Apparel Field Research Articles

A model to evaluate logistics RFID-based investments economic effectiveness in the apparel field

The paper presents a practical tool for supporting practitioners, consultants and researchers in the achievement of logistics effectiveness improvements in the fashion supply chain, through the determination of the expected profitability concerning RFID-based technology investments. Moreover, the limits related to the multipurpose implementation of this technology have been highlighted. The research explores the main cost items of an RFID based application, in order to understand to which extent the increased effectiveness, usually triggered by its implementation, is able to cover those costs. Main sources of knowledge are practitioners' report, scientific literature and case studies on the specific field. These investigations have conducted to the evidence that the RFID based applications and their investments are usually undertaken without a clear understanding of all the implications on the companies' PL this indirectly will increase the success of RFID-based project implementations while reducing the uncertainty in terms of economical results. The main contribute of this research resides in the model's ease of use, quickness and effectiveness, grossly defining the economical expectations of an RFID investment; given the difficulties in defining precise figures, the study could support the investment choices.

Design for Many, Design for Me: Universal Design for Apparel Products

ABSTRACTThis study examined the potential of universal design in the field of apparel. The particular purpose of the study was to explore the use of the concept and principles of universal design as guidance for developing innovative design solutions that accommodate ‘inclusivity’ while maintaining ‘individuality’ regarding the wearer's aesthetic tastes and functional needs. To verify the applicability of universal design in apparel products, two case studies of design practice were conducted, and the principles of universal design were evaluated through practical applications. This study suggests that universal design provides an effective framework for the apparel design process to achieve flexible and versatile outcomes. However, due to product proximity to the wearer, modification of the original definition and principles of universal design must be considered in applications for apparel design.

Carbon Fiber Application Analysis in the Apparel Field

As a new chemical material, carbon fiber is widely used in national defense and civil industries due to the strong tensile strength of carbon and the flexibility and workability of fiber. Through collecting and sorting relevant data, this paper summarized and analyzed the application of carbon fiber in apparel industry, especially in the field of electrical heating clothing, meanwhile pointed out a few issues to be solved for carbon fiber heating clothing in terms of safety, buttery durability, construction and fabric etc.

가상봉제에 의한 소매산 높이의 변화가 봉합여유량 및 외관에 미치는 영향

This study aim was to understand the effects of the change of the sleeve cap height on the sleeve cap line and the sleeve appearance by making nine different sleeve cap height patterns. When a subject sews the virtual and real garments with this, it provides data base through which she can make the suitable sleeve by conducting a comparative analysis of the appearance and cross-sectional diagram and grasping the relation between the sleeve cap line ease and the shape of the sleeve. As a result of the analysis of the image of 3D virtual garment, the shape of the armscye and the position of the bust line and sleeve baseline, the sleeve cap height and the sewing ease of the sleeve cap line affect on the shape of the sleeve and the armscye. Although the real garment is slightly different from the virtual garment they have shown similar tendency. Therefore, if the 3D virtual clothing system is used appropriately, it is possible to expect various study results in the apparel field without making real garments.

Analysis of children's textiles and apparel product safety issues using recall data from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission

Given the heightened concerns and awareness among US consumers regarding imported product safety issues, as well as today's businesses' strong involvement with product safety assurance, it is imperative for family and consumer science educators to understand issues surrounding the safety of consumer products. This study analysed product recall data from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) specific to infant and children's products. The results indicated a high proportion of recalls from China as well as a high number of deaths/injuries related to strangulation, lead paint or falls. Commonly recalled products included hooded sweatshirts with drawstrings, baby cribs and children's jewellery. Educators in the textile and apparel field may want to incorporate information on the US CPSC, safety standards and various hazard types into their curriculum. Knowledge of potential hazards of these products would help students be better prepared for the future workforce.

Development of an apparel design graduate programme emphasising creative scholarship

The purpose of this article is to propose methods that could be employed to educate apparel design graduate students as creative scholars. Universities have been increasingly receptive to broadening the definition of scholarship beyond that of traditional research. In the field of textiles and apparel, many schools allow faculty to conduct creative scholarship as all or part of their performance portfolio. However, graduate education in the apparel field remains focused on traditional research requirements. This article describes an apparel design graduate programme to prepare students as creative design scholars. The programme is described in relationship to the four elements identified by Edström (Edström, A.M., 2008, International Journal of Education and the Arts, 9 (3), 1–24) as common to Master of Fine Arts programmes in Sweden: artistic development, analysis and evaluation, theoretical awareness and independent process development.

