Fashion and Textiles最新文献

As the fashion industry increasingly adopts digital platforms, fashion designers face challenges in digitally exploring and selecting fabrics. This transition underscores the complexities in digitally capturing fabrics. Extending our previous research, this study specifically examined the relationship between designers' certainty and their perceptual accuracy in digital fabric evaluations because uncertainty can diminish confidence in digital assessments, leading to an over-reliance on physical samples and slowing digital progress. The research employed a comparative analysis, engaging designers in both digital and physical fabric evaluations. The objectives of this study were: to evaluate the precision of digital fabric representations against physical assessments; to assess designers' psychological certainty and its correlation with assessment accuracy; and to identify fabric attributes that are most prone to misrepresentation digitally. The findings indicated that there is no direct correlation between evaluation accuracy and psychological certainty. Notably, for drapability, digital evaluations exhibited both high levels of certainty and accuracy, implying potential enhancements in digital representations of other textile attributes. The results of this study will contribute to the development of advanced digital fabric evaluation systems that can accurately replicate the physical fabric experience, thus ensuring a high level of certainty. This, in turn, will enhance the reliability and effectiveness of fabric selection on digital platforms.

This study developed a wearable device designed to aid visually impaired people (VIP) who are unfamiliar with Braille and/or struggle to learn and use Braille employing the design thinking process. VIP often face challenges in learning and using Braille, and even with existing equipment, including smart technologies, they frequently experience aesthetic and emotional discomfort beyond usability and accessibility. The interdisciplinary research team conducted mixed-method research following the double diamond module of the design thinking process. Initially, qualitative interviews to analyze VIP’s Braille utilization were conducted to derive design factors. Subsequently, identified design factors were applied to conduct experiments with appropriate embroidery methods and connection structures using MXene-coated yarn. The strategies effectively enhanced pressure sensing performance by two times and realized highly localized and independent sensing to enable Braille recognition. Finally, a specific design for the wearable Braille recognition glove was proposed that incorporated these findings. The proposed wearable glove, equipped with a high-performance Braille recognition sensor, is designed to enhance the psychological and aesthetic satisfaction of VIP. The glove’s universal design and accompanying technical support allow VIP to maintain their existing Braille reading methods while enjoying enhanced performance and avoiding social stigmas.

Owing to global warming and pollution concerns, reducing the environmental footprint of the textile and fashion industry has received considerable attention. Within this industry, the dyeing and finishing processes contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution. This study introduces an innovative approach to address these challenges by leveraging digital twin technology to optimize the textile dyeing process. A smart analysis module was developed to continuously monitor and analyze the dyeing parameters in real time to implement control actions to automatically reduce the process duration. Integrated with this module, a digital twin of the dyeing machine enabled the real-time monitoring of energy consumption and process parameters. A case study comparing the traditional dyeing process with the optimized process was conducted. The results showed that dyeing time was reduced by ~ 17.5% without compromising dyeing quality. Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions were also reduced by ~ 12.1% when using the optimized process. This study offers a practical and sustainable option for textile dyeing, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Recently, there has been a lot of interest in industry and academia in virtual influencers (VIs). This study aimed to augment the understanding of VI marketing by exploring the relationship between VI’s characteristics (i.e., their humanlikeness level and operator type), their social media post characteristics (i.e., emotional expression, use of pronouns, use of punctuation marks), and consumer engagement. The analysis of three popular VIs’ Instagram profiles and posts revealed that VIs with less humanlike appearances tend to exhibit stronger positive emotional expressions. Interestingly, the level of humanlikeness in appearance was not associated with VI's other post characteristics, suggesting other intrinsic factors (e.g., the VI’s character and virtual universe) may play a pivotal role. Whether a brand operates the VI or not made a statistically significant difference in the VI’s post characteristics. Assessment of user engagement metrics (i.e., number of likes and comments) showed that users prefer hyper-realistic VIs and VIs operated by non-brand agencies, underscoring the importance of perceived authenticity in the digital realm. The emotions expressed by VIs, along with their use of punctuation, were positively related to user engagement.

This study compared the effectiveness of five commercially available cooling vests using three distinct thermal manikin test protocols. In addition, the constraints associated with each test protocol were elucidated, facilitating the identification of suitable evaluation methods for the different cooling vests. The cooling performances of the vests were evaluated using three thermal manikin test scenarios, incorporating the adaptations from Ciuha et al. (Ergonomics 64:625–639, 2021) and ASTM F2371-16, along with a modified protocol simulating the hot and humid weather in a South Korean summer. The results revealed substantial variations in the cooling performance across different test protocols, highlighting the importance of carefully selecting thermal manikin test methods. Moreover, the specific cooling vests exhibited immeasurable performance in certain test methods, which presents the limitations inherent in each testing scenario. For example, when evaluated with a non-sweating thermal manikin, the air-cooling vests exhibited the worst cooling performance, showing an average cooling rate of 1.0 W and cooling durations of five minutes. In contrast, the same vests demonstrated superior performance when assessed using the ASTM F2371-16 method, revealing an effective cooling rate of 114.8 W and sustained cooling durations exceeding eight hours. These results emphasize the lack of a one-size-fits-all evaluation method for cooling vests and the need for accessible guidelines to inform decision-makers aiming to enhance workplace safety and comfort.

