Outerwear garment with display feature

A outerwear garment adapted to be worn by a person, comprising:

• a fabric piece having an outer side and an inner side, the fabric piece being constructed in a manner to provide a horizontal fabric direction and a vertical fabric direction and being differentially stretchable in the horizontal and vertical fabric directions;
• a first visual area defined by a plurality of parallel generally horizontal slits in the fabric piece, the horizontal slits forming horizontal strips of fabric, each having a longitudinal axis;
• a second visual area defined by a plurality of parallel generally vertical slits in the fabric piece, the vertical slits forming vertical strips of fabric, each having a longitudinal axis;
• a third visual area defined by a plurality of inclined slits in the fabric piece, the inclined slits forming inclined strips of fabric, each having a longitudinal axis;
• multiple display panels, each having a depiction on one side and being attached to the inner side of the fabric piece so that the depictions are located within the visual areas;
• the differential stretching of the fabric piece causing the horizontal strips to curl outward toward the outer side of the fabric piece about their respective longitudinal axes and causing the vertical strips of fabric to curl inward toward the inner side of the fabric piece about their respective longitudinal axes to reveal increased portions of the display panels located within the first and second visual areas;
• and
• the differential stretching of the fabric piece causing the inclined strips to remain substantially undistorted with respect to movement about their longitudinal sloping axes to reveal only a limited area of the display panel secured within the third visual area.

A method of producing an outerwear garment adapted to be worn by a person, comprising the steps of:

• providing a weft-knitted fabric piece having an inner side and an outer side, the fabric piece having a vertical fabric direction and a horizontal fabric direction, the vertical fabric direction including multiple wales in the form of vertical columns of loops, the horizontal fabric direction including multiple courses in the form of horizontal rows of loops;
• cutting the fabric piece to form multiple, parallel generally vertical slits in a first visual area on the fabric piece, the vertical slits forming a plurality of vertical strips of fabric, each having a longitudinal axis;
• cutting the fabric piece to form multiple, parallel generally horizontal slits in a second visual area on the fabric piece, the horizontal slits forming a plurality of horizontal strips of fabric, each having a longitudinal axis;
• attaching a first panel to the inner side of the fabric piece to correspond with the first visual area, the first panel having a first depiction;
• attaching a second panel to the inner side of the fabric piece to correspond with the second visual area, the second panel having a second depiction;
• and
• wetting the fabric piece to cause the vertical strips to curl inward about their respective longitudinal axes toward the inner side of the fabric piece to reveal increased portions of the first depiction within the first visual area, and to cause the horizontal strips to curl outward about their respective longitudinal axis toward the outer side of the fabric piece to reveal increased portions of the second depiction within the second visual area.