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First responders are specialty teams who are trained to work in toxic environments to assess and diffuse the threat. They have to wear specially designed Personal Protective Ensembles (PPE) that is impermeable to liquids and gasses. Microclimate inside PPEs gets hot and humid, rapidly rendering it uncomfortable and often hazardous to work longer than 30 minutes at a time. Providing active cooling is one way to extend the time spent in PPEs. Two water-cooled prototype garments were developed at our department. This study focused on the evaluation of the prototype cooling garments using human subjects, performing simulated tasks in an environmental chamber. Both physiological and perceptual responses were considered to understand the garment's effectiveness in providing cooling relief as well as the user acceptance in terms of ease of use, comfort and perceived effectiveness. The subjects' perception of cooling relief generally agreed with the physiological data. The two prototype cooling vests positively affected skin temperatures, sweat rate, microclimate temperature, humidity, perceived temperature and perceived humidity. Both physiological and perception data indicated there were no significant and consistent differences between the two cooling vests. The subjects perceived the prototype cooling garments to provide effective cooling, to be attractive and practical overall.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and implement a new sustainable apparel design and production model, cradle to cradle apparel design (C2CAD), that provides guidelines for apparel designers and manufacturers to solve some of the sustainability problems related to apparel production.

The C2CAD model was developed by integrating McDonough and Braungart's “cradle to cradle” model into existing apparel design and production models. Knitwear design and production was used to implement the C2CAD model as a proof of concept. The performance and cost of the C2CAD knitwear were evaluated.

The C2CAD model has four main steps: problem definition and research; sample making; solution development and collaboration; and production. Following the four steps and with an international collaboration similar to current apparel industry practices, “Four‐season sustainability” children's knitwear prototypes were developed. Produced with an acceptable manufacturing cost, the products have good mechanical and color fastness performance.

The C2CAD model provides practical guidelines for apparel designers and manufacturers and allows them to address all three pillars in sustainable development: economic development, social development, and environmental protection.

The C2CAD is the first apparel design and production model that emphasizes sustainability in addition to functional, expressive, and aesthetic considerations. The production process of “Four‐season sustainability” children's knitwear demonstrated the implementation of C2CAD model in sustainable apparel design and production.

Combining of natural and synthetic materials in apparel products caused problems with material recovery, reuse, recycling, or composting at the end of product life. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the application of design for disassembly methods in the design and construction of men's jacket. With this type of design, consumers and manufacturers can easily compost, recycle, or reuse different materials and components at the end of the garment's usable life.

After analyzing the men's jackets available in the market and identifying obstacles to disassembly, the authors designed and constructed a man's jacket that can be easily disassembled. The jacket design for disassembly focused on material selection, jacket design, and stitch evaluation and selection. The disassembly time was also measured.

It was found that minimizing material diversity and sewing similar materials together whenever possible, replacing fusible interfacing with blind hemming stitches under the collar and on the backside of the lapel, and using an appropriate low density stitch to sew the wool outer shell and polyester lining together, can make the jacket disassemble easily into a compostable outer shell and recyclable lining within 1.5 min.

This research provided a pilot study demonstration of applying “design for disassembly” in apparel design and construction. The findings could be employed in different apparel products to help reduce environmental pollution and resource depletion problems related to the apparel industry.

Excess consumption of apparel is driven by the apparel industry to offer more styles at lower prices in shorter time and the consumers’ desire to change fashion. The purpose of this paper is to apply adaptable design in apparel as a sustainable design solution for excess consumption problem.

Guided by sustainable apparel design model C2CAD, two adaptable apparel prototypes for female college students were designed and developed. Focus group discussion and wear test were conducted with female college students to evaluate users’ acceptance, fit, comfort, and adaptability of the two prototypes.

Both prototypes were comfortable to wear by users with different sizes, indicating the users could wear the garment when she changed size. The adaptations and conversions were easily and enjoyably figured out by the users. The users would keep and use the adaptable apparel for a long time. The users would also buy fewer apparel if they were to own the adaptable apparel. Adaptable apparel would increase apparel utilization, eliminate the need to purchase unnecessary additional amount of clothing, and reduce excess consumption.

This research provided a pilot study on adaptable apparel design as an innovative approach to help solve excessive consumption problem. The adaptable garment prototypes would allow the fashion-forward female college student to easily change the function, fit, and style of the environmentally friendly garments.

Examines the fifteenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

Examines the fifthteenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.