Medical Center in Troy Will Begin Covering Your Butt: Watch

Henry Ford was known for his brilliant innovations, and not just for developing the Model T that revolutionized transportation in America and built a family dynasty.

Now, the research and development arm of the Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System named in the original car guy’s honor has done something hospital patients – and those who see them walking away – have long been clamoring for: a gown that covers their butts, literally.

The new gown, one of the first inventions made public by the Henry Ford Institute, is called, appropriately enough, the “Model G.”

As a robe does, it wraps around the front and completely closes in both the front and backside, according to a video posted on YouTube. A slit in the back of the gown allows clinical access, but closes completely.

The design is a collaboration with students at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies and stemmed from students’ desire to create more dignity for patients when they’re at their worst, said Michael Forbes, a product designer at the Institute.

Some patients at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit began wearing the gown during a limited roll-out in 2013.

They liked the warmth the less-drafty gown provided as well as the sense of dignity, felt more like they were at home wearing an article of clothing rather than a drape or sheet, and wondered why something like the gown hadn’t been developed sooner, Forbes said.

Now, the gown is ready for commercialization, one of the goals of the Henry Ford Innovation Institute, established in 2012 by the health system.

On Wednesday, those involved in the design planned to meet with Dearborn-based Carhartt Inc. to ink a deal for the manufacture of 35,000 of the gowns to be used at the sprawling health system’s six hospitals and 29 medical centers, according to the Associated Press.

The innovators are also ready to license other manufacturers to use the design.