Exploratory retail studies in South Africa indicate that plus-sized women experience problems and dissatisfaction with poorly fitting bras. The lack of 3-D anthropometric studies for the plus-size women's bra market initiated this research. 3-D body torso measurements were collected from a convenience sample of 176 plus-sized women in South Africa. 3-D breast measurements extracted from the TC(2) NX12-3-D body scanner 'breast module' software were compared with traditional tape measurements. Regression equations show that the two methods of measurement were highly correlated although, on average, the bra cup size determining factor 'bust minus underbust' obtained from the 3-D method is approximately 11% smaller than that of the manual method. It was concluded that the total bust volume correlated with the quadrant volume (r = 0.81), cup length, bust length and bust prominence, should be selected as the overall measure of bust size and not the traditional bust girth and the underbust measurement. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: This study contributes new data and adds to the knowledge base of anthropometry and consumer ergonomics on bra fit and support, published in this, the Ergonomics Journal, by Chen et al. (2010) on bra fit and White et al. (2009) on breast support during overground running.
Female consumer's clothing shopping experience is primarily influenced by the appearance and fit of a garment that may be influenced by their personal values and is a process that involves emotions (Otieno et al., 2005; Lopatovska and Arapakis, 2011). Very little research focussing on the emotional impact and the role that personal values play in the female consumers’ shopping experience of ready‐to‐wear garment fit has been conducted in South Africa to date. The primary objective of this study was to explore the areas of concern of garment sizing to establish the emotional impact garment sizing and the resulting fit have on the female consumer purchasing behaviour when evaluated against their personal value system. This study applied the means‐end chain theory approach that allowed the researcher to explore female consumers’ personal values and the resulting emotions, through the application of the laddering interview techniques. Using open‐ended questions, this study aimed to discover the role of female consumers’ perceptions of garment sizing and the resulting emotional effects of garment fit on their purchasing decisions. The findings from the data collected from a purposeful and convenient sample of 62 female consumers from Gauteng, Johannesburg showed that the majority of the participants in this study failed to attain their personal values through the fit of a garment due to inconsistent, unreliable and inaccurate sizing, garment sizing which is unsuitable for various body shapes and the unavailability of certain clothing sizes in ready‐to‐wear garments. The study established that it is extremely important that South African clothing manufacturers and designers should strategize to satisfy the clothing need of the consumers who are currently having problems with garment sizing, by understanding female consumers’ garment sizing and fit needs through extended research of their target markets.
PurposeThe purpose of this study was for a panel of experts to initially make visual assessments of female body morphotypes from their 3-D scanned images, and, thereafter, use these and their anthropometric data to derive algorithms to specify anthropometric parameters corresponding to a specific body morphotype categories.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a method to quantitatively define women's body morphotypes derived from the visual assessments of the 3-D scans of the body. Nine morphotype categories are defined and algorithms are derived to define the range of values of bust-to-waist and hip-to-waist girth ratios corresponding to the different categories. The method showed an 81.9% prediction accuracy between the visually assessed and predicted morphotypes. This compared to a 71.9% prediction accuracy of another published method. This new normative method (NNM) enables a quantitative evaluation of how visual assessments of body morphotypes from different populations of women, made by different assessors, differ.FindingsThe panel assessed morphotype category with the largest number of subjects was rectangle (52.0%), followed by spoon (39.5%), hourglass (5.6%) and triangle (2.9%). The NNM shows similar predicted categories, with only slightly differing values, viz. the morphotype category with the largest number of subjects was rectangle (54.1%) followed by spoon (40.4%), hourglass (4.8%), inverted U (0.6%) and Y (0.3%). The morphotype with the worst correlation between the predicted and the assessed was the triangle (0% – 0/10), followed by the hourglass (31.6% – 6/19). The NNM did not generate more than one prediction for a given visually assessed morphotype.Research limitations/implicationsThe geographical location of the authors meant that it was convenient to develop and evaluate the NNM from a sample of South African women. Further work can be conducted where a large number of national and international experts perform an assessment of a set of body morphotypes. The anthropometric data derived according to ISO 8559-1 protocols may then be used to determine the criteria used by each assessor with the aim of reaching a consensus and, hence, movement toward body morphotype standardization for both men and women and thereby mass customization.Practical implicationsThe advantage of the method is that it provides for a, transparent, universally applicable procedure that is simple to use and implement in the clothing and retail sectors The NNM did not predict more than one morphotype for a given category; hence, it enables objective comparisons to be made between the visual assessments of morphotype categories of different populations by different assessors, to also evaluate how and where the assessments differ.Social implicationsStudies such as this highlight the need for standardization of both the criteria used in the expert panel visual assessments and an agreement on the anthropometric measures or landmarks required to define women 3-D body morphotypes standardized to international protocols for target market segmenting in the clothing and retail sectors and in industries where variability in body morphotype, size and proportions has ergonomic implications.Originality/valueThe theoretical concept is novel, easy to follow and implement in the clothing and related sectors and has not been published to date. The approach was to develop a theoretical concept standardized to ISO 8559-1 that enable objective comparisons between visual assessments of morphotypes of different populations by different assessors, and to also evaluate how and where the assessments differ. The knowledge and experience of domain experts were to initially conduct the visual assessments of women morphotypes from their 3-D scans and thereafter to use these and their anthropometric data to derive algorithms to specify anthropometric parameters corresponding to a specific body morphotype category.
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