Garment Prototype Research Articles

Textile-based 3D printing and traditional Chinese geometric patterns for fashion textile development

Here, textile-based 3D printing technology is combined with traditional Chinese patterns to create new effects. Traditional Chinese patterns are the main carrier of cultural heritage and have been widely applied as creative design elements to develop unique fashion and textile products. Two geometric patterns inspired by traditional Chinese patterns are developed through the direct deposition of polylactic acid onto polyester fabric. Then the physical and mechanical performances of the printed patterns are examined under a microscope, along with tensile, tear, and joint motion tests. After that, two garment prototypes are created to explore the design aesthetics of the 3D printed geometric patterns. This research work reports on a comprehensive and practical design process for the creation of 3D printed fashion textiles. The work is expected to provide insights for designers and researchers when reviving traditional elements through modern technology. More applications can be explored based on the results reported in this paper.

Analisis Pengendalian Kualitas untuk Mengurangi Cacat Produk 3D VR (Virtual Reality) Garment dengan Menggunakan Metode Six Sigma

Pan Brothers Tbk is one of the garment companies that adopted garment production in the form of 3D VR (Virtual Reality) as a garment prototype in Indonesia. In the process of making 3D VR products, many defective products must be revised. The study aims to implement the Six Sigma method and suggest improvements to reduce defects in 3D VR garment products using the Six Sigma method with the stages of defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling. In the define stage, the identification of the production process using the SIPOC diagram and identifying the type of defect. In the measure stage, the DPMO and sigma value calculations are carried out. The most defects are fitting not balanced and properly with a DPMO value of 269619.2 and a sigma value of 2.11. In the analysis stage with a fishbone diagram shows the factors that cause defects, namely man, machine, material, method, and environment. In the improvement stage, suggestions for improvements are given to reduce defects in 3D VR garment products. In the control stage, quality control is carried out by conducting internal training, upskilling, creating inspection report forms, adding teams to the QC division, and adding SOPs for the 3D VR producing process.

Evaluation of a new artificial intelligence-based textile digitization using fabric drape

Three-dimensional (3D) textile-based garment prototyping, widely adopted in the apparel and textile industry, enhances cost efficiency, work productivity, and seamless communication via visual prototyping. Neural network-based 3D textile digitization has the potential to streamline manufacturing processes by negating the need for traditional physical property (PT) measurements. However, a research gap exists concerning the accuracy of the technology and its applicability to advanced functional apparel manufacturing. The primary research question is to investigate how variations in digitized physical properties obtained from PT measurements and artificial intelligence (AI)-based textile digitization impact the accuracy of a fabric’s mechanical representation. In this study, we aimed to evaluate AI-based textile digitization accuracy using a drape test method. The drape coefficient (DC) analysis revealed that the PT-based simulated DC exhibited a normalized mean absolute error (NMAE) ranging from 2% to 11%, while the AI-based simulated DC showed a range of 3–51%. Notably, for the samples, except those with very limp or very stiff fabric samples, the AI-based simulation exhibited a NMAE within 3–15%.

Distributed sensing along fibers for smart clothing.

Textile sensors transform our everyday clothing into a means to track movement and biosignals in a completely unobtrusive way. One major hindrance to the adoption of "smart" clothing is the difficulty encountered with connections and space when scaling up the number of sensors. There is a lack of research addressing a key limitation in wearable electronics: Connections between rigid and textile elements are often unreliable, and they require interfacing sensors in a way incompatible with textile mass production methods. We introduce a prototype garment, compact readout circuit, and algorithm to measure localized strain along multiple regions of a fiber. We use a helical auxetic yarn sensor with tunable sensitivity along its length to selectively respond to strain signals. We demonstrate distributed sensing in clothing, monitoring arm joint angles from a single continuous fiber. Compared to optical motion capture, we achieve around five degrees error in reconstructing shoulder, elbow, and wrist joint angles.

