Making individualized men's basic body block patterns with a measuring garment incorporating stretchable capacitance sensors

PurposeTo make individualized men's basic upper garment patterns without sleeves, the authors developed a measuring garment that measures necessary body dimensions and angles all together. Additionally, the authors proposed a method for making individualized basic body block patterns using the obtained dimensions and angles.Design/methodology/approachThe authors decided on the locations of the dimensions of the body required for making the individualized garments. The authors then sewed multiple stretchable capacitance sensors to corresponding locations on a stretchable T-shirt. To obtain the dimensions with sensors of short length, the authors indirectly obtained each length from the relationship between the actual body length and the capacitance of the sensor. Beforehand, the authors obtained linear-approximation equations for the relationship between actual body dimensions and the capacitance of sensors for five participants and a dummy. The authors then used the measuring garment and the equations to obtain the body dimensions of another six participants. The authors compared the obtained and actual body dimensions to verify the equations. The authors made individualized upper-garment patterns without sleeves and garments for the 11 participants with the obtained dimensions and angles. The authors verified the proposed method in wearing tests comparing garments designed using the proposed method with conventionally designed garments.FindingsUsing the measuring garment, the authors obtained body dimensions close to actual body dimensions. A pattern of the individualized basic upper garment using the obtained dimensions and angles could be drawn. Compared with the conventional patterns, the individualized patterns had notable differences in the locations of the shoulder point and side neck point and directions of the shoulder line, which relate to the shoulder shape (i.e. square, sloping, forward, or backward). In wearing tests, all participants declared that the individualized garment better fitted their shoulders than the conventional garment without tightness around the shoulders, neck, and armpits. The proposed method with the developed measuring garment was thus found to be effective in designing individualized garments.Originality/valueThis paper presents the possibility of not only measuring body dimensions but also designing individualized basic upper garments using the proposed measuring garment. The proposed measuring garment will assist the efficient manufacture of individualized upper garments without a three-dimensional scanner or special skills.