TC2 - Newsletter

The American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) 2004 International Conference & Exhibition is a co-located event with ATME-I conducted September 13-17 at the Palmetto Expo Center in Greenville, South Carolina. It included exhibits, technical sessions, a Concept to Consumer (C2C) track and the Student Textile Bowl.

An Awards Banquet and Reception was held on Wednesday September 15th where Norma Keyes of Cotton, Incorporated was presented with the Chapin Award in recognition of her outstanding service to AATCC.

Jud Early, [TC]² Corporate Vice President of Research, spoke on “Adaptive Technology in a Changing World.” His presentation highlighted some technology shifts, the impact of change, and some insights for the development of future technology.
Kim Munro, [TC]² Product Development Manager, presented “Direct Pattern Generation from 3D to 2D” illustrating how 3D data streamlines the product development process and improves the integrity of pattern development.

Concurrent seminars were well attended. With multiple tracks offered, the attendees could attend topical selections from International Business, Concept to Consumer, Innovative Fibers and Technical Textiles, Flammability, Color Science, Dyeing and Finishing, and Biotechnology.

Co-sponsored by Textile Hall Corporation of Greenville, SC and the American Textile Machinery Association, ATME-I hosted more than 400 exhibitors and visitors from more than 60 countries.

ATME-I displayed new machinery, equipment and supplies for all textile-manufacturing processes including: Fiber and Yarn Manufacturing; Weaving and Knitting; Dyeing, Printing and Finishing; Nonwovens Manufacturing; and Plant Engineering and Maintenance.

Kerry Maguire King, Manager of Digital Print Services at [TC]², visited the AATCC/ATME-I show and attended many of the education programs related to color and textile printing. Kerry reports:

“Managing color in the global supply chain was a key topic of discussion and attendees and speakers emphasized the challenges of color communication and speed to market when sourcing oversees and multi-mill sourcing. There was discussion of internet-based communication and the use of 'engineered' color standards as two tools to help ease the process. The discussion emphasized the need for education among color specifiers and the combined use of instrumental and visual color assessment as being the standard practice for successful color evaluation.”

“In the printing area, we saw a new version of the Stork Sapphire printer that had a belt mechanism for fabric transport. This enables superior feeding of knits/stretchy fabrics and lightweight fabrics such as silk. We also noted a new batch-steaming unit from DigiFab, and Trident showed a new set of pigment inks for textiles. During the Thursday morning C2C session on printing, we heard speakers from Cranston Print Works, Rothtec Systems, First2Print, and Trident. Cranston showed samples and discussed their implementation of digital sampling. This was largely a success story that emphasized the use of digital sampling to speed the product development cycle. Rothtec and First2Print echoed this theme. Rothtec offered a global perspective, indicating that they could aid multi-mill sourcing by working out preproduction issues and creating the engraving ready files according to the print parameters of the mills sourced and the design needs of the product development team. First2Print talked about their support of sampling strategies within the home and apparel markets and services they provide related to short run printing. Trident gave a general overview of digital printing and emphasized their expertise in the area of printhead technology. The session was followed by a panel discussion.”

SizeUSA

How is it that a 5’8”, 150 lb. woman, a 5’6,” 135 lb. woman and a 5’9,” 125 lb. woman all claim to wear a size 8? This, and many other fitting anomalies are the reality today for the U.S. clothing industry, where a comprehensive analysis of body shapes and sizes hasn’t been conducted for several decades. This lack of research, in addition to the growing practice of vanity sizing – adding inches to clothing to make it appear that a woman wears a size smaller than she actually does – has created a disparity between the clothes available to the consumer and their actual body shapes and sizes.

Comparison of scan images

And that's only half the problem. Companies use sales data to get feedback on what sizes are selling and in what proportions – but sales data never captures lost sales. Not only is the consuming public being poorly served by this, but the retailer and the upstream apparel manufacturer lose out on considerable sales volume. Inevitably, people are forced to have expensive alterations done or simply wear clothes with an unsatisfactory fit.

[TC]² has been working on a solution to this costly problem. The SizeUSA survey is anthropometric research developed to gather United States sizing data with the use of its 3D measurement system, a body scanner feeding data into measurement extraction software .

The Body Measurement System consists of strategically placed sensors that use white light to register more than 200,000 data points on the body. These points are reduced and become a point cloud of the subject’s body. The body measurement system then extracts a pre-defined set of measurements. The results are 200+ accurate body measurements in less than a minute.

The SizeUSA survey used these body scanners with the BMS software to survey over 10,000 volunteers in 13 U.S. cities. Volunteers participated in various venues including JCPenney in Dallas, Texas, and Glendale, California, Macy’s in San Francisco, and Rich’s-Macy’s in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Locations were optimized to survey ethnic diversity. About 65% of the subjects scanned were women and 35% were men.

In addition to body measurements on over 10,000 scan subjects grouped into gender, six age groups, and four ethnicities, the survey has obtained anonymous information including zip code, annual household income, marital status, lifestyle, education, employment status, and apparel shopping preferences. The survey includes 48 statistical categories that can be utilized in a variety of ways to support the needs of the manufacturer and product developer. Ray Stockley, Technical Director at Dillard’s Department Stores, states, “The richness of the SizeUSA survey data has been very helpful to us in re-evaluating our size scales in several product lines.”

The study has provided some telling results. “I have shown several manufacturers the bust, waist and hip measurements of women who say they wear size 8-10, and they are surprised to see how much larger all three of the measurements are than their fit specs,” states Jim Lovejoy, Director of the SizeUSA project for [TC]².

“From looking at the survey data, we can see the U.S. population has grown taller and heavier, but we are growing heavier faster than we are taller,” he adds. “If you look at the grade rules for most manufacturers today, they do not reflect what we found in our size survey.”
In addition to suggesting a national composite, the data can also be used to look at ethnic differences in size and shape. The study found that people of different ethnicities are different in body sizes and shapes, which could influence how apparel sizes are stocked at retail.

Body measurement data can also be used for determining seating in airplanes and cars, for medical research, and for ergonomic furniture.

Founded in 1902 by John Cash Penney in Kemmerer, Wyoming, the first store was called “The Golden Rule.” In naming his business, Mr. Penney established a company credo to set it apart from competitors of “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”

In recent years, JCPenney has developed a line of its own clothing with labels such as Stafford shirts, St. John's Bay apparel, Arizona blue jeans and Worthington business casual apparel for women. They have helped to build an identity and a reputation for quality at JCPenney.

JCPenney was very supportive of the SizeUSA survey, allowing [TC]² to use two of their stores ( Dallas, Texas and Glendale, California) as SizeUSA scan sites. In addition, the stores provided $25 JCPenney gift cards for participants. Their in-store promotion and local TV coverage helped spotlight the event and aided in recruiting subjects for the survey.

Currently, JCPenney offers a custom fit function online at www.jcpenney.com . There are three garment choices – men's cotton dress shirt, men's cotton twill pants or women's cotton twill pants. The customer can select a variety of garment style features, fit selections such as slim, classic or relaxed, and color. The customers then state their own measurements to ensure customized fit. Each of the options has a “help” screen available to the customers, which offers information on how to measure for the required specifications.

3D to 2D Pattern Unwrapping Class at [TC]²
The class on September 22 has filled up and a second class on October 20 is open for enrollment. These are no-charge classes to learn the Body Measurement System (BMS) unwrapping feature.
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Cotton USA 2004 CBI Trade Mission
Several [TC]² people will be giving presentations at this meeting next week.

[TC]²
211 Gregson Drive
Cary , NC 27511
www.tc2.com
Phone: 919-380-2156
Fax: 919-380-2181
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