Search results

The purpose of this paper is to analyze petite women’s body size and figure and investigate whether current petite sizing charts accurately reflect actual petit size women’s bodies. This study also categorizes petite women’s body shapes and suggests primary body measurements as a base size for each shape. The ultimate goal is to suggest fundamental body measurements for apparel companies to modify and improve their sizing.

This study used data from SizeUSA data to compare body measurements of 18-35-year-old petite women to regular women. The authors compared the results to measurement differences between petite and regular sizing charts of 14 apparel companies. Then, using the principal component analysis and cluster analysis, the authors classified petite women’s body shapes. Body measurements for each body type are contrasted with the current petite sizing charts, and then, the authors present differences as suggestions for modification and improvement of petite sizing.

Industry sizing system do not generally represent average petite size women preciously except for stature. Within the petite women, four body types were identified (top petite: 30.0 percent, bottom petite: 30.8 percent, regular petite: 23.6 percent, and plus size: 15.4 percent). Of the four groups, the ASTM D7878 generally represented the “top petite” sizing.

It is the first to analyze the industry petite sizing system utilizing population data and focus petite sizing for women aged 18-35. The authors believe this study could draw attention of the apparel industry, providing companies with ideas of how to improve their petite sizing for young women.

The purpose of this study was to explore body shapes among overweight and obese men and examine fit issues based on the current ASTM sizing standards related to the categorized body shapes.

The SizeUSA data and the additional data extracted using the ImageTwin (TC2-19) software were used. To categorize body shapes, principal component (PC) analysis with varimax rotation, hierarchical cluster analysis for an elbow method and K-mean cluster analysis were employed. Comparing the categorized body shapes and ASTM sizing charts, a cross-tabulation was performed to test associations between fit analyses for top and bottom for the body shape groups. Furthermore, an analysis of variance and pairwise comparison were performed to identify differences in mean values of size drops between two body parts across the different body shape groups.

Using a three-dimensional (3D) body scanning technology and 3D virtual avatars, three body shapes for overweight and obese men emerged: Rectangle-curvy, bottom hourglass-hip tilt and top hourglass-straight shapes. Further, overweight and obese male consumers are not likely to find a perfect fit from apparel companies who developed their sizing charts based on the men's and big men's ASTM standards. Notably, the big men's ASTM sizing standard did not work for most overweight and obese men the United States.

Despite the notable increase in the US population that is overweight and obese, most overweight and obese men have had fit problems due to the differences in their body shapes as compared to the standardized body shape used in the current sizing system. The results of this study suggest apparel companies who are targeting overweight and obese male consumers in the United States updating their sizing systems in order to solve fit problems.

The purpose of this paper is to identify common issues among commercial body size charts, and to propose a sizing improvement methodology without changing the number of sizes in the range. One goal is to equalize the number of people accommodated by each size within the range, and to propose a way to evaluate the effectiveness of the improvement.

The proposed method consists of three phases: (Phase I) identify target population; (Phase II) analysis of existing size charts; and (Phase III) improvement of the initial size chart. Phase III is the key process, which includes repeated manipulation of intersize intervals of the three primary measurements (chest, waist and hip) for improved consistency of overall and interior accommodate rates among the three measurement categories. A program was developed in RStudio® to generate trials and side-by-side bar plots for visualization of the differences in accommodate rates.

The main issue in commercial body size charts observed is the inconsistency of the interior accommodation rates among measurement categories. Some other issues include: lack of important measurements, failure to provide ranges and gaps between measurement ranges of adjacent sizes.

This paper proposed a complete work flow to improve body size charts to fix the common issues. The method integrates historic size information and new anthropometric information extracted from a national-scale sizing database (e.g. SizeUSA). The study also brought association of the secondary body measurements with primary measurements without using linear regression. Hence, information from body size charts can be more efficiently used in acquiring other size information.

The purpose of this paper is to compare body shape between USA and Korean women. It aims to analyze the distribution and proportion of body shapes of two countries and compare the differences of body shape according to age.