Factory Tour of Mimaki Engineering Co. Ltd.

Mimaki Engineering Co. Ltd., founded in the city of Tomi, Nagano Prefecture in 1975 and listed on the JASDAQ Stock Exchange in 2007, is an up-and-coming company. At first, the company developed and manufactured the special order item like the electrical equipment unit, the chip mounter, and the automatic transfer line system, etc., which were the “Engineering” still remaining in the name of the company. The Company’s first ever original product was a pen plotter which made the best use of the servo technologies cultivated in earlier experiences in producing custom-made products. This then led to the development of cutting plotters that utilize cutters instead of pens. Knowledge gained on the needs and characteristics of the Company’s mainstay market seems to have opened the door to the later commercial success of the company. The product that has most influenced the direction of the company has been the large-size ink jet printer put on the market in 1996. The company, in order to meet the needs of sign graphics (the company’s mainstay market), has added new inks and technologies for large-sized printing to the fundamental ink jet technologies introduced by Epson, and in so doing has grown into a leading company in the field. Moreover, the Company has steadily prepared to advance into the field of industrial products with printing and cutting technologies applied to plastic plates, etc. and also into the textile and apparel field, in which printing is done on fabric. These technologies all provide main stay products for digital on-demand production, an innovative production method.

Social Support, Research Interest, Stress, and Research Productivity of Textiles and Apparel Faculty

This study examines the relationship between work stress and research productivity among faculty members in the field of textiles and apparel. Work stress and research productivity were studied in relation to four antecedent variables: collegial or institutional support, chair's support, professional organization support, and research interest. In addition, rank, institution type, position description, expertise, and degrees offered were examined in relation to the variables. Data from 173 members of the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) classified as assistant professors ( n = 63), associate professors ( n = 63), and professors ( n = 47) were analyzed. Results show research interests to be the only significant factor to influence research productivity. No variables in this study significantly influenced work stress. Respondents with higher research productivity were from 4-year, land-grant institutions with graduate programs and had a lower teaching load. Further investigation in examining research productivity of faculty members is recommended.

Clothing as Material Culture (review)

Reviewed by Heather Marie Akou Clothing as Material Culture. Edited by Susanne Küchler and Daniel Miller. Oxford: Berg, 2005. Pp. x+195. $89.95/$28.95. This anthology is aimed at breaking down two sets of stereotypes that have limited scholarship on textiles and clothing. The first is a tendency in the West, and more specifically in academia, to view clothing as "intrinsically superficial" (p. 3). This is not a new observation, but Clothing as Material [End Page 825] Culture does make a strong statement against it. One of the best features of this book is the quality of the data that the authors have drawn from various sources, including fieldwork, museum collections, photographs, and, in one remarkable case, the corporate archives of DuPont. Even though the authors are not uniformly interested in production (or even trained to understand the technical aspects), there are several chapters that will fascinate historians of technology, including one on the production and marketing of Lycra, one on the industry of recycling used clothing in India, and a series of four chapters at the end of the book on the making of traditional textiles in Polynesia. These also highlight a Polynesian spiritual belief that cloth has the power to connect people of different generations and places, reinforcing and giving a new dimension to the book's theoretical arguments. As coeditor Susanne Küchler states at the end of her chapter on quilting in Polynesia, "clothing is uniquely capable of eluci-dating ideas about who we are and how we should behave not because it is worn on or of the body, but because it brings ideas of consumption up against the realities of production" (p. 189). Clearly, this book demonstrates that clothing is intimately connected to the production and reproduction of culture—not a "superficial" area of study, but rather an area that deserves closer attention. The second stereotype is what coeditor Daniel Miller refers to as an "ancient antagonism" between scholars who come from a technical (textile or museum) background and those trained in the social sciences. Trying to bridge this gap is a worthy and ambitious project, reflecting changes that are taking place both in anthropology and academia as a whole. Unfortunately, the book falls short of this goal. Part of the problem stems from the selection of authors; nine of the eleven are anthropologists, the other two (coauthors of an excellent chapter on Turkish headscarves) are professors of marketing. One of the anthropologists worked as a professional knitwear designer and another is currently a museum curator, but otherwise the authors seem to have little technical background or knowledge. This does (ironically?) provide a sense of coherence that could have otherwise been difficult to achieve, since the chapters cover a wide range of territory, from the United Kingdom and United States to Polynesia, Africa, India, and Turkey. Many of the authors have carefully framed their research in the context of theoretical debates on materiality and cultural innovation that are taking place within the discipline of anthropology. At the same time, there are scholars in the field of textiles and apparel who straddle the technical and social aspects of clothing during the course of their ordinary research. Daniel Miller refers to the work of Joanne Eicher and Lou Taylor in his introduction, but scholars such as these are absent from the rest of the anthology. To be sure, art historians, anthropologists, and sociologists have written excellent books on textiles and clothing, but I think this one creates a bit of a paper tiger by highlighting the gap between technical and [End Page 826] sociocultural studies of clothing while ignoring scholars who have already spent their careers trying to bridge it. Overall, this anthology is very well written and will definitely engage scholars interested in technology and culture. The inclusion of greater referencing of textiles and apparel scholars could have strengthened the book's focus on bridging a gap between the technical and social. Nevertheless, it does reinforce the perception that scholarship on...

ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF CONDUCTIVE POLYMERS: PET – NANOCOMPOSITES’ FIBRES

Abstract Researches in the field of conductive polymers have attracted considerable attention for more then 20 years. Among the conductive polymers, polyaniline and polypyrrole have drawn considerable interest because of their economical importance, good environmental stability and satisfactory electrical conductivity when doped. On the other hand, electrically conductive materials such as aluminium powder, graphite and carbon nanotubes have very interesting conductive properties and are promising in the synthesis of new composite conductive materials. In almost all studies, conducting polymer films are developed and then electrical and mechanical properties are tested. In our paper, the conducting polymer fibres have been obtained by melt mixing and chemical coating on the fibres. Different conductive materials have been used in order to obtain conductive polypropylene-based fibres with specific electrical and mechanical properties. The electric conductivity and morphological characteristics of these fibres have been investigated and the results are discussed. The originality of our approach lies in our having created conductive fibres based on conductive polymers. These fibres are intended for use in creating conductive yarns and realising connections in smart clothing, or producing conductive fabrics which can be used as electromagnetic shields. These developments have been carried out in order to create new multifunctional textile structures for different applications in the field of intelligent and communication apparel or other similar branches.

Body Shape Models in the Apparel Field and Their Application

Body Shape Models in the Apparel Field and Their Application

B陬zier曲面を用いた図形変形法

This paper describes a development of design system using metamorphosis method for graphic designer and its apprications of apparel field.This study presents 1) an analysis of graphic design method two dimensional pictures, 2) a proposal for a metamorphosis method by contorol of Bezier surfaces, 3) a construction of the design system for graphic designer of apparel field, 4) a drawing experiment using this system and evaluation.The following results were obtained : 1) This metamorphosis method using Bézier surfaces is a good tool for imaging and drawing original pictures. 2) A picture can be drawn in a short time using this system.

Computer Aided Design Of Garments Using Digitized Three-Dimensional Surfaces

In the apparel field, there is the problem of creating a design with respect to an underlying standard form. Instead of applying general-purpose three-dimensional computer aided design systems to such tasks it is proposed that design can be carried more efficiently with bespoke design systems. These can be targeted to deal with the problems of accurately defining the offset surfaces which comprise the garment. Such a system is introduced and the methods of data entry are discussed. Position on the three-dimensional form is determined using a digitizer tablet and fit with respect to the form is specified by an offset dimension. It is shown that complex garment pieces with variable fit can be quickly specified within the system.

The Years Between. Milan 1975–Hanover 1979

The period between ITMA in Milan and the forthcoming ITMA in Hanover has probably been one of the most difficult times for the European textile industry. Somewhat surprisingly it has also been a period of rapid development and advance in machinery, technology and fashion. It is regrettable that this progress has not resulted in any substantial improvement in the profits of dyers and printers.in this paper three major sections of our industry are discussed, firstly machine development, secondly technological improvements and thirdly the commercial problems of this period. The conclusions reached in this paper are based generally on experience in the apparel field and in particular with fabrics made from polyester, secondary acetate, triacetate, nylon and acrylic fibres or blends of these with other fibres.