Advanced
search

To read this content please select one of the options below:

Effects of clothing ease and body postures on the air gap and clothing coverage

Shitan Wang (College of Fashion and Design, Donghua University, Shanghai, China) (Key Laboratory of Clothing Design and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai, China)
Xiuhua Wang (College of Fashion and Design, Donghua University, Shanghai, China) (Key Laboratory of Clothing Design and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai, China)
Yunyi Wang (College of Fashion and Design, Donghua University, Shanghai, China) (Shanghai Institute of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai, China) (Key Laboratory of Clothing Design and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai, China)

International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology

ISSN: 0955-6222

Article publication date: 10 June 2019

Issue publication date: 8 August 2019

272

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of clothing ease and body postures on the size and distribution of the air gap as well as the body coverage with the clothing.

Design/methodology/approach

Visual and quantitative analyses were conducted using a 3D body scanner and Geomagic Software. The air gap size and clothing area factor (fcl) in three test coverall and seven selected postures were calculated and compared.

Findings

The results indicated that both the clothing ease and body postures had a strong effect on the air gap and clothing coverage, especially the more complex the postures, the wider the range of influence. Nevertheless, these effects varied over body regions, being stronger at the lower body than the upper body. The air gap size at the left side of the body was generally larger than the right side. It was also found that the clothing coverage was linearly correlated with the air gap size and could be employed as an indicator to evaluate clothing protective capabilities.

Practical implications

The findings suggested that greater attention should be paid to the protection and flexibility at the lower body and asymmetrical distribution of the air gap should be considered in the future air gap modeling.

Originality/value

The outcomes provided useful information to improve the protective clothing and develop more realistic air gap models to simulate the heat and mass transfer.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. The authors would like to acknowledge the Professor Jun Li for his instructions and support. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from Shanghai Municipal Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 17ZR1400500); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2232018G-08) and National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFB0309100).

Citation

Wang, S., Wang, X. and Wang, Y. (2019), "Effects of clothing ease and body postures on the air gap and clothing coverage", International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 578-594. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCST-12-2018-0158

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles

Manage cookies

We’re listening — tell us what you think

Join us on our journey