SizeUSA and SizeKorea measurement data were evaluated using the Female Figure Identification Technique for apparel system developed at North Carolina State University. Once the samples were defined by shape, comparisons were made of the distribution according to age and country through statistical analysis.

The paper finds that the largest shape category was the rectangle shape in both countries, but the distribution within each shape category for Korean women was different from that of USA women. More body shape categories were found in the USA women than in Korean women. In addition, most body shape categories had different body proportions when comparing the USA women and Korean women. The USA women had the higher measurements in the waist, high hip, and hips height and the larger measurements in the bust, waist, high hip, and hips circumference.

Of the over 6,300 US female subjects in this study, only five failed to be identified by the seven shapes identified. These subjects had over 50.2 in. of hip circumference, over 10 in. larger hips than bust circumference, and over 15.5 in. larger hips than waist circumference. Further refinement of the mathematical definitions or a second group of criteria may be required for sorting the women that have no shape as defined by this study.

The opportunity to compare the body shapes between two very different countries, using national anthropometric survey data, is very rare, indeed. This comparison allows the opportunity to discover ways to improve the sizing systems of each country, as well as impact the development of international sizing standards that could have a significant impact on brands producing product for a variety of international consumers.

Current offerings for women's ice hockey equipment are compared to the data collected in a 1993 study conducted on fit and performance of impact protection equipment for female ice hockey players. The growing athletic participation of women in a variety of sports has led to the need for female specific protective clothing, specifically in the sport of ice hockey where women have made large strides worldwide in the last decade. Anatomical differences between men and women, the injury occurrence when playing ice hockey and the current system of sizing hockey equipment were reviewed. The SizeUSA data, which includes the body scans and measurements of over 7,000 American women, is discussed and compared with current sizing information. The size and fit of protective equipment is crucial to providing adequate impact protection to the ice hockey player. Female ice hockey players were surveyed: evaluations were conducted on the current equipment, and research on a system of impact protective clothing is analyzed. A system of protection using garment layers to protect specific areas of the body, allows for ease of movement and sized in a manner consistent with the most current information available is recommended. Further research is needed concerning the performance and acceptance of such equipment.

The purpose of the present study was to improve the fit of women’s bifurcated garments by developing an equation that can predict the crotch length accurately by using a few basic body measurements. This equation could provide a simple mass-customization approach to the design of bifurcated garments.

Demographic characteristics and easy-to-record body measurements available in the size USA database were used to predict the crotch length. Different methodologies including best subset regression, lasso regression and principal components regression were experimented with to identify the most important predictor variables and establish a relationship between the significant predictors and crotch length.

The lasso regression model provided the highest accuracy, required only five body dimensions and dealt with multicollinearity. The preliminary pattern preparation and garment fit tests indicated that by utilizing the proposed equation, patterns of customized garments could be successfully altered to match the crotch length of the customer, thereby, improving the precision and efficiency of the pattern making process.

Crotch length is a crucial measurement as it determines bifurcated garment comfort as well as aesthetic fit. The crotch length is usually estimated arbitrarily based on non-scientific methods while drafting patterns, and this increases the likelihood of dissatisfaction with the fit of the lower-body garments. The present study suggested an algorithm that could predict crotch length with 90.53% accuracy using the body dimensions height, hips, waist height, knee height and arm length.

The purpose of this study was to categorize the whole body shapes of overweight and obese females in the US and examine apparel fit based on the current ASTM sizing standards related to the body shapes categorized.

Body scan data from 2,672 subjects were used. To categorize their whole body shapes using 97 body measurements, principal component analysis with varimax rotation, a hierarchical cluster analysis and K-means cluster analysis were used. To compare the ASTM sizing standards for plus sizes (curvy and straight) and missy sizes (curvy and straight), five body parts (bust, under bust, waist, top hip, hip) using the formula for fit tolerance (measurement plus half of the interval) were compared with the ASTM sizing standards to determine the size appropriate for each body part.

