Belt with changeable decorative strips

#The present invention relates to an apparel belt and, more particularly, to a belt which includes means for attachment of interchangeable decorative strips.

#Many of the garments which are worn today have words or designs printed on them, allowing the wearer to express his or her beliefs, allegiance, etc. Perhaps most common are t-shirts which include the indicia of sports teams, amusing expressions or other symbols. However, designs and messages may also be displayed on other types of garments. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,758 to Rendini discloses a changeable message stretch band which allows the wearer to communicate words and expressions through the use of removable graphics. More specifically, the graphics may be added to or removed from the stretch band by means of hook and loop fasteners.

#U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,271 to Gordon discloses a holder for displaying indicia on belts, bracelets, animal collars and the like. The holder includes multiple openings which are designed to receive projections on indicia which are inserted into the holder. Thus, changing the display in the holder can be tedious. Moreover, the holder and/or indicia must necessarily be constructed from a fairly rigid material which may feel uncomfortable when worn.

#These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description that follows.

#There follows a detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention which are to be taken together with accompanying drawings, wherein:

#FIG. 1 is a front view of the outer side of the body encircling member of the belt of the invention;

#Referring now to the figures, like elements are represented by like numerals throughout the several views.

#FIG. 1 shows the belt 1 of the invention before attachment of the decorative strips 2, 3, 4, shown and described in greater detail in connection with FIG. 2. The belt 1 includes a body encircling member 5. The body encircling member 5 may be constructed in any length, dependent on whether it is designed to fit around the torso of a child or an adult, a man or a woman. Fastening means for securing the body encircling member 5 around a wearer's torso may be in the form of a buckle 6 attached to one end of the body encircling member which engages one of several apertures 7 at the opposite end of the body encircling member, the free end of the body encircling member being insertable through a loop 8 near the buckle 6. The fastening means could, of course, be in the form of a hook and loop type fastener, or a snap type fastener and the like.

#The outer side 9 of the body encircling member 5 has stud elements 10-17 secured thereto between opposite ends of the body encircling member 5. As shown, there are eight stud elements 10-17 attached to the body encircling member 5. However, any number of stud elements may be attached to the body encircling member 5 and, further, these stud elements 10-17 may be evenly spaced as shown, or spaced at varying distances from one another. For example, stud elements 10 and 11 could be spaced two inches apart and stud elements 11 and 12 could be spaced three inches apart. Preferably, however, there is a consistent pattern of spacing between stud elements such that the body encircling member 5 has an attractive appearance and can be worn without the attachment of decorative strip elements 2, 3, 4. The stud elements 10-17 may be secured to the outer side 9 of the body encircling member 5 by an adhesive or, more preferably, they extend through the body encircling member 5 and are secured on the inner side 18 by some type of an anchoring element 19, which is well known in the art, as shown in FIG. 3.