GarmentCode: Programming Parametric Sewing Patterns

Garment modeling is an essential task of the global apparel industry and a core part of digital human modeling. Realistic representation of garments with valid sewing patterns is key to their accurate digital simulation and eventual fabrication. However, little-to-no computational tools provide support for bridging the gap between high-level construction goals and low-level editing of pattern geometry, e.g., combining or switching garment elements, semantic editing, or design exploration that maintains the validity of a sewing pattern. We suggest the first DSL for garment modeling - GarmentCode - that applies principles of object-oriented programming to garment construction and allows designing sewing patterns in a hierarchical, component-oriented manner. The programming-based paradigm naturally provides unique advantages of component abstraction, algorithmic manipulation, and free-form design parametrization. We additionally support the construction process by automating typical low-level tasks like placing a dart at a desired location. In our prototype garment configurator, users can manipulate meaningful design parameters and body measurements, while the construction of pattern geometry is handled by garment programs implemented with GarmentCode. Our configurator enables the free exploration of rich design spaces and the creation of garments using interchangeable, parameterized components. We showcase our approach by producing a variety of garment designs and retargeting them to different body shapes using our configurator. The library and garment configurator are available at https://github.com/maria-korosteleva/GarmentCode.

Design of Innovative Clothing for Pressure Injury Prevention: End-User Evaluation in a Mixed-Methods Study.

The global relevance of pressure injury (PI) prevention technologies arise from their impact on the quality of life of people with limited mobility and the costs associated with treating these preventable injuries. The purpose of this mixed methods study is to evaluate the design of a prototype integrating Smart Health Textiles for PI prevention based on feedback from specialist nurses who care for individuals who are prone to or have PIs. This is a mixed methods study. A structured questionnaire was conducted as part of an evaluation of a prototype garment for the prevention of PIs. This questionnaire was applied during the evaluation of the prototype and afterwards focus group discussions were held with experts. Descriptive statistics techniques were used to analyze the data and thematic and integrated content analysis was conducted through concomitant triangulation. Nineteen nurses took part, aged 30 to 39 years (52.6%) and with 12.31 ± 8.96 years of experience. Participants showed that the prototype required more manipulation and physical effort, which interfered its usefulness, in addition to presenting difficulties with the openings and the material of the closure system, which interfered with the ease of use and learning. Overall satisfaction with the product was moderate, with some areas for improvement found, such as satisfaction, recommendations to colleagues, and pleasantness of use. It is concluded that areas for improvement have been found in all dimensions, including in the design of openings and the choice of materials. These findings supply significant insights for improving clothing to meet the needs of healthcare professionals and patients.

Automatic Identification of Wrist Position in a Virtual Environment for Garment Design

Abstract With the development of virtual reality, computer-aided design has shown its strength in the garment product development process. Wrist position corresponds to the styloid process of the ulna (SPU). Due the problem that the SPU position is usually not the finest position of the forearm, the wrist position identification in the 3D clothing design is quite important. This paper proposes a method that uses a fixed-step search algorithm based on existing proportion methods to determine the position of the SPU. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method has been validated using 100 samples by comparison with the existing methods. It can be fully applied to a virtual 3D-to-2D garment prototyping process and ensure the automation of this process.

Toward Sustainable Fashion Product Development: The use of 3D Virtual Prototyping Technologies in the Synchronous Remote Learning Classroom

This study examined the use of 3D garment prototyping technology as a remote learning facilitator to create new instructional designs for a product development course. The new instructional designs in a flipped learning approach for the remote, synchronous computer-aided fashion product development course was created, implemented, and evaluated within the Addie framework at one of the largest fashion colleges in the U.S. The students’ submitted final semester projects demonstrated that the new instructional designs were effective for the students’ synchronous remote learning achievement at a high level. The students had an enormous experiential learning experience from the instructor-student collaborative 3D avatar fashion show promoted on the college website and social media. The outcomes of this research can be used as a toolkit to create a new instructional design using a 3D prototyping technology as a learning facilitation tool in a synchronous remote classroom. More research must be conducted to focus on challenges in helping all students adapt to novel online learning environments. The current study must be further expanded to determine the use of other 3D prototyping technologies in different remote courses across disciplines.

