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Evaluation of pattern block for fit testing 249

9.6 Future trends

Fit and balance, as two corresponding indicators of well-designed and well-fitted
clothing, are important areas of practical and scientific exploration. The practical
application of the results obtained is obvious, and the scientific interest is related
to many areas. There are several important factors that are pushing professional
knowledge of fit and balance: to develop areas that contribute to fit and balance,
including anthropometry, pattern block making, construction of new textile materials,
clothing comfort, and on-line selling.
(1) Traditional anthropometry used a limited number of body measurements for producing
RTW clothes, which are enough to draw the basic pattern blocks for typical bodies. Due
to the acceleration process and popularization of special physical exercises (fitness, body-
building, etc.), body measurements are changing and several groups of consumers are not
satisfied with existing combinations of body dimensions used in production and labeling.
To improve the situation, new body measurements to present these morphological features
should be investigated. New body measurements could be measured by means of new non-
contact technologies, including contemporary devices. Other aspects of anthropometry
belong to dynamic changes of body measurements, which should be supported by correct
construction of textile fabrics and ease allowance choices. The combination of traditional
and new measurements can describe the features of human bodies of different consumers
more accurately and increase the anthropometrical database, as first key sources for well-
fitted clothing production.
(2) Development and improving of pattern block methods are following the anthropometrical
database. New body dimensions should help to draw the pattern blocks in accordance with
customization trends and should reflect features of human bodies not only in total dimen-
sions, but also in detailed items such as the distribution of waist dart, sloping of shoulder
lines, distribution of ease to bust girth between back, armhole, and front, and so on.
(3) New textile materials have properties different from the traditional fabrics for which the
manuals of pattern block making and the supporting databases were created. The weight
of contemporary fabrics becomes lighter and lighter, and its ability to preserve the clothing
shape and silhouette becomes weaker. The elasticity of contemporary fabrics produced
from new fibers and threads such as Lycra can influence the properties over a wide range.
To design clothes from new materials, the patternmakers need information about ease
allowances, which should be used during pattern block drawing and shaping and reflect
the properties of contemporary textile materials.
(4) Comfortability has become the leading trend and to achieve clothing with such an important
property, new information based on sensory analysis should be included in the design pro-
cess. Comfort of clothes reflects the quality and well-established database of all steps of the
design.
(5) On-line selling has become more popular due to the possibilities of CAD. Virtual mirrors,
virtual ateliers, and virtual try-ons are several new concepts being used in online purchas-
ing, replacing traditional means of purchase. To move so many steps of the design process
into virtual reality, digitalization and formalizations of professional knowledge, especially
concerning fit and balance, should be carried out. This trend is based on numeric values and
a complex approach to analysis of the system “body-clothes.”
So, fit and balance are complex characteristics of system “body-clothes” and the pro-
gress of clothes design will involve new explorations concerning both indicators.