Performing Department
Clothing/Textiles/Related Arts
Non Technical Summary
Since humans began to wear clothing about a hundred thousand ago, clothing has deeply influenced human behavior whether it is used to protect the body from extreme weather conditions or to enhance personal appearance. Too tight or too loose clothing that is one of essentials of life is quite awkward to wear and can restrictmovement up to the point of cutting off circulation. Such clothing fit issues have emerged more and more as an explosive growth in population has increased the demand of mass-production of clothing based on the standardization, known as ready-to-wear (RTW) clothing (Alexander et al., 2005). When consumers make clothing purchase decisions, they always face problems such as garment fit issues in RTW clothing unless they are willing to get custom made clothing at extra expense and time (Goldsberry et al., 1996). Therefore, in order to solve clothing fit issues in RTW clothing, we need to study several critical factors which have great influences on clothing fit and furthermore, mutual relationship of those factors.The major research focus of this project is to study clothing fit preference/satisfaction of several generations (from Baby Boomers to Generation X and Y) based on their obesity indices, such as body mass index (BMI), body shape index (BSI), and Body volume index (BVI), combined with their body shapes and then examine how much obesity indices directly influence Clothing Benefits Sought. The clarification of correlation between the paradigm of Clothing Benefits Sought and the categories of obesity indices has important implications for the academic study of the clothing fit issue as well as practical application of clothing fit in marketplace.The overall objectives of this research project are to investigate the influence of obesity indices (BMI, BSI, and BVI) combined with body shapes on Clothing Benefits Sought among baby boomer, generation X and Y. The specific objectives are as follows:1. To characterize consumers' body shapes and obesity indices (BMI, BSI, and BVI) in each generation group with 3D body scanner and digital scale.2. To evaluate each generation group's RTW clothing fit based on obesity indices combined with body shapes.3. To examine the influence of obesity indices combined with body shapes on each generation group's Clothing Benefits Sought.4. To explore the uniqueness in clothing fit preference/satisfaction suitable for each generation through the comparison of each generation's characteristics.Note that this proposed research will be focused on fit issues in female's RTW clothing, but fit issues in male's RTW clothing may be involved in this project if needed.We will create the questionnaire for this research project. The questionnaire will consist of 6 sections: (1) clothing benefits sought questions, (2) RTW clothing categories, (3) body image, (4) clothing fitting preference/satisfaction, (5) multidimensional body-self relations, and (6) demographics. After a pilot test with at least 50 college students in Southern University and A & M College, Baton Rouge, LA, the investigator will finalize the questionnaire for this research project.Some of the outcomes to be realized include:Increased knowledge of participants' RTW clothing fit preference / satisfaction and clothing benefits soughtIncreased knowledge of participants' accurate measurement of BMI, BSI, and BVIIncreased knowledge of participants' garment sizeIncreased knowledge and skills for students in methods of conducting accurate measurement of BMI, BSI, and BVIStudents will increase their knowledge and skills in conducting research through participation in this projectIncreased RTW clothing fit satisfaction for each generation (baby boomer, generation X and Y)Dissemination of the scientific results in this research project to clothing developers, clothing designers, RTW producers, and merchandisersImproved usability of marketing strategies
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
0%
Developmental
100%
Goals / Objectives
The overall objectives of this research project are to investigate the influence of obesity indices (BMI, BSI, and BVI) combined with body shapes on Clothing Benefits Sought among baby boomer, generation X and Y. The specific objectives are as follows:To characterize consumers' body shapes and obesity indices (BMI, BSI, and BVI) in each generation group with 3D body scanner and digital scale.To evaluate each generation group's RTW clothing fit based on obesity indices combined with body shapes.To examine the influence of obesity indices combined with body shapes on each generation group's Clothing Benefits Sought.To explore the uniqueness in clothing fit preference/satisfaction suitable for each generation through the comparison of each generation's characteristics. Note that this proposed research will be focused on fit issues in female's RTW clothing, but fit issues in male's RTW clothing may be involved in this project if needed.
