Clothing as a Mobile Environment for Human Beings

Abstract

Clothing is the nearest and a mobile environment for human beings. The relationship between clothing and environmental climate from the past to the present society in Japan was firstly reviewed. Next, to examine the seasonal changes of the wearing conditions of the people living and working in the modern big city of Tokyo, the observations was taken in roughly 10-day intervals from June 2001 to May 2002 using a fixed point-observation method by means of digital photography. The wearing percentage for each garment calculated separately for males and females showed clear seasonal changes and showed close relationship with air temperature. It was noted, however, that the wearing percentage of the jackets at an air temperature of 30 degree C in summer reached 18% only for males and the wearing condition fell outside of the comfort zone. In the summer in 2005, the Ministry of Environment in Japan promoted “Cool Biz” fashion, where ties and jackets are not worn and comfort is maintained even at 28 degree C, in order to reduce energy consumption. In order to determine the effects of the “Cool Biz” promotion on the wearing percentage for males, the thermal insulation and evaporative heat resistance of the cool biz fashion were evaluated by a sweating thermal manikin “JUN” and the wearing percentage of clothes in 2006 was examined using the same method. With this as a background, the role of clothing in the human-clothing-environment system was discussed in relation with the revolutionary advances in science and technology.