NTC Project: S02-CD04 (Formerly I02-E04) 1. Sensory Science: Social and Physical Interactions in Textile Evaluation

Transcription

1 1 Sensory Science: Social and Physical Interactions in Textile Evaluation Project Team: Leader: Goal Statement: Susan Kaiser, U.C. Davis, Social and cultural aspects of clothing and textiles Phone: (530) Members: Ning Pan, U.C. Davis, Fiber science and mathematical modeling Joan Chandler, U.C. Davis, Consumer studies of textiles Janet Hethorn, U. of Delaware, Visual analysis; garment fit The goal of this project is to develop an interdisciplinary model integrating social and physical dimensions of human sensory (e.g., tactile, visual) responses to textiles in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms. Abstract: A significant portion of the value added to textiles is sensory in nature. In this project, we are developing a sensory science framework to understand the relationships between physical properties and human perceptions. This study requires an interdisciplinary approach, and our overall goal is to develop an interactive analysis of how mechanical and tactile evaluations of two-dimensional fabrics map with three-dimensional fit and comfort. This project will also enable us to link physical and perceptual measurements, and quantitative and qualitative data. One part of the research involves developing a relational model between (a) consumer tactile and visual evaluations of various denim fabrics commonly used in jeans and (b) the physical fabric fingerprints of these same fabrics. In this third and final year of the project, we will fully characterize a set of fabrics using this relational model and then extend the model to incorporate physical and perceptual dimensions of fit and comfort (in the form of pants worn on human subjects bodies). Further, wearers and perceivers evaluations of fit will be assessed and compared in order to interpret the interplay between visual and tactile sensory responses. Initial Study: Consumer Evaluations We began this project with a focus on consumer evaluations. Specifically, we first focused on sensory perceptions of jeans an article of clothing that is especially meaningful to many consumers, especially university students. Because previous studies have indicated that softness is a key factor in organizing consumer perceptions of textiles (Pan et al., 1998), we focused our analysis on the softness of jeans as they appear in store websites and as they look and feel in three dimensional real life. In the first phase of the project, we examined how the softness of jeans is

2 2 communicated and perceived visually in terms of media imagery, and in both visual and tactile evaluations of actual jeans. The goals of this project were to (a) determine the differences in perceptions of softness between jeans designed for males and females, and (b) compare perceptions of softness between website images and actual jeans. The respondents were students in a general education class at the University of California, Davis. Because we found no significant differences in the students perceptions as a function of their gender, we collapsed their responses in the data below. The students were ethnically diverse and the average age was 20.9 years. We showed the 68 respondents six images of jeans (one female and one male pair) from each of three popular store websites: J. Crew, Abercrombie and Fitch, and GAP. The respondent rated the image of the jeans on softness, durability, and preference on 7-point semantic differential scales. After viewing each of the six images from the websites and completing the scales, the respondents were shown the actual garments and asked to complete a similar set of semantic differential scales related to the physical garment s look and feel. We wanted to determine their perceptions and expectations based on the images of the jeans on a website compared to the actual jeans. Focus group interviews were conducted to understand the subjects feelings about favorite clothes, jeans, and shopping behavior. These interviews helped to explain how people shop for jeans, as well as their preferences and perceptions of softness and other qualities such as durability. Findings Generally women s jeans are perceived as softer than males. However, there are some discrepancies between the website perceptions (i.e., the expectations) and the actual perceptions (i.e., the look and the feel of the real jeans). The direction of the discrepancies (i.e., whether the jeans feel softer than expected, or vice versa) appears to be influenced by issues associated with gender stereotypes and advertising/brand imagery, as well as based on the websites abilities to communicate softness visually (e.g., through fading, degree of darkness). Continuing Work Fabric Fingerprints We measured the denim fabrics (derived from the above jeans) sensory-related variables mechanically (physically), in order to map these with the consumer (social) responses. We used the fabric fingerprinting method of Pan et al. (1993). This method details the overall sensory evaluation of fabric performance as a graphical technique using circular diagrams that fingerprint or characterize fabrics. A number of physical tests (tensile, bending, shearing, compression and fabric thickness, and frictional) are performed on a fabric in addition to determining parameters similar to the Kawabata system. Then the measurements are correlated with fabric performance using multivariate analysis. The physical testing results are mapped on a circular chart with each having an axis coming from the center. The resulting chart gives a visual representation of the physical