New wearable thermoelectric cooling garment for relieving the thermal stress of body in high temperature environments

Cooling garments have gradually become one of the main ways to relieve the thermal stress of the human body. In this paper, a new type of liquid cooling garment prototype based on the principle of thermoelectric cooling is built. The human body wear experiment was carried out in a simulated high-temperature environment, and the water inlet temperature that could meet the minimum cooling requirements of the human body under different ambient temperatures and working intensities was determined. The experiment results show that exercise intensity will affect the cooling efficiency of cooling garment. The COP (coefficient of performance) of the cooling garment is 3.5, 4.1 and 4.7 respectively when the subjects were sitting still, walking and jogging. In order to meet the minimum cooling requirements of subjects performing high-intensity exercise in a high temperature environment of 40 °C, the temperature of the water inlet of the cooling garment should be kept at about 20 °C. Before and after wearing the cooling garment, the temperature in the microclimate regions decreased from 36.2 °C to 33 °C, and the relative humidity decreased from 100 % to 60 %, which proves that the cooling garment is effective in improving the thermal comfort of the human body in high temperature environment. The above experiment results provide parameter support for the intelligent regulation of liquid cooling garment in the future.

The mathematical model of men’s garment prototype

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to build a mathematical model of men’s wear prototype, so that the computer can draw men’s wear prototype automatically.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the bust line, front and back center line, waist line, side seam, front chest width and back width line in the coordinate system are expressed by equations. Then, a parabola is used to establish a neckline curve, a linear equation is used to establish a shoulder oblique line, and a double ellipse is superposed to construct the armhole arc. Finally, all the garment prototype curves are built mathematical models.FindingsThe result shows that every curve of garment prototype can be expressed approximately by mathematical model.Originality/valueThis research lays the foundation for the automation and intelligence of garment pattern-making.

Research on refrigerant optimization and characteristic parameters based on thermoelectric refrigeration cooling garment

Cooling garments are gradually becoming a simple and energy-saving way to relieve the human body from thermal stress. In this article, we built a set of cooling garment prototypes based on thermoelectric cooling. A series of performance tests were carried out in a simulated high-temperature environment to select the appropriate refrigerant and on this basis to determine the best inlet temperature that can meet the refrigeration requirements of personnel. The experimental results show that water and 40% glycerin have own advantages as refrigerants. The energy utilization efficiency of the cooling garment is higher when water is used as the refrigerant and the average cooling effect is better when 40% glycerol is used as the refrigerant. The higher the energy utilization efficiency, the relatively small battery capacity required by the liquid cooling garment, so water is selected as the refrigerant in this article. The effective cooling power can reach 210 W when the ambient temperature is 35 °C, and the maximum coefficient of performance at this time is 3.3. Through the wear experiments, we determined that the optimal water inlet temperature when the ambient temperature is 35 °C is 22 °C, which reduces the average temperature in the microclimate area to about 28.5 °C, and the relative humidity in the microclimate area is reduced from 90% to 58%, which proves the effectiveness of wearing this cooling garment to improve the thermal comfort of the human body. In addition, it is found that the inlet temperature of the cooling garment has a critical value at 22–24 °C when the ambient temperature is 35 °C. The water inlet temperature near this critical value has a more significant change in the cooling effect.

Design and implementation of fake two-piece fully formed process for blouse

PurposeFully formed knitting technology is a cutting-edge technology in the design and production of knitted apparel. Using this technology and its supporting design system, a new development mode of fully formed knitted apparel with double-layer structure and fake two-piece knitwear is proposed.Design/methodology/approachBased on the upper body structure feature points of human body characteristics and single-layer knitted garment prototype, a double-layer structure knitted garment pattern was established by pattern expansion method. The model was introduced into SDS-APPEX3 design system for process design, including three aspects consists: the inner vest, the outer blouse and double-layer joint part, analysis of the process and forming principle. Weaving on four-needle bed computerized flat knitting machine of MACH-2XS, through the setting of the machine parameters. Finally, a full-shaped fake two-piece knitted blouse was formed.FindingsOn the basis of single-layer knitted garment pattern, a double-layer garment pattern is constructed, and the design and weaving are completed on the four-needle bed computerized knitting machine of MACH-2XS and its supporting SDS-APPEX3 design system through the fake two-piece double-layer garment style design. The double-layer joint model is an effective reference for the construction of this kind of fake two-piece fully formed knitted clothing.Originality/valueIn this paper, a design and knitting method of fully formed double-layer structure fake two-piece knitted garment is proposed. The integrated knitting of fully formed double-layer structure sweater is realized for the first time, which provides ideas for the development of fully formed double-layer structure knitted clothing style and enriches the fully formed clothing style.

