Aims
Textile constructions used in garments for sports and activities like hiking, gymnastics, prophylaxis and rehabilitation are in complex interaction with the wearing person. Clothing is a transition zone between the skin surface and the environment and fulfils different functions. Desirable functions should be pronounced and undesirable subordinate effects should be minimized. A garment concept based on scientific knowledge, that is customised to typical wearing situations, may neutralize physiological loads such as movement, heat, humidity, mass, pressure, and support the wearing person in his or her specific capacity. From the results of this project, potentials of optimization for the development of advanced garment concepts were deduced.

Methods/contents
The exploration of the basics of garment physiology and the development of new concepts for materials require a selection of representative physical activities and an exact definition of the most important characteristics (indices) of wearing physiology, e.g. transition of heat and humidity, physical work, environmental climate, specifications of physical activity. Most frequently the clothing worn by a person consists of different pieces of garments, which are composed of countless variations of materials and construction concepts. In addition, chemical modifications (finishing) may vary the characteristics in a wide range. Students from the departments of garment technology, textile engineering and management and textile chemistry/chemical processing were challenged to cooperate intensively in this project.

Milestones
Activities were divided in different levels: Characteristics of materials were investigated in level 1; in level 2 one or more fibre components were combined in a textile construction. In level 3 garment physiology modelling for a specific function was performed, e.g. wearing situations will be imitated in a modelling environment and scientifically described. In level 4 the performance of the final product was investigated under real wearing conditions.

This project has been completed.