Garment sizing system development for Amhara policemen uniforms using data mining techniques
Abstract
Purpose
Sizing system is a fundamental topic in garment fitting. The purpose of this study was to assess the fit of existing police uniforms (shirt, jacket, overcoat and trousers) and develop a sizing system for upper and lower body uniforms of Amhara policemen in Ethiopia.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 35 body dimensions of 889 policemen were taken through a manual anthropometric survey following the procedures in ISO 8559:1989 after each subject was interviewed on issues related to garment fit. The anthropometric data were pre-processed, key body dimensions were identified by principal components analysis and body types were clustered by the agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm and verified by the XGBoost classifier in a Python programming environment. The developed size charts were validated statistically using aggregate loss and accommodation rate.
Findings
About 44% of the subjects encountered fit problems every time they own new readymade uniforms. Lengths and side seams of shirts, and lengths and waist girths of trousers are the most frequently altered garment sites. Analysis of the anthropometric measurements resulted in 13 and 15 sizes for the upper and lower bodies, respectively. Moreover, the comparison of the developed upper garment size chart with the existing size chart for a shirt showed a considerable difference. This indicates that inappropriate size charts create fit problems.
Originality/value
The study considers the analysis of fit problems and sizing system development in a less researched country. Moreover, the proposed data mining procedure and its application for size chart development is unique and workable.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Ethiopian Institute of Textile and Fashion Technology, Bahir Dar University for supporting this study financially.
Citation
Bizuneh, B., Destaw, A., Hailu, F., Tsegaye, S. and Mamo, B. (2023), "Garment sizing system development for Amhara policemen uniforms using data mining techniques", Research Journal of Textile and Apparel, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/RJTA-02-2023-0023
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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