3 3 measurements of a fabric and that chart can be compared to the charts or fingerprints of other fabrics. Previous work by Pan et al. (1998) has suggested that the method correlates well with consumer tactile evaluations of fabrics. We cut samples from the same six jeans that were included in the above consumer analysis. The samples were tested on the Instron tester for their tensile, compression, bending, and shearing properties, and on the KES-FB friction tester for their friction properties. From the resulting mechanical data, a fabric fingerprint was produced for each fabric. We then compared the fingerprint data with consumer responses. By way of example, the physical data and corresponding fingerprints for the women s and men s GAP jeans are included below: GAP W RC (%) 1.00 MMD T 0.50 MIU 2HG HB LT RT (%) WT

4 4 GAP M RC (%) 1.00 MMD T 0.50 MIU 2HG HB LT RT (%) WT As revealed by the above fingerprints, as well as the consumer data, the men s and women s GAP jeans vary in their physical and perceptual properties. We are continuing to relate the two more directly in order to determine how a combination of mechanical measurements can predict consumer response. Fit, Comfort, Brand, and Social Context To delve more deeply into the question of how brand and social context influence consumer perceptions of fit and comfort, a pilot test was conducted with 33 consumers. These questions covered issues such as brands of jeans and the associations that accompany these brands, how students mix and match their jeans with other items of clothing and brands, when and where students wear jeans, and to what extent they consider jeans flexible physically and socially. Building on this pilot study and previous research (Freitas et al., 1997; Kaiser et al., 1993), data were collected at the University of Delaware in the early Fall of Seventy-three students were asked to develop collages using at least five images from magazines, catalogs or any other visual source. They were also asked to provide five words that describe their personal styles. In subsequent focus groups, the students discussed issues of fit, shopping, brands, comfort, styles, and other issues associated with why they do or do not wear jeans and which brands they prefer. These data were analyzed, and a similar protocol was used in a comparative study at the University of California at Davis in the Fall of 2003.

5 5 Jeans: Three Dimensional Fit There is a complex relationship between young women and their (tight) clothing. Since ancient times, women have worn restrictive garments such as corsets to communicate femininity, beauty, youth and social status. The ambiguous relationship between women and their (tight) clothing reflects an ancient ideal (the origin of the corset is said to be Minoan Crete) and the value of social comfort for certain groups of consumers. This phase of the study examines jeans as a source of physical restriction and the ways that young women articulate their identity through fit. Fit is probably the most significant factor when it comes to buying a pair of jeans. No matter how good a price is or how great a pair of jeans looks on the hanger, jeans have very little value if they don t fit well on the body. Fit can be the ultimate selling factor and because no two bodies are alike, good jean fit can be hard to find. The following quotes from our respondents (UD refers to a student from the University of Delaware, and UCD to University of California at Davis students) reflect their feelings about jeans and fit: Fit is very important and sometimes even if I m not crazy about the finish of the jeans, I will still buy them if they fit right. (UD) So far in my shopping experiences price has not been an issue when it comes to pants. No price is too much to pay for a great fitting pair of jeans. (UD) I usually don t care about the brands of my jeans. What matters most is how jeans fit. (UCD) Although fit is highly subjective, most students have surprisingly similar views as to how jeans should fit on the body. The phrase tight but not too tight was consistently used to define ideal fit regardless of the individual s body type, brand preferences, or personal style. I don t want jeans too tight because though I want to look good, I still want to be comfortable when I sit. (UCD) I like when my jeans are tight but not that it makes my fat bulge. (UD) For years women have been fitting themselves into tight, body hugging garments for the sake of fashion. According to Valerie Steele in The Corset, since the 1600s critics of fashion frequently observed that women used clothing to alter the apparent shape of their bodies, padding their hips and breasts and squeezing their waists, or making themselves look taller Steele notes that while some women did experience corsetry as an assault on the body it was simultaneously an indicator of femininity, status, beauty, respectability, self-discipline and youth. According to our study, many young women continue to associate close fitting garments--in this case, blue jeans--with similar ideals and qualities. Just as corsets accentuated the figure by pushing up the breasts, cinching the