We developed the knitted shape-memory alloy (SMA) as a flexible actuator and applied it to a soft wearable exoglove for rehabilitation assistance. Based on user needs and anthropometric data, we custom-designed the exoglove for three hemiplegic patients using the knitted-SMA actuator and evaluated its bending performance, gripping force and wearability under the four simulation conditions (S1–S4). To address the specific needs, both SMA plain- and double-knit modules were applied to the exoglove based on the patients’ finger joint range of motion (ROMs). The joint ROMs of all fingers increased by 13.71% and the skin temperature increased by 2.21 °C after actuating the glove (p = 0.006). The gripping force increased as much as 55.01%, when compared to the baseline. All patients were able to don and doff the developed glove independently, and positively evaluated their subjective satisfaction and thermal perception. The findings suggested the potential of the knitted SMA for the future development of soft wearable robots.

With the deepening exploration of the study on corporate social responsibility (CSR), CSR has progressively gained significance for enterprises. This study aims to analyze the impact of fashion companies’ information disclosure on the intention of Chinese consumers who purchase clothing by providing information related to the environment, suppliers, manufacturing processes, and pricing. An experimental study was conducted using stimuli on 412 consumers in Shandong Province, China. The research results are as follows. First, it was found that consumers’ perception of Corporate Social Performance (CSP) has a positive effect on the authenticity of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) message and consumers’ subjective norms. Second, CSR message authenticity and consumer subjective norms mediate the perception of CSP in the process of leading to purchasing activities. Third, consumers perceive the authenticity of a company’s CSR activities according to the degree of transparent information disclosure of the cost and manufacturing process of its products. This study shows that the CSR information provided by the company is authentic depending on the degree of CSR information transparency of the company, and that it leads to a purchase intention when consumers judge that the company’s CSR activities are authentic. Accordingly, it is suggested that many fashion companies’ CSR activities lead to product purchases when they are continuously conducted on environmental, social problems, and transparency in the production process.

Based on a selection of 101 articles published from 2013 to 2022, this study systematically reviews the application of intelligent techniques and optimization algorithms in textile colour management. Specifically, the study explores how these techniques have been applied to four subfields within textile colour management: colour matching and prediction, colour difference detection and assessment, colour recognition and segmentation, and dye solution concentration and decolourization. Following an introduction to intelligent techniques and optimization algorithms in textile colour management, the study describes the specific applications of these techniques in the field over the past decade. Descriptive statistics are used to analyse trends in the use of these techniques and optimization algorithms, and comparative performances indicate the effectiveness of the techniques and algorithms. The study finds that the primary intelligent techniques used in the field of textile colour management include artificial neural networks (ANN), support vector machines (SVM) such as SVM, LSSVM, LSSVR, SLSSVR, FWSVR, fuzzy logic (FL) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS), clustering algorithms (e.g., K-means, FCM, X-means algorithms), and extreme learning machines (ELM) such as ELM, OSLEM, KELM, RELM. The main optimization algorithms used include response surface methodology (RSM), genetic algorithms (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), and differential evolution (DE). Finally, the study proposes a comparison of the performance of intelligent techniques and optimization algorithms, summarizes the relevant research trends, and suggests future research opportunities and directions, besides stating the limitations of this paper.

Hijabs are predominantly worn in hot environments, but very rare studies on the thermo-physiological effects of wearing hijabs are found. We investigated the effects of wearing rayon and polyester hijabs on wearers’ physiological and subjective responses in warm-humid and hot-dry environments. Eight females (25.0 ± 2.3 y in age, 157.7 ± 4.1 cm in height, and 50.8 ± 7.5 kg in weight) participated in three conditions (No hijab, rayon hijab, and polyester hijab condition) during exercise in two thermal environments: a warm-humid (30 °C and 70%RH) and a hot-dry environment (36 °C and 30%RH), which generated an identical wet-bulb globe temperature at 27 °C. The results showed that no differences in rectal temperature were found among the three clothing conditions or the two environments, whereas auditory canal temperature was higher in the hot-dry than in the warm-humid environment (P < 0.05) with no differences between the polyester and rayon hijab conditions. Mean skin temperature and neck temperature were higher for the polyester condition than for the rayon condition in the warm-humid environment (P < 0.05). Sweat rate was greater for the polyester hijab condition than for the no hijab condition in the warm-humid environment (P = 0.049). Heart rate was greater for the polyester hijab condition than for the other two conditions in the warm-humid environment (P < 0.05). Subjects felt more thermally uncomfortable when wearing the polyester hijab than the rayon hijab in the warm-humid environment. Greater thermal burden of the polyester hijab when compared to the rayon hijab was marked in the warm-humid environment, not in the hot-dry environment.

With the ongoing miniaturization of wireless devices, the importance of wearable textiles in the antenna segment has increased significantly in recent years. Due to the widespread utilization of wireless body sensor networks for healthcare and ubiquitous applications, the design of wearable antennas offers the possibility of comprehensive monitoring, communication, and energy harvesting and storage. This article reviews a number of properties and benefits to realize comprehensive background information and application ideas for the development of lightweight, compact and low-cost wearable patch antennas. Furthermore, problems and challenges that arise are addressed. Since both electromagnetic and mechanical specifications must be fulfilled, textile and flexible antennas require an appropriate trade-off between materials, antenna topologies, and fabrication methods—depending on the intended application and environmental factors. This overview covers each of the above issues, highlighting research to date while correlating antenna topology, feeding techniques, textile materials, and contacting options for the defined application of wearable planar patch antennas.