Garment closure

Claim 1

In combination with a sporting garment adapted for wear about a lower torso of a person, said garment being composed of a fabric having inner and outer surfaces and formed into a body enclosure of a somewhat cylindrical shape, said enclosure having a closed rear-enclosure segment and an openable front-enclosure segment along with a pair of leg enclosure segments respectively joined to one another to form a unitary trouser-type garment having a waist area along an upper area thereof and a crotch area between said leg-enclosure segments, along with a closure means associated with said front-enclosure segment, the improvement wherein said closure means comprises: a pair of complementary juxtapositionable, somewhat triangularly-shaped flap panels respectively extending from opposing side edges of the rear-enclosure segment, said flap panels being selectively manipulatable to close said openable front-enclosure segment, each flap panel having a lateral extent sufficient to generally overlap at least a substantial portion of said front-enclosure segment; a first strip of a Velcro-type hook material secured onto the outer surface of a first and said pair of said flap panels along a distal end thereof; a first plurality of aligned and spaced-apart strips of Velcro-type nap material secured onto the inner surface of a second of said pair of flap panels along an upper inner end thereof; a second strip of Velcro-type hook material secured onto the inner surface of the second of said pair of said flap panels along a distal end thereof; and a second plurality of aligned and spaced-apart strips of Velcro-type nap material secured onto the outer surface of the first of said pair of flap panels along an upper inner end thereof; whereby during a closing operation, the first flap panel is laterally extended in a given direction over the front-enclosure segment of the body enclosure and the first strip of hook material is individually engaged with a select one of said first plurality of strips of nap material and the second flap panel is laterally extended in a direction opposite the said given direction over said first flap panel and the second strip of hook material is individually engaged with a select one of said second plurality of strips of nap material so that all strips of hook material are covered and out of contact with the person within such garment and out of contact with another person exterior of such garment.