Abstract
To get the basic data for the assessment of clothing comfort and to examine the seasonal changes of clothing microclimate, skin temperature, subjective sensation, and clothing microclimate were measured from 10 males and 10 females in each of the seasons. The subjects were questioned on thermal comfort in the experiment. Clothing microclimate temperature (temperature between skin and the garment) at breast, skin temperature at four sites (breast, upper arm, thigh, leg). tympanic temperature as deep body temperature, and subjective sensation were measured for an hour in the climatic chamber. Summer recorded the highest mean skin temperature. Throughout the seasons, mean skin temperature was 33.51$^{\circ}C$ in males and 33.55 $^{\circ}C$ in females. There was no significant difference between summer and fall in clothing microclimate. Temperature of clothing microclimate was 32.4 $\pm$ 0.8 $^{\circ}C$ in males and 32.9$\pm$ 1.8$^{\circ}C$ in females throughout the seasons and it was higher in winter than in any other season. Subjects were the most comfortable when clothing microclimate temperature was 32.6$\pm$ 1.3 $^{\circ}C$. Mean humidity of clothing microclimate was 51.6$\pm$ 14.3% throughout four seasons. From the results, Koreans appear to feel comfortable at standard microclimate humidity, but at higher temperature than standard clothing microclimate temperature .