Towards a new method for assessment of fabric drapeability through a virtual flared skirt

By virtue of its polar groups-rich chemical structure, cotton is one of the most favorable textile substrates for the manufacture of garments in view of the comfortability of the final product. The fabric drape is an important element that determines the aesthetic properties of textile products. Herein, an easy accurate method was proposed for evaluating the garment drapeability on a mannequin. Six light- and medium-weight cotton and polyester fabrics, as well as cotton/polyester (50/50) blended fabrics, were used in this study. The mechanical properties of the fabrics were evaluated using the Kawabata Evaluation System (KES), and the data were inserted into the DC Suite software program. The same fabrics’ properties were digitalized using the CLO3D system and fed into its software program. The fabric drape coefficient was also evaluated using the conventional method, both virtually and physically. Using a flared skirt, the effect of the applied low mechanical forces on the fabric drapeability and the silhouette areas was monitored. A standard virtual mannequin was used to facilitate spreading the proposed strategy within the industrial sector. The flared skirt (FS) was worn on the virtual mannequin; the evaluated skirt was assembled using the 90° circular FS method in 54 cm length. In the virtual environment, the FS’s images were captured from front, side, and bottom views. The image analysis was used to assign the extents of different fabrics drapeability on the virtual mannequin. The results revealed that there is no appreciable discrepancy between the fabrics’ drapeability in both real and virtual methods of analysis. No significant correlation was found between the FS worn on virtual mannequin and the fabric thickness, the warp and weft bending, and compression in the CLO3D system. On the other hand, the DC Suite FS did not meet all the fabric’s mechanical properties.