QinetiQ Ltd
Sizing of Aircrew Clothing
Christopher A. Connett
Senior Scientist - Operator Safety & Protection, QinetiQ
Ltd.
Protective clothing assemblies worn by UK military aircrew involve a suite of clothing made up of multiple layers of garments with each garment layer designed to perform a specific role.
In order for these multi-layered clothing assemblies to function as a clothing system each layer is required to fit and integrate with the wearer, adjacent clothing layers and the workspace.
A unique method of applying anthropometric data to clothing sizing has now been developed by QinetiQ for UK MoD into a software program that improves the likelihood of garments fitting the intended wearers by drafting clothing sizing templates from the direct application of nude body anthropometric data, inclusive of allowances for mobility and underlying clothing bulk .
The system offers an opportunity to reduce the risk associated with clothing sizing by enhancing the quality control of a product using a process that has been proven, through fitting trials, to be more reliable than using traditional tailoring methodology by ensuring that clothing meets required size and shape specifications. Additional benefits include a visual presentation of anthropometric data, improved equipment scaling, high probability of garments fitting the intended wearers and the removal of the need of design contractors to interpret numerical data.
The system also supports a competitive tendering environment by providing information in a format that allows design contractors to concentrate on design, in the safe knowledge that when garments produced by different manufacturers or different design engineers within the same company and delivered to MoD, that all garments fit and integrate as required. The QinetiQ output can be applied to known populations of wearers or for individuals requiring bespoke tailoring.
To download the full paper CLICK HERE (.PDF)
