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With the help of basic physics, the application of computer algorithms in the form of recent advances such as machine learning and neural networking in textile Industry has been discussed in this review. Scientists have linked the underlying structural or chemical science of textile materials and discovered several strategies for completing some of the most time-consuming tasks with ease and precision. Since the 1980s, computer algorithms and machine learning have been used to aid the majority of the textile testing process. With the rise in demand for automation, deep learning, and neural networks, these two now handle the majority of testing and quality control operations in the form of image processing.

The state-of-the-art of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the textile sector is reviewed in this paper. Based on several research problems and AI-based methods, the current literature is evaluated. The research issues are categorized into three categories based on the operation processes of the textile industry, including yarn manufacturing, fabric manufacture and coloration.

AI-assisted automation has improved not only machine efficiency but also overall industry operations. AI's fundamental concepts have been examined for real-world challenges. Several scientists conducted the majority of the case studies, and they confirmed that image analysis, backpropagation and neural networking may be specifically used as testing techniques in textile material testing. AI can be used to automate processes in various circumstances.

This research conducts a thorough analysis of artificial neural network applications in the textile sector.

Fabrics with photothermal conversion functions were developed based on the introduction of shape stable composite phase change materials (CPCMs).

Acidified single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were selected as support material to prepare CPCMs with n-octadecane to improve the thermal conductivity and shape stability. The CPCMs were finished onto the surface of cotton fabric through the coating and screen-printing method. The chemical properties of CPCMs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, XRD and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The shape stability and thermal conductivity were also evaluated. In addition, the photothermal conversion and temperature-regulating performance of the finished fabrics were analyzed.

When the addition amount of acidified SWCNTs are 14% to the mass of n-octadecane, the best shape stability of CPCMs is obtained. DSC analysis shows that the latent heat energy storage of CPCMs is as high as 183.1 J/g. The thermal conductivity is increased by 84.4% compared with that of n-octadecane. The temperature-regulating fabrics coated with CPCMs have good photothermal conversion properties.

CPCMs with high latent heat properties are applied to the fabric surface through screen printing technology, which not only gives the fabric the photothermal conversion performance but also reflects the design of personalized patterns.

CPCMs and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are mixed to make printing paste and printed cotton fabric with temperature-regulating functional is developed.

SWCNTs and n-octadecane are composited to prepare CPCMs with excellent thermal properties, which can be mixed with PDMS to make printing paste without adding other pastes. The fabric is screen-printed to obtain a personalized pattern and can be given a thermoregulatory function.

The process of fashion design varies between market segments, yet these variations have not yet been properly explored. This study aims to examine the fashion design process as practised at the mass-market level, as this is the most vibrant and the largest market segment in terms of production volumes and sales.

It is observed that 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with mass-market fashion designers. Key activities of the mass-market design process were identified and a comparative analysis was conducted with the general design process.

The mass-market design process is found to prioritise profits rather than aesthetic aspects, with the buyer exercising more power than the designer. This hinders creativity, which, in turn, may impede a move towards more environmentally benign designs.

The clothing industry is responsible for high environmental impacts and many of these impacts arise through decisions made in the design stage. In particular, the mass-market for clothing because of its high volume of sales and fast throughput, accounts for a great deal of the impact. However, little is understood about the design process that is practised in the mass-fashion market. This paper fills the gap by developing a framework that describes the mass-market design process. Understanding the design process will enable progress to be made towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.

This study aims to explore how manufacturing firms master customer lock-in through value creation by servitization innovation strategies from the perspective of asset specificity.

A multiple case study with triangulation fashion is adopted to identify servitization innovation strategies. Several manufacturing firms were investigated, which are distributed in different positions of the value chain. Content analysis and abductive approaches are adopted to analyze the data. Moreover, an in-depth interview and participatory observation were conducted to refine the analysis results.