DESIGN OF GARMENTS USING ADAPTABLE DIGITAL BODY MODELS

In recent years, the 3D design software has been mostly used to improve the garment design process by generating virtual 3D garment prototypes. Many researchers have been working on the development of 3D virtual garment prototypes using 3D body models and involving the 3D human body scanning in different postures. The focus of research in this field today relies on generating a kinematic 3D body model for the purposes of developing the individualized garments, the exploration of which is presented in this paper. The discussed area is also implemented in the Erasmus+ project OptimTex - Software tools for textile creatives, which is fully aligned with the new trends propelled by the digitization of the whole textile sector. The Slovenian module focuses on presenting the needs of digitization for the development of individualized garments by using different software tools: 3D Sense, PotPlayer, Meshroom, MeshLab, Blender and OptiTex. The module provides four examples: 3D human body scanning using 3D photogrammetry, 3D human body modelling and reconstruction, construction of a kinematic 3D body model and 3D virtual prototyping of individualized smart garments, and thus displays the entire process for the needs of 3D virtual prototyping of individualized garments. In the OptimTex project, the 3D software Blender was used to demonstrate and teach students how to construct the "armature" of the human body as an object for rigging or the virtual skeleton for a 3D kinematic body model, using the knee as an example.

Research on the Technology of Mass Customization of Clothing

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the garment industry dramatically which will accelerate the garment industry to turn to technology of mass customization for it offers digital online options. This paper reviews the mass customization technology of clothing from the aspects of intelligent pattern-making technology, virtual garment prototype technology and the evaluation of apparel fitness. By surveying the technologies in order to establish a ground true rules for the mass customization platform so that suitable for all clothing categories, and the pattern-making standards which could fit different body types. And finally, by experiments of different digital garment prototype on different body types to establish the rules for generating virtual prototype and evaluated fitness of virtual garment on different body types.

Do we need more patient-friendly treatment options for overactive bladder (OAB)?

AimsTo collect feedback from subjects diagnosed with overactive bladder (OAB) on its impact on their quality of life, their satisfaction with current treatment options, and to assess nonsurgical, tibial nerve stimulation as a treatment option.MethodsSubjects were asked a variety of questions about the impact of OAB on their lives, their satisfaction with current and previous treatment approaches. Subjects evaluated the comfort of a nonworking prototype garment and were given electrical stimulation over their posterior tibial nerve to assess comfort and tolerability. Electromyographic (EMG) signals were recorded.ResultsA total of 40 subjects with OAB symptoms were evaluated in the study. Urgency (55%), frequency (47.5%), nocturia (40%), and incontinence (30%) were the most bothersome symptoms. At the time of the study only 32.5% of the subjects were treating their OAB symptoms. Of those that had tried and discontinued treatments, most had failed medications (n = 14) due to no improvements or side effects. Only 2 subjects found stimulation to be uncomfortable before an EMG signal could be detected. The most common word used to describe the feeling of stimulation was “constant,” followed by “tingling,” “vibrating,” and “comfortable.”ConclusionsMost subjects who had tried OAB treatments were dissatisfied and discontinued their use. A new patient‐friendly approach to OAB therapy that delivers efficacy but overcomes drawbacks associated with currently available treatments is needed. Subjects found electrical stimulation over the tibial nerve to be comfortable and tolerable and this should be considered as an alternative treatment approach for OAB.

3D Upper Body Reconstruction with Sparse Soft Sensors

Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of human body has wide applications, for example, for customized design of clothes and digital avatar production. Existing vision-based systems for 3D body reconstruction require users to wear minimal or extreme-tight clothes in front of cameras, and thus suffer from privacy problems. In this work, we explore a novel solution based on a sparse number of soft sensors on a standard garment, and use it for capturing 3D upper body shape. We utilize the maximal stretching range by modeling the nonlinear performance profile for individual sensors. The body shape can be dynamically reconstructed by analyzing the relationship between mesh deformation and sensor reading, with a learning-based approach. The wearability and flexibility of our prototype allow its use in indoor/outdoor environments and for long-term breath monitoring. Our prototype has been extensively evaluated by multiple users with different body sizes and the same user for multiple days. The results show that our garment prototype is comfortable to wear, and achieves the state-of-the-art reconstruction performance with the advantages in privacy projection and application scenarios.

