Computational Design of Functional Clothing for Disabled People

Abstract

The purpose of clothing is to express an individual’s style, and to meet the wearer’s protection, functionality and comfort needs. Each of these requirements must be met in order to satisfy human needs and achieve a garment’s functionality. Another function of clothing is to hide physical disabilities, if possible. The sitting position is very common in daily life. All clothing should therefore be comfortable in this position, as well. This is particularly important for disabled people who are restricted to the sitting position for their entire life due to their disabilities. These are people who suffer from paraplegia, multiple sclerosis or some injuries, and who have limited mobility using wheelchairs. This paper presents research on improving clothing design, adjusted to the special needs and demands of an individual, through the application of new technologies. In that respect, taking measurements is very important, as is the virtual simulation of garment fitting as the result of cuts adapted to the sitting position.

Keywords

• functional clothing
• disabled people
• 3D scanning
• virtual garment simulation