The purpose of this study was to develop a lumbar support garment, using three-dimensional (3D) printing technology, that has a good fit and great aesthetics for obese women in their 30s and 40s. To this end, a survey was conducted to investigate consumers’ satisfaction with commercially available lumbar supports. One participant with class 2 obesity, aged between 30 and 49 years, with previous experience of back pain and wearing a lumbar support, was selected for the 3D body scanning procedure. A lumbar support was designed based on the 3D shape data obtained by the 3D body scan of the participant and was then printed using a 3D printer. The lumbar support garment was designed as a sleeveless wrap-style innerwear piece combined with lumbar support. Cross-sectional comparisons, a wear test, and an appearance evaluation were also conducted. The cross-sectional comparisons confirmed that wearing the lumbar support garment straightened the back and waist posture and tightened the abdomen. Three obese women in their 30s and 40s were recruited for the wear test and, based on the test results, the lumbar support garment scored very high on air permeability, material, washing, and long wearability. Furthermore, because the lumber support garment can be worn under another garment, the participants felt more comfortable psychologically. The support also received good scores on appearance evaluations. However, spine experts suggested reducing the support’s thickness to improve its functionality and appearance.
Abstract3D body scanning and printing are attracting attention as innovative technologies for producing dress forms. While designing dress forms, the shape of the human body must be accurately reflected in the different postures. This study explored the development of dress forms as a tool to understand changes in body size and shape according to postures and reflect this information to design and fit evaluation in the apparel industry. The holistic development process of dress forms in standing and sitting postures was suggested for representing the body shape of a specific target group. The average shape of middle-aged Korean women was derived by analyzing the 6th Size Korea data. A representative participant whose dimensions were closest to the average size was selected among recruited participants for the dress form development. The body data were acquired with a portable 3D scanner and corresponding dress forms and accessories were modeled using 3D CAD software. The models were inspected and corrected through prototyping. Full-size dress forms in standing and sitting postures were printed using a fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer and post-processed. Completed dress forms were body-scanned and their accuracy was evaluated through morphological similarity comparison, cross-sectional image comparison, surface area and volume comparison, and mesh deviation analysis. Although there were some minor differences caused by the modeling process, the developed dress forms reflected the main characteristics and shapes of the representative body satisfactorily.
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