The PERSEO Experience: A Water-Filled Garment Prototype for Personal Radiation Protection of Astronauts Successfully Tested on Board the International Space Station

The PERSEO project (PErsonal Radiation Shielding for intErplanetary missiOns), funded by the Italian Space Agency, has led to the development of a first technological demonstrator of a radiation shielding garment, to be used in a pressurized space habitat, that can be filled at need with on-board water and used for personal protection in case of solar particle events. The collaboration, including academic partners and companies active in space research and technology development, designed and manufactured the prototype that has been successfully tested on board the International Space Station by the European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli in November 2017, during the VITA mission. The effectiveness of the garment in terms of reduction of the radiation dose to sensitive organs (subject to the occurrence of short-term non-cancer effects following acute exposure) has been evaluated with Monte Carlo simulations with an anthropomorphic phantom. The successful outcome of the experimental session on board has demonstrated the practicality of use and wearability of the prototype, and, in perspective, the feasibility of a personal radiation shielding strategy, complementary to habitat shielding and based on the use of available resources, of fundamental importance also in view of future manned interplanetary missions.

Computer aided design of knitted and woven fabrics and virtual garment simulation

Pattern cutting, sizing and fit are major issues for the clothing brands. All fashion companies are interested on how the product will fit their target customers and this involves making samples that eventually will not look or fit as per the desired design. 3D technology solutions are truly the best to deal with the existing needs of clothing manufacturers in order to diminish the costs and time of the sampling process, to improve the quality and reduce the rejects. In this study, the authors used automation techniques like computer pattern design, computer aided fabric production and 3D Simulation software. Two different fabrics (woven and knitted) were designed and produced. Then their material properties which have to be known by the 3D simulation were determined by official and in-house standards. Finally, 3D visualizations of dresses were created by using pattern and material data of the fabrics. By this study we were able to explain the product development route, from fabric design to garment prototype by using computers, for the companies willing to benefit from the advantages of computer aided design and manufacture.

CASP methodology applied in adapted garments for adults and teenagers with spine deformity

The goal of the research presented in this article is to investigate the applicability of the CASP (Curvature, Acceleration, Symmetry, Proportionality) methodology for adapted garments’ pattern design for real cases of adults and teenagers with spine deformity. The current research is the result of a collaborative work of Slovenian and Romanian research teams with common expertise and background. The results obtained by applying CASP methodology on theoretical case studies showed that this methodology could be adequate for assuring the appropriate garment pattern designs for real persons with kyphosis. In this research, the design stages of adapted garments for adults and teenagers with spine deformity were presented by using the CASP evaluation of the back and virtual prototyping of garments. The results of the study confirmed that reconstruction process of the basic shirt/blouse pattern design improved the appearance and fit of the product to the body with spine deformity. Also, this paper brings contributions to garment design technology by 3D scanning and virtual try-on, taking into account the body shapes of the users.

Open coating with natural wax particles enables scalable, non-toxic hydrophobation of cellulose-based textiles

Environmental benign cellulosic textiles are hampered by their tendency to absorb water, which restricts their use in functional clothing. Herein we describe a method to functionalize textile surfaces using thin, open coatings based on natural wax particles and natural polymers rendering cellulosic fabrics water-repellent while retaining their feel and breathability. The impact of curing temperature, cationic polymer and fabric properties on wetting and long-term water-repellency were studied using contact angle measurements and scanning electron microscopy. The wetting properties were correlated to roughness of the textiles using white light interferometer. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed the surface chemical composition, leading to fundamental understanding of the effect of annealing on the wax layer. Breathability was evaluated by water vapor permeability. The optimal curing temperature was 70 °C. The developed coating performed well on different natural textiles, and better than commercial alternatives. A set of garment prototypes were produced using the coating.