ABSTRACT

In this paper, we present a new approach to characterizing fabric and garment comfort. This approach is based on using a single index of comfort expressed by the ratio between the actual area of fabric/skin contact and the corresponding apparent area. This index is called "Area-Ratio". The use of a single index may seem to be a very radical approach to characterizing a phenomenon that can be typically described by hundreds of parameters. However, extensive analysis of the nature of this index revealed that it correlates extremely well with all the basic aspects of comfort, namely: psychological, thermophysiological, and neurophysiological. On the other hand, single/simple index is what a consumer needs to reflect the overall judgment of garment comfort. The essence of this approach, however, stems from the particular value of this index that is suitable for a certain application. This paper will briefly show that the Area-Ratio is correlated significantly to many of the comfort-related fabric and yarn parameters.