to easily enablereleasing the shoulder straps 22 from the waist portion 16 of the backside forfacilitating sliding down of the seat portion 14 of the wetsuit 10 in preparationfor urinating. The connection arrangement 18 is also arranged to make theshoulder straps 22 easy to reconnect to the waist portion 16 when the wetsuitis to be put back in place for continued activity. ln Fig. 2 an embodiment of the connecting arrangement 18 isschematically depicted. The connecting arrangement 18 includes a lockingmember 30 and a loop 32. The locking member 30 includes the shoulderstrap end 28 connecting the locking member 30 and thereby the connectingarrangement 18 to the shoulder straps 22 and an engagement end 34arranged to engage with the loop 32. The engagement end 34 is formed to beeasily inserted and pulled through the loop 32. This may be achieved bymaking the engagement end 34 slightly less wide than the opening of the loop32. The shoulder straps 22 may be sewn or glued to the shoulder strap end28 of the locking member 30. The shoulder straps 22 may be attached on topof each other and onto the shoulder strap end 28, which then do not have tobe wider than a shoulder strap 22, see for example Fig. 1a. ln otherembodiments the width of the shoulder strap end 28 is the same width as the engagement end 34 of the locking member 30 and then each shoulder strap22 may be fastened as far apart as possible on the shoulder strap end 28.

At the engagement end 34 a first fastening member 36 is fixedlyattached and at a distance from the first fastening member 36 and theengagement end 34 a second fastening member 38 is fixedly attached. Thefirst fastening member 36 and the second fastening member 38 are strips ofconnecting material having the characteristic to removably attach to eachother and keep the fastening members 36, 38, attached to each other throughthe use of the wetsuit 10 and allowing the fastening members 36, 38, torelease from each other at will by the user of the wetsuit 10.

One example of fastening members 36, 38, are fastening members ofhook and loop material, for instance the type provided by Velcro, where thehook material is provided as one of the fastening members 36 or 38 and theloop material is provided as the other fastening member 38 or 36. Anotherexample of fastening members 36, 38, are having arrays of coupling headsarranged on stems and designed to engage with the coupling heads of theother fastening member and thereby achieving a strong connection that theuser are able to break or release when the user find it appropriate. Theselater types of fastening members 36, 38, are sometimes referred to asmushroom fasteners. A further example of fastening members 36, 38, arebuttons and buttonholes, which probably will be somewhat more cumbersometo have engaging and then releasing, however, the solution may in someapplications work good enough.

The loop 32 is formed as a ring of rigid material and is defining anopening. The material forming the loop 32 is, according to someembodiments, a material that makes the loop rigid enough to substantiallykeep its shape when subject to the forces of normal use of the wetsuit 10.These forces are essentially the forces subjected to the waist 16 portionmaking the wetsuit slide down over the seat and the opposite forces from theshoulder straps striving to keep the waist portion and the seat portion 14 inposition. The shape of the loop 32 may be a rectangular shape as showed inFigs. 2 and 3. However, the shape may be an oval, an ellipse, or any otherelongated shape. The loop 32 thus has a length that is greater than the widthof the loop 32 and the same is true about the opening defined by the loop, i.e.the length L of the opening is greater than the width W of the opening. Theloop may be made from plastic, rubber, metal, or any other material suitableto form a rigid loop.

The operation of the oonneoting arrangement is illustrated if Figs 2 and3. Fig. 2 shows the engaging end 34 of the looking member 30 being broughtto the opening defined by the loop 32. ln Fig.2 the engaging end 34 has beenpassed through the opening defined in the loop 32 and the engaging end 34of the looking member 30 and the first fastening member 36 has been broughtback towards the second fastening member 38, where the first and secondfastening members 36, 38, interaots and attaohes to each other forming aloop of the looking member 30 through the loop 32 and thereby seoures thelooking member 30 to the loop 32. When released, the two fasteningmembers are release from eaoh other and then the engaging end 34 of thelooking member 30 is retraoted through the loop 32 disengaging the lookingmember 30 from the loop 32.