6 6 waist and flattening the tummy, young women today look for jeans that will flatter certain areas of the body while concealing others. I have found that my jeans have one thing in common-they are all tight-fitting jeans. I feel more held together in a pair that sucks in the places on my body that I don t like and then accentuates the areas that I am comfortable with. (UD) I like a pair of jeans that fits my body shape perfectly, which means it should cover the flaws I have [jeans should] flatten my humungous butt. A pair of comfortable jeans should enhance my figure; not super-loose or super-tight. (UCD) I think jeans have to be fitted jeans--not too tight. They have to be tight enough to show your curves yet loose enough to bend over and not worry about them tearing. (UCD) Luckily the advent of stretch in jeans has made it possible for fitted jeans to be physically comfortable. In the eighties, stretchy synthetics like Lycra spandex were being woven into blue jeans to allow for a second-skin look, but one that allows the wearer to sit down and bend over. The slightest inclusion of spandex (as little as 2%) makes a huge difference in the overall look of the jean and how it feels/fits on the body. Stretch jeans were favored by more than half of our respondents, although some made it clear that they don t like their jeans to look stretchy or painted on the body. I like stretch jeans which fit fairly tight but are still comfortable. (UD) Spandex allows for so much more movement than a regular pair of jeans. That way I can wear more feminine jeans, to feel like I look alright, yet be just as comfortable as if I were wearing a baggy, frumpy pair. (UCD) Social Comfort and Uniformity Social comfort can be achieved through an intricate balance of individuality and conformity. An eighteen year old female attending a university for the first time is in the preparatory stages of her adult life. The university aids in the process of socialization as it trains her for specific skills and roles she will use in the future. For her, wearing jeans represents her desire to cohere with the university culture and to express mutual interests with other students, while maintaining a sense of individuality. The negotiation of appearance at a large university emerges as each individual brings to the group context their own interpretations of individual and group values. Individual appearance elements are combined and recombined, and a negotiated look is likely to evolve that signifies group values. Just as small groups negotiate appearance based on collective understanding of norms and values, many students of public, large-scale universities follow an implicit dress code that arises from everyday

7 7 negotiation and communication among students. This dress code varies according to region, degree of contact with the public, as well as the cultural and historical context of the university, but is nevertheless rooted in the blue jean. I usually wear jeans when I am at school because that is what I feel the most comfortable in when I am sitting in a lecture hall. I have found this to be a college trend for me. When I was in high school I wore jeans, but I also had a tendency to dress up a lot more. (UCD) I wear jeans almost everyday, so I wear jeans everywhere, to school...the only time I don t wear them is to church. (UD) Jeans are the ultimate accessory and necessity to my wardrobe. I wear them everyday and I hardly think twice about it. (UD) The social comfort that arises in the uniformity of dress is usually not distinguished from physical comfort. Surely there is some comfort in wearing the most widely accepted item of clothing ever made, but it is impossible to ever really know whether university students wear jeans because they are a comfortable garment, or whether they wear jeans because everyone else does. Some theorists believe that social and physical comfort can never be distinguished because both are deeply embedded in one another. According to Branson and Sweeney (1991), clothing comfort is a state of satisfaction indicating physiological, social-psychological and physical balance among the person, her clothing, and her environment. The Gestalt approach regards comfort as a whole so unified that its properties cannot be derived from the sum of its parts. Both perspectives focus on interactions among physical, physiological and social-psychological stimuli, which explain the lack of distinction in students descriptions of comfort. The social comfort embedded in the widespread acceptance of jeans makes it a tried and true favorite among young women. I wear jeans wherever I can. School. Clubs/bars/lounges. Restaurants. Everywhere and anywhere. This has always been the case. I don t have many dress pants or khakis. In my closet, you will see only jeans. (UCD) I usually wear jeans every day unless there s a special occasion; then I wear something else. I like to wear jeans because they go with everything and they re comfortable. This has always been the case with me. I own like 10+ jeans. I just can t seem to throw them away. (UCD) Unless there is a dress code saying that I cannot wear jeans or it is inappropriate to be wearing them, I always have them on. (UD) Blue jeans are more versatile today than ever before. They have been accepted as a day-into-night garment for the younger generation and are the foundation upon which stylish young women build. Whereas baby boomer parents would not think of wearing blue jeans to a nice dinner or nightclub,

