Parametric virtual lower body of elderly women for apparel industry

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a virtual body that resembles the customer’s body shape using only the minimum information provided by the customer and without requiring individually scanned data. Design/methodology/approach – The target of this study includes the three-dimensional scanned data of 91 senior women aged 60 or older and human body measurement data of 268 people. The parametric virtual body was generated in three steps: a basic virtual body, a trans-shaped virtual body, and a trans-sized virtual body. Findings – Using organic relationships found in the body shape factors of the lower body, this study developed an algorithm to generate elderly women’s parametric virtual lower body that is quick and reproducible. Having tested the reproducibility of the algorithm, the parametric virtual body showed excellent reproducibility vis-à-vis the personal scanned data in both the shape acceptability and size acceptability. Originality/value – Because virtual bodies in this study are based on the results of body shape analysis related to apparel design, those resembling customer body shapes can be quickly and accurately generated. In addition, because body shape information for target groups is provided to the clothing manufacturers, it will likely contribute significantly to enhancing clothes fitting.