Clothing and Textiles Research Journal

Fiber bundles from the rind of sugar cane are extracted and characterized. Cane rind is separated from the pith using the Tilby process, and the separated rind is submitted to a high temperature water pretreatment followed by extraction with sodium hydroxide. Water pretreatment affects the amount of lignin removed from cane fiber bundles as well as the physical and mechanical properties of the fibers. Higher temperature pretreatment and longer treatment times produced finer, shorter fiber bundles with higher tenacity. The most severe treatments, however, reduced the bundles to ultimate fibers that are too short for textile uses. Extracted fibers were stiffer than other textile fibers but could be formed into nonwoven geotextile mats.

Using information garnered from questionnaires completed during Nebraska Quilt Project (NQP), we developed a profile of Nebraska quiltmakers in four time periods (1870-1919, 1920-1945, 1946-1969, and 1970-1989) and examined how quiltmaking practices and motivations changed over time. Quiltmaking in Nebraska continues to be predominately an activity of rural women; however, it has become increasingly popular among urban women since the 1970s. The majority of Nebraska quiltmakers of all periods were rural homemakers of German descent, affiliated with either a Methodist or Lutheran church. Proportionately fewer Catholic women quilted than did members of other denominations. And, proportionately more women of English and Scottish ancestry were quiltmakers than would be expected based on percentages of those ancestry groups among Nebraskans as a whole. Of those quiltmakers who were gainfully employed, most worked in fields traditionally chosen by women. These findings are consistent with the conservative nature of the population of an agriculturally-based economy as found in Nebraska.

Quiltmaking in Nebraska is a feminine skill usually transmitted by female relatives from generation to generation. There has been, however, a definite trend since the 1970s for quiltmakers to learn quiltmaking skills through formal quiltmaking classes. Most Nebraska quiltmakers began quilting as young adults. A smaller, but significant number of quiltmakers of the 1970s and 1980s began quilting in mid-life, a time when few quiltmakers of the earliest period began to make quilts.

The purpose of this study was to determine the qualifications and academic preparation necessary to succeed in management careers in retailing, and also to determine if these requirements differ according to type of retailing format. The results of the study are based on a survey of the largest U.S. department store, specialty store, and discount store retailers (n = 285). An analysis of response frequencies indicated that managerial skills are most important to retailers. Few differences existed among responding stores when data were analyzed according to the type of retailing format or the type of merchandise sold using the Pearson Chi-square (p < .05). The results are important for college programs that prepare undergraduates for retailing careers and are useful for assessing the relevance of course offerings to current industry expectations.

Designing basketball uniforms for female athletes is a challenge for soft goods manufacturers. Data were collected from 503 female collegiate basketball players concerning body cathexis, body form, garment fit satisfaction, uniform design preferences and demographic characteristics. Of the three areas of the body (upper, lower and total), players indicated they were most dissatisfied with parts of the lower body. Being in uniform did improve their perception of their bodies. Satisfaction with garment fit parallels satisfactionldissatisfaction with the body; the lower body area creates the greatest garment fit problems. The type of body form had a significant effect on both uniform fit satisfaction and uniform body cathexis. Fit satisfaction is the highest with the ectomorph body form. The differences were inverse: as the body increased in size, the lower the degree of satisfaction with garment fit and the body. Uniform preferences for the jersey were a deep V-neckline, sleeveless, and hip length with straight hemline and side vents. For the shorts, a baggy style with side v-vents at the hem, and a 1 1/2 or 2 inch wide, elastic drawstring waistband were selected. Implications for soft goods manufacturers are discussed.

This is the first of three papers in which we review aesthetics literature published from 1970 to 1992, found outside and inside the field of textiles and clothing. The majority of the literature external to the field of textiles and clothing came from books and journal articles of the fields of anthropology, art history, marketing, philosophy, and psychology. We limited our review of textiles and clothing literature to articles found in Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, Dress, Home Economics Research Journal, Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics, and Textiles Research Journal. In this paper we provide definitions of the aesthetic object or experience found in the literature and also propose five categories useful in organizing aesthetics literature. The categories are: Creator, Creative Process, Object, Appreciation Process, and Appreciator. We review Creator and Creative Process literature. The Creator consists of literature that addresses the psychological and socio-cultural factors affecting the creator's aesthetic ability, participation in production, processes of production, and physical manifestations of the aesthetic product. The Creative Process contains literature that addresses the internal processes that take place in the creator during development of ideas through to the completion of the aesthetic product. A more thorough understanding of these topics has implications for the education of textiles and clothing students, as well as provides new insight into the process of creation of textile and apparel products in current and past societies from around the world.

