Development of A Novel Method to Assess The Intra- and Extra-Clothing Microenvironments

Abstract

Developing a device that can easily evaluate the intra-clothing microenvironment is important for developing new garments to prevent heat-related illness in summer periods. We evaluated the effectiveness of an originally developed fixture assessing the intra-clothing microenvironments during outdoor exercise on summer days. Eleven long- and middle-distance runners participated in a two-day summer experiment on the same schedule. The originally developed fixture was attached to participants on their chest and back skin sites using collodion to measure the temperature and humidity inside their clothing. The experiment consisted of two bouts of 30-minute moderate-intensity running, with the first bout wearing a conventional polyester fabric T-shirt （CON） on both experimental days. The second bout was conducted by wearing a commercially available T-shirt with high breathability （Dry Aero Flow, DAF） or CON. We showed that the intra-clothing temperature and relative humidity were successfully measured using the developed fixture in all participants. We also found that although there was no difference in intra-clothing temperature and relative humidity between conditions during the first bout of exercise, the DAF attenuated intra-clothing humidity than the CON in the second bout. These results suggest that the fixture developed in the present study is effective to assess the intra-clothing environment during outdoor exercise in summer periods.