Upper body garment with woven tubular shoulder straps

Abstract

The upper body garments disclosed herein include shoulder straps formed of a woven tubular material flattened into a double-ply fabric. The woven tubular shoulder straps have advantageously high recovery. The upper body garments also include a torso-encircling main body portion with a breast supporting region coupled to a body strap. The body strap is formed of a circular knit, tubular material flattened into double-ply fabric. The woven tubular shoulder straps are coupled to the circular knit, tubular body strap. In some embodiments, the weft yarn of the woven tubular shoulder straps can have different material properties than the warp yarn of the woven tubular shoulder straps. Methods of making the upper body garments are also disclosed herein.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . An upper body garment comprising:
 a torso-encircling main body portion; and   shoulder straps coupled to the main body portion;   wherein each shoulder strap is formed of a woven tubular material flattened into double-ply fabric, the woven tubular material comprising a warp yarn extending along a length of the shoulder strap and a weft yarn extending across the length of the shoulder strap; and   wherein the recovery of the shoulder straps is between 91% to 98%.   
     
     
         22 . The upper body garment of  claim 21 , wherein the shoulder straps have rounded edges. 
     
     
         23 . The upper body garment of  claim 21 , wherein the warp yarn has different material properties than the weft yarn. 
     
     
         24 . The upper body garment of  claim 23 , wherein the warp yarn has a spandex content from 70 denier to 140 denier and the weft yarn has a different spandex content from 40 denier to 140 denier. 
     
     
         25 . The upper body garment of  claim 21 , wherein the thickness of each shoulder strap is from 0.5 millimeters to 1.5 millimeters. 
     
     
         26 . The upper body garment of  claim 21 , wherein each shoulder strap has a width of from 10 millimeters to 26 millimeters. 
     
     
         27 . The upper body garment of  claim 21 , wherein at least one of the warp yarn and the weft yarn comprises 280 denier elastomeric yarns. 
     
     
         28 . The upper body garment of  claim 27 , wherein the elastomeric yarns of at least one of the warp yarn and weft yarn are wrapped in a 40 denier nylon filament. 
     
     
         29 . The upper body garment of  claim 21 , wherein each shoulder strap has over 500 yarn ends in the warp. 
     
     
         30 . The upper body garment of  claim 21 , wherein the warp yarn comprises elastomeric yarns from 70 to 140 denier and the weft yarn comprises elastomeric yarns from 40 to 140 denier. 
     
     
         31 . The upper body garment of  claim 30 , wherein the elastomeric yarns of at least one of the warp yarn and weft yarn are wrapped in a 20 denier nylon filament. 
     
     
         32 . The upper body garment of  claim 21 , wherein each shoulder strap has less than 300 ends in the warp. 
     
     
         33 . An upper body garment comprising:
 a torso-encircling main body portion; and   shoulder straps coupled to the main body portion;   wherein each shoulder strap is formed of a woven tubular material flattened into double-ply fabric, the woven tubular material comprising a warp yarn extending along a length of the shoulder strap and a weft yarn extending across the length of the shoulder strap; and   wherein the warp yarn has different material properties than the weft yarn.   
     
     
         34 . The upper body garment of  claim 33 , wherein the warp yarn has a spandex content from 70 denier to 140 denier and the weft yarn has a different spandex content from 40 denier to 140 denier. 
     
     
         35 . The upper body garment of  claim 33 , wherein the shoulder straps have rounded edges. 
     
     
         36 . The upper body garment of  claim 33 , wherein the thickness of each shoulder strap is from 0.5 millimeters to 1.5 millimeters. 
     
     
         37 . The upper body garment of  claim 33 , wherein each shoulder strap has a width of from 10 millimeters to 26 millimeters. 
     
     
         38 . The upper body garment of  claim 33 , wherein at least one of the warp yarn and the weft yarn comprises 280 denier elastomeric yarns. 
     
     
         39 . The upper body garment of  claim 38 , wherein the elastomeric yarns of at least one of the warp yarn and weft yarn are wrapped in a 40 denier nylon filament. 
     
     
         40 . The upper body garment of  claim 33 , wherein each shoulder strap has over 500 yarn ends in the warp. 
     
     
         41 . The upper body garment of  claim 33 , wherein the warp yarn comprises elastomeric yarns from 70 to 140 denier and the weft yarn comprises elastomeric yarns from 40 to 140 denier. 
     
     
         42 . The upper body garment of  claim 41 , wherein the elastomeric yarns of at least one of the warp yarn and weft yarn are wrapped in a 20 denier nylon filament. 
     
     
         43 . The upper body garment of  claim 33 , wherein each shoulder strap has less than 300 ends in the warp. 
     
     
         44 . A method of making an upper body garment, the method comprising:
 forming left and right shoulder straps by weaving a tubular material for each shoulder strap and flattening the tubular material into a double-ply fabric such that a warp yarn of the tubular material extends along a length of each shoulder strap and a weft yarn extends across the length of each shoulder strap, wherein the recovery of the shoulder straps is between 91% to 98%;   forming a main body portion;   attaching a back side of the left shoulder strap to the main body portion; and   attaching a back side of the right shoulder strap to the main body portion.   
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the warp yarn has different material properties than the weft yarn. 
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 45 , wherein the warp yarn has a spandex content from 70 denier to 140 denier and the weft yarn has a different spandex content from 40 denier to 140 denier. 
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein attaching the back sides of each of the left and right shoulder straps to the main body portion comprises sewing each of the left and right shoulder straps to the body strap. 
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein attaching the back sides of each of the left and right shoulder straps to the main body portion comprises bonding each of the left and right shoulder straps to the body strap.