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The pressure on body scars resulting from pressure garments gradually decreases with time, probably as a consequence of stress relaxation in the fabric material. In order to understand the basic mechanisms contributing to this phenomenon, an understanding of the stress relaxation behaviour of relevant textile structures is vitally important. Makes comparisons of the stress relaxation and shrinkage properties on six selected fabric samples which are all currently used by the hospitals in the UK and/or in Hong Kong. The design of the stress relaxation tests was based on the consideration of the fabric from a performance‐in‐use standpoint. The results of the tests showed differences between the fabrics collected in the UK and Hong Kong. It was also found that the stress relaxation in the wale direction was considerably lower (resulting in better performance) than in the course direction. It may be noted that the shrinkage of the fabrics was closely related to the degree of elasticity loss during washing.

In this study, the use of various clothing descriptors have been used to provide some insights into clothing perception for 88 female students. The use of clothing descriptors to categorize different aspects of clothing is a vital component of clothing selection, given the assumption that explicit use of clothing descriptors may reveal implicit clothing categories. Season, income per month, and total clothing descriptors used were shown to differentially affect the use of various clothing descriptors such as brand, colour, quality, quantity, and size. The results of this study have provided partial evidence for the effect of IT on the use of clothing descriptors, perceived clothing functionality, and effects of financial constraints on brand perception. Moreover, clothing descriptors seem to be useful in illuminating underyling schemas and processes for clothing selection. Implications for future research are discussed in terms of clothing selection and purchase.

Pressure garments are mainly made of elastic Lycra fabrics and tailor‐made to individual patients’ measurements to provide an appropriate amount of skin‐garment interface pressure for burn rehabilitation. However, the fabric tension would be different at various locations from the hem edges of pressure garments, and thus the skin‐garment interface pressure cannot be uniformly maintained over the interface surface. Aims to investigate the pattern of interface pressure changes caused by the different types of edge finish used for making pressure garments. The effect of garment sizes on the change of interface pressure was also examined. Experiments were carried out using two selected elastic Lycra fabrics, four types of hem finish and three different garment sizes. The results of the study provide a guideline for designing the edge finish of pressure garments, and a minimum margin from the hem edges of garments to the scar area is also recommended.

Fabric loss is a major contribution to material utilization. Minimizing fabric loss during spreading can reduce the total production costs for garment manufacturing. A traditional method of predicting the fabric loss during spreading is mainly based on the experience of domain experts or the historical data of production orders. Such method is subjective, not systematic and non‐repeatable. In this paper, assuming the spreading process is handled in a controlled manner and there are no flaws on the fabrics being spread, a mathematical model is constructed for predicting the total fabric loss in the spreading process. The total fabric loss includes the internal wastage (i.e. marker fallout), and the external wastage (including end loss, width loss, and splice loss). Other parameters such as marker length, number of splice lines, remnant, and roll length of fabric are also included in the model.

The problem of assembly line balancing is to assign different tasks to individual workstations for ensuring the sum of task times at any station not exceeding the station time. Standard minute time is generally used in the clothing industry as a predictor of sewing speed and production efficiency. In the clothing industry, the standard minute time derived from the work study methods is generally assumed as a constant for line balancing. However, a lot of factors cause variations on operational time of the same task such as the fabrics and sub‐materials, performance of the machinery, working environment and quality level of the product. With the aid of an illustrating example selected from a men’s shirt manufacturing factory, the effect of time variations for assembly line balancing has been studied in this paper.