• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.1211-1221
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• 2007

To provide the basic information of the brassiere development for women with poor breast, we performed the survey on their wearing habits for brassieres by comparing the poor breast type women and the normal breast type women. Also, to suggest the advanced design methods for the mould brassiere for the poor breast women, we conducted the subjective wear test of commercial mould brassieres and measured the local thickness for mould cup under various loads. As the results, the good fitness of cup and wire, the natural wear silhouette, and the adaptation of soft and stretchy material for mould cup were very important to design the comfortable brassiere for the poor breast type. The good-fitness of upper cup was the key factor for the satisfactory wear appearance of brassiere and the cup should be designed not too thick at the upper and the bust point regions.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.285-295
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• 2015

To identify optimized thermal properties of mold brassiere cup for improved thermal comfort during summer, we compared the thermal resistance and the water vapor permeability of Polyurethane (PU) foam, 3D spacer fabric and the two combined materials of the PU foam and the 3D spacer fabric. Four experimental mold brassieres were made of the materials for wearing test. Six women in their twenties evaluated the wearing sensation in the hot and humid environment. The changes in microclimate temperature and humidity while wearing test brassiere cups were measured. Results indicate that thermal resistance increased as more PU foam were combined, while the water vapor permeability was higher as the content of the 3D spacer fabric increased at thickness of 18mm and over. However, in the wear test, the PU foam brassiere was the most preferred in all ambient conditions due to its soft, flexible and smooth texture, despite its high thermal resistance and low water vapor permeability. This indicates that the textures of mold foams are more dominant properties than thermal properties for mold foams in determining the wear comfort of mold brassieres.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.988-995
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• 2015

Gaps between the upper edges of brassiere mold cups and the breasts are one of the most serious issues in realizing comfort wearing of commercial brassieres for small-breasted women. The surplus ease amounts causing the fit problem were measured from 3D wearing images of the small-breasted women's brassieres. The effect after the removing the surplus ease amounts from the upper edge of mold cup was approved by subjective wearing evaluation. Since the volume distribution of mold cup can also affect the wearing sensation of brassiere, the subjective wearing sensation was compared for two brassieres of different volume distributions, V_L, of which volume was concentrated at the lower cup, and V_C, which has the thickest part at the nipple. As the results, the suitable sensation for cup volume and the natural wearing silhouette could be accomplished by removing the surplus ease amounts from the upper edge of mold cup to reduce the gaps between brassieres and the breasts, which could be accomplished through an approach reducing the volume near the upper edge of mold brassiere cup and making the volume concentrated at the lower cup. These works provide a useful information on the design of the brassiere mold cups for small-breasted women. Moreover, modeling methods of 3D scan data and 3D printing technique for making more accurate mold cases used in this research can be helpful to develop and evaluate clothing products in future.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.847-857
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• 2015

The ratio of small-breasted women occupies over 20% among Korean women in their twenties. However, the commercial brassieres for the small-breasted women were not fitted well to their breast shapes. In this research, the various commercial mold brasseries for small-breasted women were evaluated through the wearing test and the analysis of 3D images which were scanned from their torsos wearing the brassieres. In addition, professional panels performed the appearance evaluation based on the 2D front and side images captured from 3D images taken by 3D measurement systems. As the results, we found that small-breasted women preferred a 3/4 cup brassiere, of which volume is concentrated in the lower cup. The most preferred brassiere in wearing state shows that the characteristic angle between the chest and the upper cup is about 167 degrees, which is smaller than those of another brassieres, and that the ratio of the radius of curvature of the nipple part to that of the lower cup was about 0.78. These results provide important implications regarding the design of mold brassieres for small-breasted women in spite of the fact that these results represent the selected set of commercial brassieres. Therefore, further studies are highly demanded for the most suitable design information of mold cup for small-breasted women.