Use of the term postmodern is increasingly evident in textiles and apparel scholarship and references to fashion and style are common in theories and analyses of postmodern culture. Postmodern is a problematic concept. It is used inconsistently to refer to a body of social theory, a style of aesthetic expression, and to various social practices and economic conditions; scholarly discussions are rife with arcane references and exclusive jargon. In this paper the scholarship of theorists, translators, interpreters, and critics is drawn on to identify and describe concepts from postmodern theory, to suggest the derivation of key principles from assumptions central to the philosophy of nihilism and to critical theory, and to indicate ways in which fashion emerges as a central concern in discussions of postmodern culture. A guide to terminology is provided. Postmodern theory is interpreted as a challenge to traditional modes of clothing scholarship and apparel scholars are asked to consider the significance of fashion and style from the perspective of Marxist critique, as well as to question assumptions associated with arguments about postmodern culture.

This final paper of a three-part series focuses on the context of explanation in the development of theory. We illustrate how our SI theory of fashion may be used to explain regularities and how those regularities may be used to explain singular occurrences. The theory presented in the first part of this series is used to explain phenomena in the deductive sense. How theories subsume and thereby organize findings into a body of knowledge is illustrated Recommendations for a wide variety of approaches to the study of fashion change in appearance styles are provided.

This research sought to develop a method to identify the critical upper-body movements in the doffing of a selected garment type, and to develop and test a method for quantitative kinematic analysis of doffing. Two nightgowns, one short and one long, were purchased and replicated in sheer fabric. Twelve critical movements were observed regardless of which of the four garments was doffed The adaptation of a three-dimensional motion analysis system, WATSMART, to quantify doffing movements was equivocal in terms of reliability and validity. WATSMART was consistent within and between doffing trials in tracking movement patterns. It was valid in recording the sequence, directions, and types of motions; however, large divergences were found in the arms' angular displacements when comparing within and between doffing trials. Despite WATSMART's mixed performance, three-dimensional analysis shows promise in providing useful information about the body's movements in the doffing process.

Athletic girdles have been developed to support the groin, hamstring, and quadriceps muscle groups, to act as a muscle conditioner, to keep muscles warm and to fight muscle fatigue. Athletes' comfort perceptions and athletic performance were compared using a prototype girdle, a girdle currently being used by the university football team, and a non-girdle. Six male volunteers, all physically trained football coaches, served as test subjects. A Repeated Measures Latin Square Design was used for the eighteen 20-minute test sessions on a Stainnaster vertical climbing machine. Skin temperature, perceived comfort, athletic performance, and pre- and post-exercise muscle circumference measures were the independent variables. Both girdles maintained a higher skin temperature during exercise and cool down than the non-girdle. The prototype was rated more favorably than the other girdle for several of the comfort descriptors. No significant difference in athletic performance between garment treatments was found.

In evaluating the performance of nonwoven fabrics, pore characteristics provide important information concerning fluid permeability, filtration and mechanical properties of the fabrics. This paper reports new approaches of measuring pore characteristics using image analysis. The image processing techniques for identifying pore regions are addressed. The image analysis techniques are presented for pore characterization from four aspects: size, shape, orientation and placement. A new approach to estimate parameters of a theoretical model proposed by Lombard, et al. (1989) for prediction of pore size distribution is also introduced. Two sets of nonwoven fabrics with different fiber contents and different weights per unit area are investigated using these techniques.

Key dimensions were selected for women's ready-to-wear garments to generate an anthropometric size-labeling system designating garment size with body measurements. Two different statistical analyses were used to select key dimensions: residual variance analysis and factor analysis. The results of the study show that (a) the key dimensions selected by both means of analysis are similar, (b) the key dimensions used in most mail-order catalogs are appropriate, and (c) in addition to the key dimensions currently in use, another key dimension representing length or height is needed. Bust circumference was selected as a key dimension for all upper body garments. Hip and waist circumferences were selected for all lower body garments. The key dimensions representing length or height were sleeve inseam length or sleeve outseam length for long-sleeve shirts, shoulder height or shoulder length for short-sleeve or sleeveless shirts, crotch height for calf- or ankle-length pants, and waist height for skirts.