Assessment of sensorial comfort of fabrics for protective clothing

Protection and comfort are important issues for protective clothing and an appropriate protection is most of the times detrimental for overall clothing comfort. The tactile or sensorial comfort is related to the mechanical interaction between the garment and the human body. Fabric Hand and Fabric Touch are two crucial elements that express how consumers experience textiles by touching them with the fingers and respectively by wearing them. Both subjective and objective methods are used to assess the fabric hand and touch. Within the ongoing CORNET project Touché both subjective methods (e.g. blind tests, questionnaires) and innovative instruments (e.g. FTT, TSA) are employed for assessment of fabric hand and touch. The Fabric Touch Tester (FTT) enables fast and simultaneous assessment of 13 physical fabric indices (e.g. bending, compression, friction, roughness and thermal conductivity) and uses these indices to predict comfort primary indexes such as smoothness, softness, warmness, total hand and total touch. It could be therefore a promising, very fast selection method of fabrics that will eventually lead to clothing with high sensorial comfort. Fabrics with similar weight and thickness were tested aiming at identifying possible significant differences between the samples

Effect of biaxial stretch and domestic washing on air permeability of elastic knitted fabrics for sportswear

This paper introduces a non-automatic device to apply biaxial stretch and investigates the effect of biaxial stretch and domestic washing on air permeability of polyamide-elastane knitted fabrics for sportswear. Air permeability of the selected fabrics significantly increased upon biaxial stretch, regardless the fabric type and stretch level (5% or 10%) applied. Generally, air permeability of relaxed fabrics decreased due to slight shrinkage that occurred upon washing, but domestic washing was not found to have a statistical significant influence on air permeability of the selected fabrics. The manual device proposed applies stretch in one or two directions, it is robust and easy to handle, and fabric preparation is quite straightforward. The fabric holder used in this study is particularly suited to the head of the air permeability tester and the level of stretch applied depends on type of fabric

Results of the SHAPE project

The overall objective of SHAPE project (Adapted Performance Sportswear) is to develop comfortable and well-fitted sportswear for athletes whose body shapes differ from the average population. Body measurements of professional cyclists and rowers were extracted from 3D scans and compared with average Belgian population. Variation of body measurements and skin-sportswear interface pressure upon rowing and cycling postures was additionally investigated. Significant differences were found between rowers and average Belgian males. Rowing and cycling postures had significant influence on most body measurements and pressure. Fit of prototypes developed based on SHAPE-body sizing charts was positively validated by male rowers. Large number of cyclists critically evaluated their present outfit including fit and comfort. Two prototypes were designed according to individual needs of Gsport cyclists and their functionality, comfort and fit were positively evaluated

Fit evaluation of sportswear for Belgian elite male rowers in static and dynamic rowing postures

The main objective of the SHAPE study was to assess the anthropometry of elite male rowers and develop customized size charts and sportswear with adequate fit in static and dynamic rowing postures. This paper briefly discusses the anthropometry of Belgian elite male rowers and focuses on the fit features of a related unisuit called SHAPE which is compared against a reference (SMARTFIT) with similar materials and design, whereof the garment construction is based on body charts of average Belgian males. Four elite male rowers evaluated both unisuits in garment size 52 and 58. Most of the ten fit features investigated for SHAPE unisuit were allocated average scores between 3 (adequate fit) and 4 (very good fit). In static posture, the overall fit of the SHAPE unisuit was found slightly better than of SMARTFIT unisuit (average score 3.8 and 3.1 respectively). Unlike SMARTFIT, SHAPE unisuit based on rowers body dimensions scored equally well in static and dynamic rowing postures catch and finish and will likely successfully accommodate repetitive sport movements

Identification of a Lethal Form of Epidermolysis Bullosa Simplex Associated with a Homozygous Genetic Mutation in Plectin

Genetic mutations in plectin, a cytoskeleton linker protein expressed in a large variety of tissues including skin, muscle, and nerves, cause epidermolysis bullosa simplex with muscular dystrophy, a recessive inherited disease characterized by blistering of the skin and late onset of muscular dystrophy, and Ogna epidermolysis bullosa simplex, a rare dominant inherited form of epidermolysis bullosa simplex with no muscular involvement. Here we report a novel homozygous genetic mutation (2727del14) in the plectin gene (PLEC1) associated with a lethal form of recessive inherited epidermolysis bullosa in a consanguineous family with three affected offspring. This new clinical variant of epidermolysis bullosa is characterized by general skin blistering, aplasia cutis of the limbs, developmental complications, and rapid demise after birth. Mutation 2727del14 is the first genetic defect described in PLEC1 that disrupts the plakin domain of plectin. The severe phenotype of the patients may be linked to the role of the N-terminal domain in the function of plectin and develops the understanding of the genotype-phenotype correlations in the genodermatoses affecting the dermal-epidermal junction