The two fastening members 36, 38, should be arranged at suohdistanoe from eaoh other that the first fastening member 36 easily may bebrought into oontaot with the seoond fastening member 38 after it has beenpulled through the loop 32 and been bent baok towards the seoond fasteningmember 38. ln order to faoilitate bringing the engagement end 34 through theloop and bringing the first fastening member 36 towards the seoond fasteningmember 38 the material of the looking member 30 is pliable. The materialmay be the same material as used for the shoulder straps 22, it may bewetsuit material, e.g. neoprene, it may be a plastio woven fabrio, it may be ofany fabrio that is pliant enough and is able to withstand the foroes the lookingmember 30 is subjeoted to, wherein the most pronounoed foroe should be theforoes stretohing the material when the looking member 30 is in engagedposition oonneoting the shoulder straps 22 to the waist portion 16 of thewetsuit 10. ln order to faoilitate the performing of the aotions required to have thelooking member 30 engage with the loop 32, the length of the loop, morespeoifioally the length L of the opening defined by the loop, should be quitelarge. ln some embodiments the opening in the loop is designed to have alength L of at least 20 peroent of the width of the waist portion 16 of thewetsuit 10, in other embodiments the opening in the loop 32 is designed tohave a length L of at least 25 peroent of the width of the waist portion 16, inyet other embodiments the opening in the loop 32 is designed to have alength L of at least 30 peroent, and in yet other embodiments the opening inthe loop 32 is designed to have a length L of at least 40 peroent. ln someembodiments the opening in the loop 32 is designed to be at least 10 om in length L and in others the opening in the loop 32 is designed to be at least 15cm in length L. The greater the length L of the opening in the loop 32 is theeasier it becomes for the user to pass the locking member 30 through theopening of the loop 32. However, if the length L of the opening in the loop 32is too great there is a risk of the loop 32 will start to be experienced as bulkyand to disturb the user in the activity in which the wetsuit 10 is used. For thecalculations above, the width of the waist portion 16 is a measurement takenacross the waist portion 16 on a garment when it is laying essentially flat andwithout any applied tension.

The width W of the loop 32 will also contribute in facilitating theperformance of actions required to have the locking member 30 engage withthe loop 32. ln some embodiments the width W therefore is at least 1,5 cmand in other embodiments the width W is at least 2 cm. Once again, thegreater the width W is the easier it is to fit the locking member 30 through theopening of the loop 32. However, if the width W of the opening in the loop 32is made too big there is a risk of the loop starting to be experienced as bulkyand disturbing the user in the activity in which the wetsuit is used.

The loop 32 is arranged close to the waist portion in order to facilitatethe locking and the releasing of the locking member. ln some embodimentsthe loop 32 is fixedly attached to the waist portion16 of the wetsuit 10 eitherdirectly by having a fold at the waist portion engaging with the loop 32 throughthe opening in the loop 32 or, as depicted in Figs. 1a, 1b, 2 and 3, arranging apiece of fabric fastened in the waist portion looping in through the loop 32 andthen the other end of the fabric fastened in the waist portion 16. The materialmay be the same material as used for the shoulder straps 22, it may bewetsuit material, e.g. neoprene, it may be a plastic woven fabric, it may be ofany fabric that is pliant enough and is able to withstand the forces thearrangement is subjected to, wherein the most pronounced should be theforces stretching the material when arrangement is in engaged positionconnecting the shoulder straps 22 to the waist portion 16 of the wetsuit 10.

Alternatively, the loop 32 may be integrated in the waist portion, e.g. asan opening in the fabric of the waist portion 16 reinforced at the edges bystitches or edge bands sewn around the circumference of the opening. Yetanother alternative is to have the loop 32 described above fastened or sewnto the edges of the opening in the waist portion 16. ln the embodiments described referring to Figs. 1a and 1b the shoulderstraps 22 are connected to the locking member 30 of the connecting arrangement 18 and the loop 32 is connected to the waist portion 16. lnalternative embodiments, not shown, the connecting arrangement 18 isaltered to have the locking member 30 attached to the waist portion 16 andthe loop 32 connected to the shoulder straps 22.ln Figs 4a and 4b, the activity garment is a pair of wetsuit trousers 400that is kept from sliding down by means of suspenders 402 according toalternative embodiments of the invention. The suspenders 402 may becompletely removeable from the wetsuit trousers 400 and includes a pair ofshoulder straps 22 that includes front connectors 404 arranged to connect theshoulder straps 22 to the waist portion 16 of the front side 24 of the pair ofwetsuit trousers 400. The suspenders 402 further includes a connectingarrangement 18 according to any previously described embodiments with thedifference that the connecting arrangement 18 is designed to be temporarilyfastened to the backside 26 of the waist portion 16 by back connectors 406.The shoulder straps 22 are attached to the connecting arrangement 18. Thefront connectors 404 may be buttons arranged to be inserted into abuttonhole, the button may be arranged on the shoulder strap or on the frontside 24 waist portion 16 or vice versa. One advantage of having thebuttonholes in the wetsuit trousers 400 is that the user of the trousers doesnot have to have buttons in the trousers when used without suspenders 402.Alternatively the front connectors are clips arranged at the end of the shoulderstraps 22, hook and loop material on arranged on the end of the shoulderstraps 22 to be passed through an opening arranged at the waist portion 16and fastened to itself, or any other arrangement known to the person skilled inthe art. The back connectors 406 may also be of the types described inconnection with the front connectors 404.ln alternative embodiments the suspenders 402 described inconnection with Figs 4a and 4b are fixedly attached to the wetsuit trousersinstead of removably arranged.Now referring to Figs 5a and 5b, a full cover wetsuit 600 is depicted.

