Page 34 - Anthropometry, Apparel Sizing and Design

30 Anthropometry, Apparel Sizing and Design

Fig. 2.1 Flow diagram of anthropometry. Manual procedures are shown in italics.

data will be applied. The required accuracy of measurements and measuring attire also
depend on the purpose of the anthropometry. Measurements for a sizing survey for
establishing national standards should be more accurate than measurements for
selecting the proper size of clothes for individual customers. The proper measurement
attire may be different for designing underwear and designing outerwear. If measure-
ments are compared with existing data obtained by traditional methods, scan-derived
1-D measurements need to be comparable with those obtained by traditional methods.
If measurements are used only within a company, they need not be comparable with
measurements obtained by other methods.
Users of anthropometric data expect three different types of quality: validity of
data, comparability of measurement items, and accuracy and precision of measure-
ments. The validity of data means that the subject population of an anthropometric
survey meets the target population of the user. Comparability of measurement items
means that 1-D measurements with the same name are measured using exactly the
same method. In this chapter, anthropometric methods are described with special
attention on the quality of obtained data. Individual measurement items are not
described. Please see anthropometry textbooks introduced in Section 2.7 for descrip-
tions of individual measurement items.

2.2 Traditional anthropometric methods

2.2.1 Basic postures
In the basic standing posture, the subject stands erect with feet together (see
Fig. 2.7A). The shoulders are relaxed, and the arms are hanging down naturally.
The head is oriented in the Frankfurt plane; that is, the Frankfurt plane of the subject
is horizontal. The Frankfurt plane is defined using three landmarks of the head, the
right tragion, left tragion, and left orbitale (Fig. 2.2). The orientation of the head
affects the accuracy of measurements such as the height and neck girth. The tragion
is the notch just above the tragus. The orbitale is the lowest point on the lower edge of
the orbit (eye socket), which can only be located by palpation. The three landmarks
should be marked in advance, and the measurer should confirm that the line