THE MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF CLOTHING COMFORT: A CASE STUDY FOR TURKEY

Abstract

ABSTRACT Consumers prefer garments that not only look good but also feel good especially during the last years because of their increased consciousness about a better life. Therefore, there have been many studies about subjective evaluation techniques such as subjective wear trials and consumer research techniques to understand how consumers perceive clothing and formulate their comfort perceptions at any specific moment. In this study, the meaning and importance of clothing comfort and main comfort problems according to a group of Turkish consumers having different properties were determined by a questionnaire survey study. Analysis of the results indicated that, garment fit and comfort were the most important criteria for the investigated group during purchase decisions and nearly all of the respondents considered clothing comfort as more important than before. The basic comfort problems of people were mostly related to ease of movement, sweating and garment fit. This study is a preparation stage for wear trials that will constitute the subjective part of a comfort evaluation method to be developed. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSIn the modern consumer market, meeting the consumer needs is the key factor for success and the only way to determine the needs is to measure them by subjective methods and find out the relationships between subjective results and physically measurable parameters. It is thought that, data obtained from this questionnaire survey would be helpful in creating a general overview about the meaning of comfort in a group of Turkish consumers' minds and their purchase behaviors. Sensory descriptors obtained from this study will be used for wear trials to get more reliable results, which will constitute the subjective part of a wider project. Conclusions put forward about objective and subjective measurements will guide fiber and textile producers about the needs and preferences of Turkish consumers. Consequently, they can determine their quality level suitable for specific consumer groups.