This study identified four different focusing points of servitization operations. Based on these, the paper further induces an innovative servitization strategy matrix of customer lock-in, concerning communion, intellectual, existential and insubstantial strategies. Furthermore, a conceptual model of customer lock-in by servitization innovation from the perspective of asset specificity is elaborated. It is suggested that companies can use tangible or intangible resources by sharing or storing operations to create servitization value.

This study theoretically proposes a conceptual model to extend servitization innovation as an intangible asset and adopt the new perspective of asset specificity to illustrate the value creation in servitization to generate customer lock-in.

The study aimed to clarify differences in fabric hand perceptions among Japanese and Chinese participants and implement online shopping strategies that enable consumers to easily recognize fabric texture.

Forty (20 Japanese and 20 Chinese) participants knowledgeable about clothing and fabric were recruited. Participants evaluated fabric by sight and touch in a visuotactile experiment (VTE). The stimulus material comprised 39 fabric samples representing a broad range of fabric attributes (7 fibers, 5 weaving/knitting techniques and 3 yarn thicknesses and density). A Mann–Whitney U test and a factor analysis were conducted to determine differences in responses for the different fabric variables.

The fabric hand perceptions factors were similar between both groups. Japanese participants showed a stronger preference for fabrics that felt wet. Japanese participants’ fabric hand perceptions had a 3-factor structure, while Chinese participants had a 2-factor structure. Chinese participants regarded “crisp” as perceptually and linguistically equivalent to “stretchy.”

The study’s findings suggest that Chinese people have stronger preferences in fabrics than Japanese people do. Japanese people evaluate fabric hand in a more nuanced manner than Chinese individuals, including discerning different fabric attributes, such as fiber and yarn thickness and density. Thus, nationality may influence fabric hand perceptions more than fabric knowledge does. Specifically, in evaluating “crispness,” the results required further analysis because differences in nationality may have affected evaluations regarding perception and linguistic perspectives. The findings provide design guidelines for implementing online shopping strategies adapted to each participant group.

For over a century, traditional Japanese cotton crepe fabrics have been popular for men’s underwear in the humid summer. Now, consumer demand is for crepe fabrics that are more attractive, reflecting a shift in use from underwear to women’s dresses. The purpose of this paper is to clarify how the structures of the crepe and its constituent yarns affect the physical properties, handle and silhouette formability of crepe fabrics for dresses.

Three plain-weave gray fabrics were finished by four different processes to change their crepe structures. The mechanical and surface properties of the fabrics were measured using the Kawabata evaluation system for fabrics. The primary hand values and silhouette formability of the fabrics were calculated using conversion equations based on the physical properties. The handle of the crepe fabrics and the aesthetic appearance of flared collars made of them were assessed by female students using the semantic differential method.

Comparing the fabrics made from the same gray fabric, the piqué crepe fabrics showed larger Hari (anti-drape) and Shari (crispness) than the others. The subjective hand value of softness was closely related to fabric thickness. The assessors preferred the fine piqué crepe fabrics over the wide piqué fabrics regarding both the tactile feeling of the fabrics and the aesthetic appearance of the flared collars. The attractiveness of the flared collars was dominated by the shear stiffness of the fabrics.

The fine piqué crepe fabric made from fine yarns produced a more preferable handle. The fine piqué fabric made from thicker yarns produced flared collars with silhouettes that are more attractive. This indicates that the fine piqué structure is a positive feature that makes the fabric suitable for various types of dresses.

The health and environmental hazards associated with synthetic dyes have led to a revival of natural dyes that are non-toxic, environmentally benign and coupled with various functions. The study aims to investigate and develop the potentiality of a popular herb called Chromolaena odorata (C. odorata) as a sustainable and stable dyestuff in textiles.

Natural colorant extracted from C. odorata leaves is used to dye the worsted fabric, which is one of the premier end-use of wool in fashion, via the padding method associated with pre-, simultaneous and post-mordanting with chitosan, tannic acid and copper sulfate pentahydrate. The effects of extraction, dyeing and mordanting processes on fabric’s color strength K/S and color difference ΔE_CMC are investigated via International Commission on Illumination’s L*a*b* color space, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, color fastness to washing, rubbing, perspiration and light.

