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This study investigated the clothing selections for purchase of preschool and kindergarten‐aged children in a midsized southern city. The theory of consumer socialization provided framework for the study. Seven hundred questionnaires were distributed to parents/ guardians of 3‐, 4‐, 5‐, and 6‐year‐old children at public and private schools and preschools. A total of 314 usable questionnaires were completed by mothers, yielding a 45% response rate. T tests, ANOVA, and frequencies were used to analyze data. The effects of demographic variables were investigated in relation to three consumer socialization constructs. Findings indicated that consumer socialization of children begins at an early age and is related to selected demographic characteristics. Results of this study are important for those involved in the children's wear business, as well as for clothing and retailing educators. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

As wearable electronics become more prevalent in everyday life, there is a growing desire to integrate circuits and antennae into clothing. One way that this integration may occur is through use of electronic textiles (e-textiles). However, changes in environmental and wear conditions may affect the conductive data communication performance of the e-textile, such as surface resistivity and antenna radiation characteristics. In this study, the effects of pilling, wrinkling, abrasion, and laundering of e-textiles were examined for resistivity performance. E-textile resistivity performance from both direct current (DC) and radiofrequency (RF) perspectives were measured following AATCC and ASTM standards. For DC performance, results indicate that pilling causes severe damage to e-textile resistivity, while laundering and wrinkling did not substantially affect e-textile resistivity performance. For RF performance in this study, an e-textile microstrip patch antenna was designed and data were collected under similar environmental and wear conditions. RF performance change corresponds with DC performance change. The findings of this paper highlight limitations of the evaluated e-textile performance, and provide new perspectives regarding improvements to e-textile fabrication for sustaining performance through environmental and wear operations.

The New York Posture Rating (NYPR) was evaluated for assessing postural alignment changes in a garment study as captured in photographs and body scans. The posture of 15 pre-menopausal females aged 40 to 55 were assessed while wearing a control and a posture support garment. The scale was successfully applied with good rater reliability for photographs (0.77) and body scans (0.91). Overall photographic posture assessments were not significant, however, two body segments showed improvement. Overall body scan posture assessments revealed significant improvement for the posture support garment, and improvement in one body segment (neck). Paired t –test comparison of NYPR from photographs and body scans were not significantly different in the posture support garment and significantly different for the control. Possible solutions are discussed. Overall results, support the potential use of the NYPR in studies of garment effects on posture and the body scans as an assessment tool.

Bicycle police patrol officers require functional occupational clothing to perform a variety of daily tasks. Vonk (2003) reported officers' difficulty with finding specialised uniforms. The purpose of this study was to identify the needs specific to bicycle patrol officers for uniforms that address instrumental and expressive performance requirements. Survey data were collected from 238 United States bicycle patrol officers in 29 units from 15 states across the country. Officers expressed neutral to moderately high satisfaction with uniform components and overall performance of their uniforms, but also provided numerous comments regarding areas for improvement. Uniform needs identified by the officers were primarily instrumental, but some expressive needs were also expressed. On the basis of the results, challenges to improving bicycle patrol uniforms are discussed within the design process framework and next steps are proposed.