Made-to-measure pattern development based on 3D whole body scans

Purpose - New techniques are required to link 3D whole body scans to manufacturing techniques to allow for the mass-customization of clothes. This study aims to compare two methods of producing skirts based on 3D whole body scans. Design/methodology/approach - Three females participated in the study. They were scanned with an accurate 3D whole body scanner. A set of relevant 1D measures was automatically derived from the 3D scan. The measures were incorporated in a skirt pattern and the skirt was made from jeans material. The second method was based on triangulation of the scanned waist-to-hip part. The points in the 3D scan were first converted to triangles and these triangles were thereafter merged with neighboring triangles of similar orientation until about 40 triangles remained. These triangles were sewn together to form a "patchwork"-skirt. All females performed fit tests afterwards. Findings - The fit of the 3D-generated patchwork skirt was much better than the fit of the skirt generated by the 1D scan-derived measures. In the latter case, two of the three skirts were too wide because the scan-derived hip circumference exceeded the manually derived values. For the 3D generated skirt, it was necessary to enlarge the triangles with a factor of 1.025 to achieve optimal fit. Originality/value - As far as is known, this is the first study that reports a direct conversion of a 3D scan to clothing without interference of clothing patterns. The study shows that it is possible to generate a fitting patchwork skirt based on 3D scans; the intermediate step of using 1D measures derived from 3D scans is shown to be error-prone.