The purposes of this study are to investigate how the hemline widths of jeans affect the body movements of healthy persons when putting on and taking off jeans, and how they are related to wearing comfortability.
In the experiment, four types of jeans with different hemline widths were used. The types were classified as middle-slim (S1), middle-straight (S2), roomy-straight (S3), and soft-middle-straight (S4). Subjects were 30 healthy female university students. They were classified into three groups by body size : large, medium and small.
After videotaping the subjects putting on and taking off each type of jeans, each subject was required to answer a sensory evaluation sheet consisting of 21 items using the SD method. They were also asked which leg they mainly used in their daily activities.
The results were as follows :
1) With regard to required time for putting on and taking off each type of jeans, significant differences were found among the types of hemline width. For putting on jeans, the longer the time required, the narrower the hemline width was. This was shown as follows : 51, S2>S3, S4. Particularly, the large body size group, showed remarkable differences. For taking off jeans, S1 showed significantly longer time, while the large body size group showed significantly longer time than other groups.
2) Concerning the sense of comfort in wearing, S2 and S3 types showed significant differences.Particularly, the small body size group gave the highest points to S2; the items, such as, “suberigayoi, ” “hadazawarinoyoi, ” and so on.
3) Regarding which leg is used to step into and out of jeans, it was confirmed that the different types of hemline widths did not affect which leg was used for the movement.
