Abstract:

Objective The clothing structure design methods based on human kinetic theory proposed by Lindqvist can greatly improve the movement comfort of clothing. However, the principles of the methods are not yet clear and are failed to popularize and spread to use. This paper represents an attempt to explore the principles and ideas of its structural design, as well as the influencing mechanism on the improvement of clothing movement comfort, aiming to stimulate new ideas for movement comfort of clothing.

Method The leisure suit designed by Lindqvist was taken as a control experimental sample. Through the step-by-step structural adjustment experiment, the sleeve was firstly separated from the whole piece of leisure suit template to obtain the sleeve structure of scheme 1, and then the unconventional one-piece sleeve was divided and reorganized into two-piece sleeve to obtain the sleeve structure of scheme 2. Subjects were recruited and were asked to evaluate subjectively the fit and movement comfort of the three sleeve structures through human wearing experiment to analyze the movement comfort of the three sleeve structures.

Results The fit of the control experimental sample was found better than that of scheme 1 and scheme 2 in the whole garment, shoulder, armpit, elbow and back, and the former offered more suitable clothing tolerance. Compared with other parts, the mean score of fit of scheme 1 at the armpit and elbow is significantly higher than that of scheme 2, indicating that the way of sleeve dividing affects the fit of the sleeve and sleeve dividing following the direction of arm movement is better than the traditional two-piece sleeve dividing. When picking up luggage from a height, the comfort levels of shoulder joint and armpit are follows from the best to the worst: the control experimental sample, scheme 2, scheme 1. The bend of the sleeve elbow of scheme 1 is larger, so it is easier to pull the bottom of the sleeve than scheme 2 which is a two-piece sleeve divided by straight line when the arm raises upward nearly straight, resulting in shoulder and armpit pulling discomfort. The control suit exhibited the same elbow structure as scheme 1, but there is enough loose at sleeve bottom to meet the motion of the arm elevation. When making a phone call or looking at a watch, the comfort levels of each part are as follows from the best to the worst: control experimental sample, scheme 1,scheme 2. The two-piece sleeve of scheme 2 which has approximately straight dividing line is not set enough slack at elbow. When the arm is bent, the sleeve presses the elbow and pulls the fabric at the bottom of sleeve, causing discomfort at elbow and armpit. The dividing line of scheme 1 follows the direction of arm movement and the elbow is set with enough loose, so its comfort of elbow and armpit is better than scheme 2. The sleeve structure of control experimental sample is the same as that of scheme 1, but its one-piece structure makes the armpit looser and more comfortable. When shaking hands and carrying things, the range of arm movement is small and the amount of active tolerance required in each part is also small. The subjects scored more than three points on the comfort of each part. The binding degree of the three sleeve structures is lower in the three parts. However, it could still be seen that the comfort level of the control experimental sample is better among the three sleeve structures.

Conclusion In summary, the movement comfort of the sleeve structure based on the principle of human kinetic is obviously better than that of the traditional two-piece sleeve structure. There are following two main reasons. First, the sleeve is connected to the back body as a one-piece structure, so there is no armhole line under back arm and there is a suitable amount of fabric accumulation for arm movement, providing movement slack for back shoulder and armpit. Second, dividing line of the sleeve is in line with the direction the arm moves. The forward angle of the formed sleeve is larger than the forward angle of the arm in the natural state. At the same time, a flexible allowance is set at the elbow. In addition, the fabric is oblique in the sleeve, so the sleeve has better ductility at underarm and elbow when the arm extends and bents. Then, the above two aspects can be combined to adjust the structural design of two-piece sleeves in order to obtain new sleeve structure with better movement comfort.

Key words: human kinetic theory, clothing design, sleeve structure, movement comfort, subjective evaluation