Quadranscentennial anniversary; quarter century of Clothing Science and Technology

Citation

Stylios, G.K. (2013), "Quadranscentennial anniversary; quarter century of Clothing Science and Technology", International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 25 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijcst.2013.05825aaa.001

Quadranscentennial anniversary; quarter century of Clothing Science and Technology

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Volume 25, Issue 1

Volume 25 is silver jubilee for IJCST; it is 25 years of promoting original research and technological development of a community that had no dedicated journal for celebrating its research achievements.

In 1988 when IJCST was started, the UK, Europe and the USA had a textile and clothing manufacturing base and despite in the midst of the relocation of the industry in the Far East, there was plenty of expertise around and good research needing recognition, promotion and dissemination by a dedicated journal acting as a platform. It was the time of the big garment automation initiative projects having as its focus robotic stitching that needed a reporting home. IJCST fulfilled all these requirements and went on to act as a catalyst to the efforts of transforming and modernising the garment industry in five continents.

IJCST is a well recognised international journal, cited in the ISI (MSCI, SCIE), World Textile Abstract, Textile Technology Index, amongst others. It applies a strict refereed double blind regime. It is very much at the leading edge of what concerns clothing and of course, it reports in anything related to garments such as fabrics, finishing, design as well as marketing and management, as long as the material is original and of technical nature. In these late years, high-performance clothing, functional textiles, the question of SMART and intelligent and of course, the continuation of research in modelling drape, in fabric mechanics in relation to garments quality and compliance are topics that are receiving attention in every journal issue. Emerald Group Publishing much bigger in size than MCB Press as it were in the early years, has made sure that the publication is kept with modern times, so any norm that is expected for access though the internet, for cataloguing, for using in search engines, for automated library access, etc. are all available for making life easier for subscribers and authors alike.

The recent citation of IJCST in the SCI rendered a surge of papers, which created at times difficulties in keeping up with refereeing and production schedules; yet again the publisher has been instrumental in making available the on-line submission of papers through manuscript central. All papper submissions to IJCST are now made electronically.

The signs that some of the garment industry is returning back to its home base are becoming stronger which will strengthen the concept of mass customisation, the requirements for garments made out of high performance fabrics and closer synergism with design and aesthetics are clear and new research in these areas is being promoted in IJCST. SMART garments, wearable electronics and fabrics with increase functionality are areas of great research interest and market demand. Our focus for this volume is to continue providing a platform for publishing the incremental advances of clothing science and technology, but at the same time emphasizing world leading areas of garment research such as:

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  SMART materials and garments: shape and colour changing; and slow/control release.

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  High-performance clothing: competition sportswear; medical clothing; armor for the special forces; and physiological/environmental protection.

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  Wearable electronics for sports, health monitoring and well being.

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  Medical textiles, gowns and drapes and protective clothing, filtration against CB.

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  Nano textiles, fibres, yarns and fabrics, nano coating and membranes.

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  Mass customisation technologies: body modelling and reconstruction, sizing systems; automated measurement of fabric mechanics; modelling of yarn, fabric and garments; fully clothed humans in virtual shopping environments; and integration with intelligent textile and sewing systems.

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  Environmental/eco textiles and garments.

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  Psycho textiles and garments, mood changing garments.

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  Synergism of design/technology: hi-tech clothes with high-aesthetic attributes; and couture with technology, sustainable design.

Thanking people for the privilege of over 25 years of achievement is a large undertaking and it will fill many pages if I were to do it by name. I thank our dedicated editorial board, our enduring publishers and our authors and readers who are the lifeblood of IJCST. But I would like to make an exception and thank one person by name; my wife Mary for her support especially in the early years of IJCST who, without being a subject specialist, was proof-reading through nights the editorials, reports and papers of IJCST.

George K. StyliosEditor-in-Chief