Development of Kinematic Soft Dummy and Application on Clothing Pressure Measurement of Menʼs Suit Pants

The quantitative evaluation of clothing comfort is essential in the clothing industry. Garment constraint is caused by its tension along the curvature of the human body when in motion. Hence, the measurement of clothing pressure using test persons has been considered a representative tool for evaluating the motion adaptability of garments. Nevertheless, errors are caused by the individual differences among humans as well as the motion variance. In this study, a kinematic soft dummy model was designed and developed to measure clothing pressure. First, a model was selected that approximated the standard body proportions and dimensions of Japanese males in their 20s; the external mold was produced using gypsum. Second, a mechanical skeleton was inserted into the external mold, and the dummy was formed around the skeleton using a specific stiffness polyurethane simulating the modulus of human tissues. Third, the kinematic function was implemented through a control system that enabled the soft dummy to conduct “one leg raising”. Finally, the clothing pressure of the kinematic soft dummy was measured; it was fitted with menʼs suit pants that consisted of six worsted fabrics with different elongation ratios. Our results confirmed a particularly high correlation coefficient for the clothing pressure of the kinematic soft dummy and the test persons. They also confirmed a particularly high correlation coefficient for the clothing pressure of the kinematic soft dummy and the subjective evaluation by test persons. Therefore, the clothing pressure measurement with a kinematic soft dummy could be a novel and effective method for comfort evaluation.