Five whole body shapes among overweight and obese females in the US were categorized: Rectangle-curvy; parallelogram-moderately curvy; parallelogram-hip tilt; inverted trapezoid-moderately curvy and inverted trapezoid-hip tilt. When the body measurements in each body shape were compared with the current ASTM sizing systems for both misses and plus sizes, four-fifths or more of overweight and obese female adults in the US would find it difficult to obtain a perfect fit for both tops and bottoms.

Identifying whole body shapes among overweight and obese women in the US contributes significantly, as it will help apparel companies that target the markets of larger women develop a new sizing system. This study is the first attempt to analyze fit by comparing the ASTM sizing charts with body measurements in each body shape group. Further, the study contributes to the body-related literature by filling gaps in missing whole BS categories among overweight and obese females.

The paper seeks to identify ethical issues arising from body cathexis research and analyse categories for attention. To also highlight methodological considerations in generating body size data through measurement for fashion products.

This study presents instrumental activities and strategies for conducting and implementing focus groups for investigating body cathexis and related body measurements for fashion products. Five homogenous groups of 30 females aged 19‐44 years, were employed. Purposive and proportionate sampling procedures involving both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied and analysed by triangulation. Aspects of the methodology of measurement are presented in this paper but analysis of measurement data is presented in a subsequent paper. Key ethical principles by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), UK have been also evaluated in relation to the integrity of such a study.

The study found that deciding on procedures regarding collating data on psychological issues related to garment fit is an obscure process that is not clearly documented in literature. It raised significant issues relating to sensitivity to respondents' concerns when conducting an investigation into body cathexis for fashion products. A framework for ethical and methodological practice in researching body cathexis and ethical deliberation in generating body measurement data has therefore been presented.

This study presents guidelines for ethical practice and develops an ethical framework for research and professional practice.

Two-dimensional (2D) measurement technology has become more popular than before, thanks to the widespread availability of smartphones and smart devices. However, most existing 2D body measurement systems have background constraints and may raise privacy concerns. The purpose of this research was to test the idea of designing a 2D measurement system that works with a color-coded measurement garment for background removal and privacy protection. Clothing consumers can use the proposed system for daily apparel shopping purposes.

A 2D body measurement system was designed and tested. The system adopted a close-fitted color-coded measurement garment and used neural network models to detect the color-code in the garment area and remove backgrounds. In total, 78 participants were recruited, and the collected data were split into training and testing sets. The training dataset was used to train the neural network and statistical prediction models for the 2D system. The testing dataset was used to compare the performance of the 2D system with a commercial three-dimensional (3D) body scanner.

The results showed that the color-coded measurement garment worked well with the neural network models to process the images for measurement extraction. The 2D measurement system worked better at close-fitted areas than loose-fitted areas.

This research combined a color-coded measurement garment with neural network models to solve the privacy and background challenges of the 2D body measurement system. Other researchers have never studied this approach.

The purpose of this paper is to present a model of researching clothing anthropometrics at the Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK (MMU model), to demonstrate steps in devising size charts by analysing raw data, to relate key aspects of size charts to raw data, and to generate debate on such methods that impinge on the disseminated knowledge in this specialised area. Although sizing is important to consumers, retailers and manufacturers, this area has received scarce attention in the literature.

The MMU model presents step‐by‐step processes in generating size charts. Data from 150 women generated descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, percentiles); these were utilised to devise seven sizes of a body measurements table. Correlations were used to determine relationships, resulting in size charts with a defined size range and grading increments that are relatable to utilisation by consumers, retailers and manufacturers.

A step‐by ‐step model of analysing raw data is presented. A verifiable size chart, codes, grading increments and size limits relatable to data are generated. The usefulness of size charts is therefore contextualised.

This paper discusses only one model of researching clothing anthropometrics and provides a related conceptual framework; this could be the basis for future research and debate in this area.

For competitiveness, efficient sizing is useful for marketing, especially in creating niches, targeting customers and facilitating consumer satisfaction.

The MMU model provides an initial conceptual framework at one institution, a benchmark for similar practice in academia and industry and subsequent debate in literature.