A Correlative Study Between Consumer Perception and Comfort Performance of Undergarment Fabrics

Abstract

Fabric comfort is a crucial aspect for undergarments that is worn in tropical climates that creates an environment with soaring temperatures and high humidity can cause the conservation of heat, sweat retention and overall discomfort. Consumers often judge fabrics through their hand feel and physical appearance, but these observations may not completely reflect their comfort in terms of the performance metrics. This study therefore targets to investigate the objective comfort performance and the consumer’s subjective perceptions of different undergarment fabrics under tropical conditions. There are five fabric samples of undergarments that have varying fibre compositions and physical properties were evaluated accordingly. The basic physical properties such as fabric thickness and density as well as the fibre identification were first discovered. Subsequently, the comfort performance of the samples was assessed through air permeability, water vapour transmission and lastly moisture management testing. The results from all laboratory tests were normalized and combined to produce an overall laboratory comfort performance index (OLCPI). A survey was conducted to look at the consumer perception where 39 valid respondents ranked the five samples according to five comfort-related questions based on the visual aspect and tactile assessment. The Pearson correlation analysis was later used to establish the relationship between laboratory performance and consumer preference. The overall results prove that Sample B attained the highest air permeability (1471.43 mm/s), water vapour transmission (5.21 g) and OLCPI (0.886). These outcomes reveal that Sample B exhibits the most balanced and proportional overall comfort performance. Although Sample E displayed the highest liquid moisture management result, its low air permeability and moderately low water vapour transmission led to the sample having the lowest OLCPI value (0.365). Moreover, the consumer survey generated a similar overall ranking, with Sample B being the most preferred, then followed by Sample D, C, A and lastly E. Sample B recorded the highest consumer preference score (4.082), whereas Sample E has the lowest score (1.733). There is a strong positive correlation (r = 0.874) was found between the laboratory performance and consumer perception. The results imply that laboratory testing can provide a significant insight of consumer’s perception of comfort. Nevertheless, there are also other factors that can influence the evaluations done by consumers such as smoothness, softness, flexibility and texture of the fabric. Hence, both of the testing and consumer perception must be accounted for when selecting and developing undergarment fabrics that is suitable for the hot and humid tropical conditions.