Supplementary clothing

Claim 1

A supplementary clothing article adapted to be carried in a folded condition about a user's torso and for use, to be unfolded to provide an insulated area between a substrate and the user's body, comprising: (a) a one-piece member of heat insulating material having continuous upper and lower ends; said member comprising at least one upper pad member having a free edge forming said continuous upper end, at least one intermediate pad member, and at least one lower pad member, with the lower pad member forming said continuous lower end, said pad members each being comprised of a discrete mat of heat insulating material provided with an outer covering of a textile material the pad members being substantially the same length ; (b) a flexible connection forming a fold area between said intermediate pad member and each of the adjacent upper and lower pad members to permit adjacent ones of said pad members to be placed in juxtaposition with each other to form a layered or folded article and, when unfolded about said fold area, to provide a lay-flat article; and (c) a pair of flexible strap means spaced-apart along the length of said article, said strap means comprising a first set of belts connected to the upper portion of said upper pad member, and a second set of belts connected to the upper portion of said lower pad member, said first set of belts being adapted to encircle a user's torso at the waist thereof and to engage each other, said second set of belts being adapted to engage each other either to encircle a user's torso at the waist thereof there when said article is in its folded form or to encircle the user's lower torso in the region of the user's legs when said article is in its unfolded form.