The wetsuit 600 includes all the features of the wetsuit described inconnection with Figs 1a and 1b. Some differences between the wetsuit 10 ofFigs 1a and 1b and the full cover wetsuit 600 of Figs 5a and 5b are that thefull cover wetsuit 600 in addition includes a back portion 602 and arm portions604. There is an opening 606 between the waist portion 16 and the backportion 602 allowing for the waist portion 16 and the seat portion 14 to bepulled down over the seat of the user when the connecting arrangement 18 has been released. ln some embodiments the back portion 602 extendsbelow a waistline and in behind the waist portion 16, the extension isindicated by the dotted line 608 in the figure. This extension makes it lesslikely that the skin of the user will be directly subject to cold water and that thewetsuit will keep the user warm even at the location of the opening 606. Theend of the shoulder straps 22, that are not connected to the connectingarrangement 18, may be attached to the wetsuit 600 a distance down on theback portion 602, at the top of the shoulder, as depicted in Fig. 5a, or adistance down on the chest portion 20. ln this way the advantages of a fullcover wetsuit will be combined with the advantages of the arrangementfacilitating pulling down the waist portion 16 and the seat portion 14 andthereby facilitating urination.According to other embodiments a wetsuit as the one described in connection with Figs 5a and 5b may be formed with short arms or as a longjohn model.

Claims (10)

1. An activity garment comprising leg portions and a waist portion, thegarment further comprising two shoulder straps, the shoulder straps beingconnected to a front side of the garment and being connected to a backsideof the garment, and a connecting arrangement which is fixedly attached to thetwo shoulder straps and to the back side of the garment for connecting thetwo shoulder straps to the back side of the garment, characterised by the connecting arrangement including a locking member and a loop, the locking member including a first fastening member, which isarranged at an engaging end of the locking member, and a second fasteningmember, which is arranged at a distance from the first fastening member andthe engaging end of the locking member, the first and second fasteningmembers being arranged to lockingly engage with each other, the loop being arranged to engage with the locking member byallowing the engaging end of the first fastening member to pass through theloop and then being detachably fastened to the second fastening member.

2. The activity garment according to claim 1, wherein the lockingmember is fixedly attached to the two shoulder straps and wherein the loop isfixedly attached to the back side of the garment.

3. The activity garment according to any one of claims 1 or 2, whereineach one of the first and the second fastening members is strips ofconnecting material arranged to attach to each other and release from eachother, the material of the fastening members is at least of one of the types inthe group of hook and loop material and materials having an array of couplingheads arranged to engage with another array of coupling heads

4. The activity garment according to any one of claims 1 to 3, whereinthe loop is formed to receive the engaging end of the locking member whichthen is being secured to the locking member itself after the first fasteningmember has been pulled through the loop and has been lockingly engagedwith the second fastening member before the second fastening member haspassed through the loop.

5. The activity garment according to any one of claims 1 to 4, whereinthe loop is forming a loop opening that have a width that is at least 20 percentof the width of the waist portion.

6. The activity garment according to any one of claims 1 to 5, whereinthe loop is formed as an elongated shape defining an elongated opening.

7. The activity garment according to any one of claims 1 to 6, whereinthe loop is formed from a rigid material allowing the loop to substantially retainits shape when subject to tension from the shoulder straps.

8. Suspenders comprising two shoulder straps, front connectors for each of the shoulder straps, the front connectorsbeing arranged to connect to a garment, a back connector being arranged to connect to a garment, a connecting arrangement arranged for connecting the two shoulderstraps to the back connector, characterised in that the connecting arrangement includes a locking member and a loop, the locking member includes a first fastening member arranged at anengaging end of the locking member, and a second fastening memberarranged at a distance from the first fastening member and the engaging endof the locking member, the first and second fastening members beingarranged to lockingly engage with each other, the loop being arranged to engage with the locking member byallowing the engaging end of the first fastening member to pass through theloop and then being detachably fastened to the second fastening member.

9. The suspenders of claim 8, wherein the first and second fasteningmembers being strips of connecting material arranged to attach to each otherand release from each other, the material of the fastening members is at leastof one of the types in the group of hook and loop material and materialshaving an array of coupling heads arranged to engage with another array ofcoupling heads.

10. The suspenders of any one of claims 8 to 9, wherein the loop isformed as an elongated shape defining an elongated opening, the openinghaving a width that is at least 10 cm.