Page 211 - Anthropometry, Apparel Sizing and Design

Fabric, seam and design applications in developing body-contouring jeans 207

8.4 Findings and discussion

8.4.1 Findings of the tensile strength test
The graph generated during the tensile strength test is showed in Tables 8.1–8.3,to
make comparisons on the fabric and seam strengths. The test displayed that the
two materials selected to be used in the final product design were Texas jeans (soft)
and denim Lycra, while Texas jeans (hard) was eliminated as it broke in both direc-
tions when force was applied.
Based on Tables 8.1 and 8.2, Texas jeans (soft) was applied in the weft direction for
most parts of the garments as it has the highest mean reading on the elongation break
of 82.99mm compared with the warp direction of mean reading 54.38mm. In a spe-
cific implementation, Texas jeans (soft) is placed at the inner thigh area, all the way
down to the ankle as this part encountered the highest elongation break, millimeter
(stretch ability), with 100% elastic recovery. Hence, this would enhance the comfort
elements on the proposed design and would not sag after several uses.
On the other hand, based on Tables 8.1 and 8.2, the Testometric results showed that
denim Lycra offered the highest force break in the weft direction with a mean reading
of 514.45mm compared with the warp direction with a mean reading of 1388.52mm.
The fabric was chosen in the weft direction as this provided a 100% recovery state.
Hence, denim Lycra fabric was the most suitable and appropriate to be applied
at the hips, front rise, and back yoke areas as this fabric had the highest force break,
Newton (strength), whereby the hardness and strength of the fabric helped to contour
the problematic area.
Meanwhile, based on Table 8.3, curve seam was tested on both denim fabrics,
namely, denim Lycra and Texas jeans (soft). Texas jeans (hard) was eliminated from
the seam strength test as it broke in both warp and weft directions during the fabric
Testometric test. Based on the results of the seam Testometric test on denim fabric,
it was confirmed that curve seam demonstrated a higher elongation break and force
break when compared with a straight seam. Hence, to allow ease of movement, a curve
seam was suitable to be applied on the design. By applying a curve seam, this would
not only increase comfort to the wearers but also prevent the seam from breaking and
at the same time reduce force.

8.5 Design implementation and development

Results from the preliminary study showed that Malaysian women prefer jeans design
that was simple, relaxed, and suitable for everyday wear. Thus, after implementing the
components of body-shaping wear such as curve seam into the design, it was found
that the design of conventional push-up jeans and body-shaping wear at the rear area
was too extravagant for Malaysian consumer.
Fig. 8.4 showed a flow of diagram for body-contouring jeans. Components includes
incorporating two denim fabrics with different stretch and strength properties as
panels, cutting the fabric according to the panels for body-contouring jeans, placing