Quantitative Analysis of Breast Shapes

Abstract

Breast shape analysis underpins the development of bra sizing and bra cup pattern making. Our previous study established a new bra sizing system using two key measurements -- underbust girth and breast depth width ratio (DWR), based on the analysis of 103 3D and manual breast measurements of 456 subjects. To set up a useful link between the new breast sizing and bra pattern development, this study is devoted to 1) investigate the breast shapes quantitatively according to the new bra sizing, 2) explore the key measurements that can be used for bra pattern cutting, 3) search additional measurements that can help the new bra sizing system to be used more efficiently. The correlation coefficient analysis was conducted on the 103 measurements among the most-frequently used 14 bra sizes in the market. 40 measurements having higher correlation coefficients more than 0.5 with the DWR were identified to further improve the application effect of the new bra sizing system in the practical bra design and manufacture. By means of factor analysis, five factors describing the breast shape were derived based on the 40 measurements. Eight measurements closely related to the bra pattern making were obtained. Moreover, the width of the breast and the depth of the breast were added into the new bra sizing system as the control measurements. The effective reference means of eight measurements were obtained for the bra pattern making with the explore statistic analysis.