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PurposeTwo-dimensional (2D) measurement technology has become more popular than before, thanks to the widespread availability of smartphones and smart devices. However, most existing 2D body measurement systems have background constraints and may raise privacy concerns. The purpose of this research was to test the idea of designing a 2D measurement system that works with a color-coded measurement garment for background removal and privacy protection. Clothing consumers can use the proposed system for daily apparel shopping purposes.Design/methodology/approachA 2D body measurement system was designed and tested. The system adopted a close-fitted color-coded measurement garment and used neural network models to detect the color-code in the garment area and remove backgrounds. In total, 78 participants were recruited, and the collected data were split into training and testing sets. The training dataset was used to train the neural network and statistical prediction models for the 2D system. The testing dataset was used to compare the performance of the 2D system with a commercial three-dimensional (3D) body scanner.FindingsThe results showed that the color-coded measurement garment worked well with the neural network models to process the images for measurement extraction. The 2D measurement system worked better at close-fitted areas than loose-fitted areas.Originality/valueThis research combined a color-coded measurement garment with neural network models to solve the privacy and background challenges of the 2D body measurement system. Other researchers have never studied this approach.

PurposeA two-dimensional (2D) body measurement system was implemented to study the application of sportswear design in measurement garment development. A total of 50 participants were recruited. The basic demographic information and sportswear preference data were collected through a survey to understand consumer preferences and acceptance of the new designs. The body measurements were collected through both the selected 2D measurement system and a commercial three-dimensional scanning booth to evaluate measurement accuracy.Design/methodology/approachFinding the right size has been a long-existing problem for clothing consumers. Size problem is the most common reason for e-commerce returns and adds a high cost for retailers. One possible solution is to offer consumers an easy-to-use method that extracts accurate body measurements to be used for clothing size selection. The purpose of this research is to apply sportswear design elements on measurement garments to see if consumers’ interest in using the 2D measurement system can be increased without influencing the measurement accuracy.FindingsThe results showed that the added design features increased consumers’ interest in using 2D body measuring technology without significantly influencing measurement accuracy.Originality/valueThis research applied sportswear elements to convert a 2D measurement bodysuit to a fashionable clothing product. The solution resolved users’ privacy concerns and increased their acceptance and use of the technology. Other studies have not focused on using aesthetic features to improve the 2D measurement technology.

There are long-standing arguments that challenge the resale business as a circular fashion model. Considering the whole fashion industry and market, luxury resale is still quite small. To scale the industry, it is critical to attract more consumers to embrace fashion resale and circular fashion. However, many of the customers most likely to embrace resale might have already opted into the market, indicating that online or in-store resale businesses are competing for a limited pool of customers. As a result, it is challenging for the industry to scale. Therefore, it is imperative to understand how consumers engage with luxury resale platforms, what value they are looking for, and to what degree resale customers’ desires for fashion clothing and sustainability can be met in a reconciling manner. Such understanding will facilitate luxury resale platforms to grow their customer base and scale up the industry. This exploratory study focuses on understanding online luxury platform customers and their consumption experience to determine what key attributes affect customer value and engagement. The research explores customer experience using a text-mining approach to provide answers to identified research questions: (1) How do online luxury resale platforms provide customer value to buyers and sellers? What are the driving values for consumers to buy or sell pre-owned products? (2) Are there any issues regarding buying and selling pre-owned products using online luxury resale platforms? (3) Does sustainability play a role in individuals’ consumption using online luxury resale platforms? The article discusses the implications of the study, its limitations, and future research directions.

Understanding how consumers have shifted in clothing consumption in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic is critical for fashion clothing brands and businesses to identify what value means to consumers to locate growth opportunities. This exploratory study intends to provide a picture of consumers’ clothing consumption evolution while going through the pandemic crisis. We take a viewpoint that integrates the perspectives of life status changes and stress coping to examine consumers’ responses to clothing consumption during the COVID-19 global pandemic. A total of 68,511 relevant tweets were collected from January 1, 2020, through September 31, 2020. Sentiment and content analysis identified five themes which are revealed by 16 topics associated with clothing consumption over the phases of pre-lockdown, lockdown, and reopening. Pent-up demand for clothing products and changed clothing consumption habits were identified. Our findings provide evidence that consumption change is the fundamental mechanism of stress coping.

Literature reviews show that consumers are not satisfied with the fit of garments sold in stores, primarily due to outdated sizing systems used by companies and the limited number of sizes being produced. The purpose of this article is to present a sizing system creation method, which can be applied on body measurement data to improve the overall fit of garments. Data from the SizeUSA study was used. The sizing system creation process included natural log-transformation, principle component analysis, multivariate linear regression, size range determination, and measurements calculation. The created sizing system was then compared with ASTM D5585-11e1. Analysis of the results showed that the method used to create the sizing system was reliable and repeatable. This was an important research effort for apparel manufactures, as it demonstrated a method to create a sizing system that is flexible and can be altered to fit target consumer groups!