8 8 female college students match them with high heels, a dressy top and chandelier earrings for a night out. For me, jeans are for all occasions. I wear them to work, school, to the clubs, to hang out with friends or to go to parties. It all depends on what type of shoes (nice high heels, sandals or tennis shoes) or what type of shirt (UC Davis sweater, sparkly or revealing top, or a tank top) I wear. (UCD) I have recently begun to wear jeans more often because...they re so versatile, and you can find a good pair for almost any occasion. There are so many different styles and colors to choose from that it is hard for me to not find a pair that will suffice my needs. (UD) We see from these responses that blue jeans are an important part of getting dressed for these young women. Not only did they recognize blue jeans as a staple in their wardrobes, but they also favored the same overall look. I would have to say I prefer a low rise pair of jeans with a slight flare or boot cut over any other style. I am fairly short, so the low rise elongates my legs and adds length to my torso. (UD) I like my jeans to fit snug in the waist and butt, and then have good room for movement from then on down with a flare bottom. Since I m tall, I like having fitted but then wide leg jeans with heels. (UD) There is no method to my madness... however, my favorite pair is a pair of low rise, boot cut jeans with angled pockets and buttons. (UD) Low-rise, tight fitting, boot cut or slightly flared jeans were preferred by almost all of my respondents. For them, personal style is negotiated with other students in relation to the current norms of fashion. The homogeneous flared look has remained fashionable because it tends to flatter a 50-year-old as much as it does her teenage daughter. The kick at the bottom balances out the wearer s hips and is far more flattering than say, a tapered leg. These young women perceive themselves as expressing uniqueness as opposed to uniformity in the blue jeans they wear. I don t have a precise method to buying jeans...each pair is unique and is worn differently than the others. (UCD) Almost every pair of jeans I own is very much created by myself and with my style. Personally, I have a hard time wearing something that looks very normal, or that a lot of people wear, so I tend to add my style to almost everything. (UCD) Everything from pockets to belt loops can make a pair of jeans unique. (UD)

9 9 Garment Fit and Perception: 2-D and 3-D Interactions The final phase of this project builds on the earlier studies by doing a thorough analysis of denim fabrics (with varying levels of stretch) that will be constructed into jeans for different body types. The goal is to develop an even larger picture of how 2-D fabrics map with 3-D fit and comfort. The project will also enable us to link physical and perceptual measurements, quantitative and qualitative data, and wearers and perceivers evaluations. The fabrics have been provided by Invista (formerly Dupont Textiles and Interiors). We will continue to complete fabric fingerprints, take other physical measurements, and study social/sensory perceptions. In this way we will fully characterize the fabrics and how they are evaluated. Then, garments will be constructed from these fabrics with varying levels of fit. (Dr. Janet Hethorn, a co-pi on this project, is an expert in garment fit and evaluation.) The wearers of these garments will evaluate them for fit and comfort, as well as other subjective perceptions. A series of physical fit measurements will also be made, in order to characterize fully the relationship between the garment and the body. The wearers will also be photographed in garments with varying levels of fit. These photographs will be used in a subsequent study incorporating visual analysis. Separate perceivers will observe the photographs and evaluate the level of fit. Wearers, perceivers, and mechanical evaluations of fit will then be compared, as will the 2-D and 3-D evaluations. This research has practical industry applications related to the value added sensory properties of textiles. The project has been enriched greatly by our collaboration with Invista and, more recently, interactions with Levi Strauss s Advanced Innovation Team. Dupont Textiles and Interiors, enabling us to anticipate how physical measurements of textiles relate to what consumers desire in fabrics and garments. New methods for communicating sensory properties in visual media will also be a positive outcome. Clothing catalogs and websites can be improved by using more accurate written, visual, and graphic descriptions that relate to both consumer perceptions and the physical properties of the fabric. In addition, we hope our research will move beyond the conceptualization of clothing comfort as an absence of discomfort toward a model of sensory pleasure. References: Branson, D.H. and Sweeney, M The Conceptualization of Comfort with Regard to Clothing. Pp in Critical Linkages in Textiles and Clothing Subject Matter: Theory, Method and Practice, ed. S.B. Kaiser and M.L. Damhorst. Colorado: ITAA Special Publication #4. Freitas, A. J., Kaiser, S. B., Chandler, J., Hall, C., Kim, J.W., and Hammidi, T. (1997). Appearance management as border construction: Least favorite clothing, group distancing, and identity...not! Sociological Inquiry, 67(3): Lurie, A.(1976). The Dress Code. New York Review of Books, Nov. 25, p. 72. Kaiser, S. B., Freeman, C. M. and Chandler, J. L. (1993). Favorite clothes and gendered subjectivities: Multiple readings. Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 15:27-50.

10 10 Pan, N., Kaiser, S., Chandler, J., Dallas, M.J., Brandt, B., Cameron, B., Brown, D. and Burns, L. (1998). Fabric hand evaluation: Perception and instrumentation. Proceedings of the International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Meeting, Dallas, November Pan, N., Zeronian, S.H., and Ryu, H-S. (1993). An alternative approach to the objective measurement of fabrics. Textile Research Journal, 63 (1): Steele, V. (2001). The Corset. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Acknowledgements: We are grateful for the help with data collection and analysis from our students, Denise Kastrinakis, Jie Tang, HuiMin Sun, Kadie Corless and Johnny Liew. In addition, our collaborations with Carmen Covelli and Becky Lewis at Dupont are greatly appreciated. Project website address: