Page 225 - Anthropometry, Apparel Sizing and Design

Evaluation of pattern block for fit testing 219

according to sizing systems that provide adequate sizes with suggested intervals of
different body measurements. In accordance with the sizing system, the consumers
can select compatible RTW clothes with sizes that are very close to their morphology.
However, a standard size cannot provide a good fit every time (Turner, 1994). After
all, similar body measurements taken from different people do not equal to a chosen
body type (Hu et al., 2018).
Due to ongoing investigations of body morphology and the differences between
different body types, new information is available to achieve a more effective sizing
system and to improve clothing fit and comfort (Pei et al., 2018). For example, new
devices can be used to obtain additional body measurements of slope, shape, and thrust
of the shoulder area of individual consumers, which are then used in adjustments to an
RTW shirt (Kim et al., 2017).
To determine whether a garment fits well or not, a criteria of assessment should be
created. Well-fitting clothes should be judged against the following criteria (Gill,
2015; Erwin et al., 1979):

(1) the grain direction relating to fabric structure (mainly woven) in accordance with principles
of grain alignment;
(2) the relationship between silhouette, construction, and styling lines of clothes;
(3) the acceptable appearance of clothes without stress folds or unnecessary creases;
(4) the balance, relating to concordance between the human body and clothes;
(5) the ease allowance or air gap, which shows linear or volumetric differences between the
human body and clothes.
These principles are expected to meet different criteria in regard to the definition of
clothes fit (Gill, 2015). By means of a combination of subjective and objective eval-
uations, the fit criteria can be established. But due to the huge number of styles and
silhouettes and the constant changing of people’s understanding of the fit and clothes
performance, universal scores aren’t stable.
Subjective evaluations are principally conducted with sensory analysis using ques-
tionnaires (participants) after a training session of scoring criteria. The participants are
asked to answer the questions with a range of scores, which accordingly reveals their
opinions toward a clothing fit. The sensory evaluation is used to find the influence of
pattern blocks and textile materials (Fujii et al., 2017) and to investigate the suitable
range of ease allowance in accordance with fit, beauty, comfort perception, and pur-
chase intention (Monobe et al., 2017). The sensory evaluation method can obtain par-
ticipants’ assessments by a scale from worst to best (Xue et al., 2016) or from “very
uncomfortable” to “very comfortable” (Gu et al., 2016).
Objective evaluations of clothes fit are executed with measuring devices and algo-
rithms to estimate fit through numerical indicators and values, such as the combination
of the lengths from front waist line to back waist line across shoulder neck points
(SNPs) and shoulder points (SPs) measured on pattern blocks and the angle between
the front edges of ready clothes (Yan et al., 2017).
With the development of virtual technology, many researchers have leveraged
visualization tools to measure compression and ease allowances (air gap, volumetric,
projection, etc.) during virtual try-on. The color gradient is used to visualize the