Project Methods
Procedures for Objective 1: To characterize consumers' body shapes and obesity indices (BMI, BSI, and BVI) in each generation group with 3D body scanner and digital scale. From November 2018 to December 2019, the PD will recruit the baby boomer, generation X and Y to collect the actual body measurement and the survey datain Baton Rouge, LA with 3D body scanner, digital scale, and questionnaire. For collecting data, each participant must follow three steps. The first step is that each participant fills in the self-administered questionnaire on MBSRQ, RTW clothing fit preference/satisfaction, body image, and clothing benefits sought. The time commitment of the participant is about 30 minutes. The second step is that participants must visit the 3D body scan lab and scan their body to get the images and body measurements. For the accurate body measurements and obesity indices, the proposed research is planned to utilize the Textiles and Clothing Technology Corporation [TC]² -19 Image Twin 3D body scanner, which is located in P. E. Thrift Hall of the Apparel Merchandising and Textiles (AMTX) Program at the Department of Family Consumer Sciences (FCS). The laser-based process of 3D body scanning is totally harmless and takes less than 30 seconds. The 3D body images and measurements will be stored in the computer as PDF files and jpg image files. The last step after scanning the body is that each participant is planned to measure her/ his body weight and height with the Health O Meter Fitness digital scale for each participant's BMI. The height and weight will be coded in excel file to easily calculate the BMIs. The survey data and the actual body measurements for BMI, BSI, and BVI will be coded for analysis. All survey and body measurement data will be kept in a security locking cabinet, which is located in P. E. Thrift Hall of AMTX program, by PD.Procedures for Objective 2: To evaluate each generation group's RTW clothing fit based on obesity indices combined with body shapes. There are two ways to evaluate RTW clothing fit: one is with actual body measurements and the other is with survey. For the former method, body measurements obtained from 3D body scanner and digital scale will be applied to clothing fit issues. For example, the PD introduced Q-value in the previous work (Seo & Namwamba, 2017) to see how much RTW clothing fits the actual body using several body measurements. Here is the Q-value defined as a function of sample number x,Qi [x] ≡(Ai[x] -αi[x] / αi[x] ) x 100,i = B, W, Hwhere Ai(x) is the actual sizes of body elements (bust [B], waist [W], and hips [H]) and α­­i(x) is the female/male size of girth measurements (bust [B], waist [W], and hips [H]) in ASTM D 5585-95/6240-98 standard table. Body indices combined with body shapes will be similarly applied to clothing fit issues.For the latter method, this proposed research will use SPSS statistics software to analyze the survey data. The PD and Co-PDs will work together for analysis of each generation data. The PD and Co-PDs will analyze each generation's RTW clothing fit based on obesity indices (BMI, BSI, and BVI) and body shapes. To examine the RTW clothing fit, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) will be used to determine whether there is statistically significant difference in means among the obesity indices (BMI, BSI, and BVI) and body shapes. In order to determine significant individual differences among the obesity indices (BMI, BSI, and BVI) and body shapes, individual univariate analysis of Variance (ANOVA) will be conducted when MANOVA is significant (p ≤.05). The fixed factors will be the obesity indices (BMI, BSI, and BVI) and body shapes, and the dependent variable will be RTW clothing fit. Additionally, the PD and Co-PDs will try to use the multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to test for significant differences between group means. After analyzing the generation Y's data, PD and Co-PDs will analyze the data of generation X and baby boomer in the same way as generation Y.Procedures for Objective 3: To examine the influence of obesity indices combined with body shapes on each generation group's Clothing Benefits Sought. The PD and Co-PDs will use the principal component factor analysis with Varimax rotation to perform clothing benefits sought statements. The factor loadings less than 0.50 will be eliminated, and items with factor loadings greater than 0.50 will be retained as a factor. The eigen-values greater than 1.00 will be adopted. Each factor will be checked with the reliability (Cronbach's alpha). The fixed factors will be the obesity indices (BMI, BSI, and BVI) and body shapes, and the dependent variables will be the clothing benefits sought factors. In order to examine the influence of obesity indices (BMI, BSI, and BVI) and body shapes, MANOVA, ANOVA, ANCOVA, MANCOVA, and ANCOVA will be used for this proposed research. Procedures for Objective 4: To explore the uniqueness in clothing fit preference/satisfaction suitable for each generation through the comparison of each generation's characteristics.The PD and Co-PDs will compare and contrast the whole research generation data (baby boomer, generation X and Y) to investigate the statistically significant uniqueness in clothing fit preference/ satisfaction and clothing benefit sought. This proposed research tries to determine each generation's characteristics of obesity indices (BMI, BSI, and BVI) and body shapes.