Product Fit and Sizing: Sustainable Product Evaluation, Engineering, and Design

In this book, for the first time, the complexity of assessing fit and using fittings in the product design process is addressed from a scientific and systems engineering perspective. It includes methods to represent the anthropometry of the target market, good practices to develop protocols for more reliable and consistent fit testing, methods for developing and maintaining a fit database, comprehensive statistical analyses needed for fit and sizing analysis, and instructions for selecting and modeling cases for new product development.

Product Fit and Sizing: Sustainable Product Evaluation, Engineering, and Design offers step-by-step instructions for the evaluation, engineering, and design of existing and new products and includes real-world examples of mass-produced apparel, head wearables, and footwear products. It also explains how to develop a sustainable fit standard for fit and sizing continuity for all styles across all seasons and iterations.

This book is intended for industry professionals and undergraduate and graduate education to prepare students for design and engineering jobs. For organizations that purchase uniforms or protective equipment and apparel, it also provides instructions for purchasing professionals to evaluate the suitability of wearable products for their population.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Kathleen M. Robinette, Ph.D., is a research consultant specializing in anthropometry, biostatistics, and fit and sizing for product development and assessment. She has more than 45 years’ experience, spearheading the development, management, and transitioning of new technologies in the field of engineering anthropometry, and led the field in the development of 3-D automated human scanning and modeling for product design and evaluation. She planned, organized, negotiated, and directed the first successful 3-D whole body human measurement survey (CAESAR), which produced more than 4,000 whole body models which continue to be used around the world today. She is a Fellow of the Air Force Research Laboratory from which she retired after 30 years of service and is an Honorary Fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. She was Professor and Head of the Department of Design, Housing, and Merchandising at Oklahoma State University 2012-2015 and she established and directed the Human Factors department for Magic Leap Inc. 2015-2017 implementing fit mapping into the product development process. Kathleen has a Ph.D. in Biostatistics and Epidemiology from the University of Cincinnati, an M.S. in Mathematics/Statistics from Wright State University, and a B.A. in Anthropology from Wright State University.

Daisy Veitch, Ph.D., is currently the Director of Anthropometry for Anthrotech Inc. and has served as an anthropometry and fit consultant for commercial apparel industry for more than 25 years. She worked with Flinders Medical Center to develop and refine 3D body scanning for medical applications. She is the owner of a US design patent and has registered designs in Australia, Europe, United States, and the European Community. She also directed the Australian National Size and Shape Survey in 2002. She worked in industry for ten years doing technical garment construction and serving as product engineer for an apparel company. As a recognized expert, she was appointed as an International Judge for APDeC 2013 (Asia Pacific Design Challenge) http://apdec.net. Daisy developed her fashion and design skills in Adelaide, Australia, beginning with the Australian Wool Corporation Young Designer Award and Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Award for Young Australians, which took her to Paris, France where she studied at the La Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. She received her Ph.D. from TU Delft (Industrial Design Engineering with a specialization in Medisign). She is a founding member of World Engineering Anthropometry Resources (WEAR) and served as Treasurer and Secretary General.

Sandra Alemany, Ph.D., is a research scientist at the Instituto de Biomecánica de Valencia (IBV) and founded the Anthropometry Research Group in 2015. She led large-scale anthropometry surveys in Europe using 3D scanning technology and has experience in applying anthropometry to improve wearable fit including: footwear, electronic devices, orthotics, insoles and clothing. Recent developments include a 4D body scanner in movement and the development of two mobile apps to generate 3D body shapes from photographs. She is an expert advisor on European Standardization Committees of Anthropometry and Size System of Clothing and an expert reviewer of R&D projects for the European Commission. She is currently serving as Co-chair for the Anthropometry Technical Committee for the International Ergonomics Association. She received her PhD. from the University Polytechnic of Valencia in 2023 with research about fit and clothing size prediction from anthropometry.

Karen Bredenkamp currently heads up the Human Factors team at Magic Leap Inc. Karen has more than 20 years’ industry experience in anthropometry survey design, data collection, analysis, and implementation in wearable product and workstation design, as well as wearable product fit research as part of the product selection or development processes. Between 2000 – 2016 Karen was employed at Ergonomics Technology, a division of the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (ARMSCOR), where she had a core role in the establishment of the 3D whole-body and foot Anthropometry databases for the ethnically diverse and unique South African National Defence Force (SANDF) population. Her activities furthermore involved providing anthropometry and fit inputs and evaluation support for product design as well as purchasing of SANDF clothing, footwear, protective wearable products, workstations, and occupant environments. She also has worked in the transportation, mining and commercial industries. Karen is currently serving as Co-chair for the Anthropometry Technical Committee for the International Ergonomics Association. She has an MSc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Cape Town and an BEng in Mechanical Engineering from Stellenbosch University, South Africa.