The results obtained indicate extraction with ethanol 90% with a solid/liquid ratio of 1:5 within 1 h, and coloration with a liquor ratio of 1:5 (pH 5) within 2 h under padding pressure of 0.3 MPa are the most effective for coloring worsted fabric.

The C. odorata’s application as a highly effective dyestuff possessing good colorimetric effectiveness has expanded this herb's economic potential, contributing partly to economic growth and adding value to wool in global supply chain.

C. odorata dyestuff has prevailed over other natural colorants because of its impressive color fastness against washing, rubbing, perspiration and especially color stability for pH change.

The aim of the study reported in this article was to establish whether the quality of clothes of a given brand is perceived and assessed by consumers at the same level. An additional purpose was to identify the features that characterize the quality of popular, among Polish young female consumers, clothing brands and to classify them according to their quality level (perceived and assessed).

The article presents two approaches to consumer assessment of the quality of clothes: the survey method, in which the product quality was determined by 320 Polish female young respondents (19–25) based on their own previous experiences and impressions related to a particular clothing brand, and a direct assessment of shirts of selected brands using a sensory quality assessment method, a five-point hedonic scale with the verbal anchor (115 evaluators).

The research has revealed a significant difference between the perception of selected quality features of brands and the consumer assessment of the products. The perception maps developed based on the PROFIT analysis (PROperty FITting) as well as on cluster analysis provided interesting information about the situation of selected brands and their features in comparison with others and allowed to identify strong and weak features characterizing a given category.

This study has several limitations. First and foremost, the research results cannot be generalized to all consumers because they encompass the results from one national context and one population of respondents (young females). It should also be noted that the conducted research comprises only the most popular clothing brands available on the Polish market, in particular, the fast fashion segment brands. Furthermore, it would be advisable to carry out a sensory assessment of the quality of other clothing items offered under the brand names investigated.

This research could be a valuable source of information for clothing company managers, thanks to which they could better manage their brand and its position on the market. When undertaking marketing activities consisting of building positive perceptions about the product, it is important to make sure that the product offers an attractive sensory experience. When real quality deviates from consumer perceptions about the quality, managers should take corrective actions to restore and even improve the brand image in the eyes of the consumer, as well as to ensure the brand and the products offered under it a stable position on the market.

By comparing two approaches to consumer quality assessment, discrepancies between declared and real (sensory) quality of clothes have been identified and the distinctive features that differentiate selected brands regarding their quality level have been indicated.

Solar cells could make textile-based wearable systems energy independent without the need for battery replacement or recharging; however, their laundry resistance, which is prerequisite for the product acceptance of e-textiles, has been rarely examined. This paper aims to report a systematic study of the laundry durability of solar cells embedded in textiles.

This research included small commercial monocrystalline silicon solar cells which were encapsulated with functional synthetic textile materials using an industrially relevant textile lamination process and found them to reliably endure laundry washing (ISO 6330:2012). The energy harvesting capability of eight textile laminated solar cells was measured after 10–50 cycles of laundry at 40 °C and compared with light transmittance spectroscopy and visual inspection.

Five of the eight textile solar cell samples fully maintained their efficiency over the 50 laundry cycles, whereas the other three showed a 20%–27% decrease. The cells did not cause any visual damage to the fabric. The result indicates that the textile encapsulated solar cell module provides sufficient protection for the solar cells against water, washing agents and mechanical stress to endure repetitive domestic laundry.

This study used rigid monocrystalline silicon solar cells. Flexible amorphous silicon cells were excluded because of low durability in preliminary tests. Other types of solar cells were not tested.

A review of literature reveals the tendency of researchers to avoid standardized textile washing resistance testing. This study removes the most critical obstacle of textile integrated solar energy harvesting, the washing resistance.