Clothing Comfort Introduction

A brief description of clothing comfort significance by Dr. Muhammad Mushtaq Mangat Nov 19, 2012

Introduction to Clothing Comfort

Objective: To have an understanding about clothing

Lecture 1

comfort

Clothing significant

An ubiquitous need of human Fundamental need of the human being Used for:
Protection Social up gradation For certain function (medical textile etc)

Different dresses

Clothing requirement dependants

Activities level, Economic background, Social status Age and level of health, Environment, Weather, Certain situation (bridal dress etc.) Faith, Religion, Territorial, culture Many more factors

Historical European Clothing Images

Historical Red Indian and African clothing

Indian clothing

Egyptian clothing

Modern clothing

Change in dresses
Everyday old dresses are fading away World is having a uni-dress through out, like

uni-food and uni-language

It is due to: Fast communication Access to knowledge More travelling Better comfort of new clothing New designs

Clothing Comfort
Subjective assessment

Feelings, perceptions, not easy to measure

Objective measurement

Use of machines, measured in numbers, values, data all are used

Complexities:

Subjective is linked with human perception Machine cannot represent human Perception changes with the change in environment

Clothing comfort complexities

Interdependent Combination of physical, psychological and

sensorial perception. the individuals.

Highly depends on subjective evaluation of A person could be comfortable whereas

another person could be discomfort in the same place

Clothing comfort history

As old as human being People adjusted their clothing according to

need

Turban in tropical area is an example for Heavy clothing for north pole people

protection from ultra violet rays (10 -400 nm)

Dress variation is based on need of comfort Climatic variation pushed people to have

different clothing

Emergence of clothing comfort science

US army established labs to develop clothing

suitable from -50 to 50 C after WWI

ARMY NATICK LABS USA, big contribution First book Psychology of clothing on

clothing comfort by J C Flugel in 1930

ASHARE
ASHRAE, (American Society of Air

Conditioning, Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineers) founded in 1894,

More than 50,000 members worldwide Focus on building systems, energy efficiency,

indoor air quality and sustainability within the industry. [1]

Definition of clothing comfort

Clothing comfort is a state of mind when it is

at its lowest stress level.

Comfort is defined as the absence of

perceived pain- and discomfort [2]

Clothing comfort is a state of satisfaction

indicating physiological, psychological and physical balance among the person [3]

Conti
Balanced process of heat exchange

between the human body, the clothing system and the environment [4] that expresses satisfaction with the environment- ASHRAE.

Thermal comfort as an expression of mind

Clothing comfort: I infer

Such a state, where people do not want to

alter

It is possible But always for a short time

Types of clothing comfort

Thermal heat and mass transfer Sensorialtactile, touching, hand-feel Movementmovement of body parts Social status, forces dress Psychologicalaesthetic sense,

design is different for kids and old people, colorful dress of ladies

Functionalhelpful for any function, firefighter dress

Main types of comfort

Factors determining clothing comfort

External Internal

External
Ambient temperature Wind speed Moisture in environment Globe temperature

Cultural

Overall environment

Internal
Metabolic rate Level of activities Health position Economic position Social experiences Psychological situation

Thermal discomfort
Accumulation of heat in micro climate

(between the skin and clothing)

Change in skin temperature more than 35 C and less than 30 C

Accumulation of sweat on the skin

Thermo physiological comfort

Thermal Heat flow and heat balance Physiology
It is section of science, which deals with

physical and biochemical function of whole human body. It describes the interaction all organs of human body

Thermo physiological comfort

It is kind of comfort, which depends upon the

thermal balance between human body and environment heat transfer

Moisture transfer has a significant impact on

Human body uses moisture transfer for controlling heat flow

Further material for reading

Introduction to clothing comfort http://www.scribd.com/doc/30439784/ Introduction-to-Clothing-Comfort Clothing comfort: A key parameter in

clothing

http://www.ptj.com.pk/Web-2012/01-2012/

January-2012-PDF/Apparel-and-KnitwearTanveer-Malik.pdf

Activity
A brief write up on clothing comfort 30 minutes will be spared for discussion on

write up

References
[1] http://ashrae.org/about-ashrae/ [2] Hes, L., Thermal comfort properties of textile fabrics in wet state, in Proc. Izmir Internat. Textile and Apparel Symposium2007: Cesme (Turkey). [3] Li, M., et al. Factor Analysis on Subjective Attributes Affecting Knitted Fabric's Comfort Sensation. in First International Workshop on Database Technology and Applications. 2009 [4] Celcar, D., H. Meinander, and J. Gersak, Heat and moisture transmission properties of clothing systems evaluated by using a sweating thermal manikin under different environmental conditions. International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, 2008. 20(4): p. 240-252.