Inclusion of functional design characteristics in current children’s pants: differences by gender

ABSTRACT Clothing must meet users’ needs due to its direct impact on movement and comfort. For children, pants that support ease of use, care, and comfortable movement through functional design are essential for participation in healthy activity. Baseline data must inform design improvements. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to establish how frequent are the occurrence of negative or positive functional design characteristics in children’s ready-to-wear pants, and to determine the characteristic differences between girls’ and boys’ pants. This analysis of 901 ready-to-wear children’s pants revealed that positive functional design characteristics are more frequently included in boys’ pants than girls’, including knee gussets, pockets, longer inseams, reinforced knees, and easy-care fabric finishes. Conversely, negative functional design characteristics are more frequently included in girls’ pants than boys’, including narrow legs, low-rise waists, short inseams, faux drawstrings, faux pockets, and hand-wash-only fabrics. The study results provide direction for more functionally designed childrenswear.