SIGNIFICANCE OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE SENSE OF SIGHT ON THE HAND EVALUATION OF PILE FABRICS

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show how the sense of sight influences the hand evaluation of color pile fabrics when consumers and specialists try to estimate it with the senses of sight and touch, or with either of the sense of touch or the sense of sight.
The summary of the results is shown below.
(1) When consumers and specialists estimate the hand evaluation of color pile fabrics with only the sense of touch, both groups perceive each sensory value of pile fabrics exactly by their physical properties.
(2) It is clear that consumers and specialists are influenced by the surface color of pile fabrics. But, the influence of three attributes of color perception (hue, value, and chroma) on the sensory values evaluated by the specialists is smaller than that by the consumers.
(3) When consumers and specialists estimate the hand evaluation of color pile fabrics with both the senses of sight and touch and with only the sense of sight, it is clear that the sensory value “softness” is concerned mainly with value; “thickness” with both value and chroma; “fullness” with hue; “smoothness” with both hue and value; “lightness” with both value and chroma. Point to which special attention should be paid is that even the specialists who have much experience in sensory evaluation are influenced by the sense of sight.