Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A41—WEARING APPAREL
  • A41H—APPLIANCES OR METHODS FOR MAKING CLOTHES, e.g. FOR DRESS-MAKING OR FOR TAILORING, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • A41H3/00—Patterns for cutting-out; Methods of drafting or marking-out such patterns, e.g. on the cloth
  • A41H3/007—Methods of drafting or marking-out patterns using computers
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A41—WEARING APPAREL
  • A41H—APPLIANCES OR METHODS FOR MAKING CLOTHES, e.g. FOR DRESS-MAKING OR FOR TAILORING, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • A41H1/00—Measuring aids or methods

Definitions

• the present invention relates to the production of made to order clothing and in particular to an arrangement in which a customer can be remote from the point of production and indeed often does not need to be measured in advance by a tailor.
• US 5,680,528 is disclosed a digital dressing room used to produce clothes from customer measurements. Those measurements are used to classify the individual by body type and reference is made to a database to obtain cut data based on the individual's particular shape. The customer inputs to this system are bust, waist, hips and height. These measurements are all done with a tape measure and need quite a degree of skill to get right.
• a similar scheme is disclosed in US 5,930,769 which, in common with US 5,680,528, still relies on accurate measurement information and their successful implementation may be compromised by a lack of skill of many potential customers to self-measure.
• the present invention provides an arrangement for the production of made to order clothing, comprising a controller operatively connected to an input means, said input means being adapted to provide to said controller input variables personal to a particular customer and said controller being adapted to process said input variables to predict a set of at least estimated body measurements each of which body measurements is derived from one or more of said input variables and is used to derive clothing pattern data, one said input variable comprising a representation of the age of said customer.
• the age may be a number of years but it can be any suitable representation such as the date of birth. This data need not be input by the customer but could be input from other means, e.g. the age can be obtained from a supplied date of birth or electronically stored medical records.
• the age is preferably represented as a number of years.
• Said input variables may further include an input of one or more of the weight, height, collar size, sleeve length and waist of said customer.
• Said predicted body measurements may include at least one of chest circumference, waist circumference, arm circumference, wrist circumference, shoulder length, arm length and back length.
• Said body measurements may be predicted by reference of a plurality of said input variables to a set of predictor rules which are applied in association with said controller.
• Said predictor rules may link said input variables to customer body measurements which are unknown to said controller and generate said estimated body measurements for use in the place of said unknown body measurements.
• Said predictor rules may include the application of a regression technique, preferably a multiple linear regression technique.
• Said predictor rules may be derived from a database of body measurements of a population sample, said sample preferably being composed of at least twenty times more cases than there are variables to be entered and body dimensions to be predicted.
• Said predictor rules may be changeable between at least two applications thereof, so as for example to reflect changes in said sample over time, between target markets or between geographical areas.
• a said set of predictor rules may be generated each time an order is placed or each time a reference database of sample body measurements is changed.
• Said made to order clothing may include a shirt or may include a blouse or jacket.
• Said made to order clothing may include a pair of trousers and said input variables may preferably include one or more of foot size, shoe size, inside leg and seam size.
• said made to order clothing may further include a jacket, and optionally a waistcoat, in combination with said trousers so as for example to form a suit.
• Said customer may input a command with regard to the structure of at least a portion of said clothing, such as for example a type of material, colour, shape or fit, collar, cuff or sleeve design, said command preferably being changeable by said customer on review of a predicted or simulated finished piece of said clothing.
• Said input means may include an input stage performed using at least one of a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a mobile telecommunications network, an internet ordering process and an interactive mail order process, performed for example interactively by said customer in response to supplier prompts.
• WAN wide area network
• LAN local area network
• a mobile telecommunications network a mobile telecommunications network
• internet ordering process a mobile telecommunications network
• an interactive mail order process performed for example interactively by said customer in response to supplier prompts.
• the arrangement may further comprise a clothing manufacturing facility, adapted to receive from said controller said pattern data and to produce said made to order clothing therefrom.
• the arrangement may further comprise a billing and distribution arrangement for billing customers and shipping to them said made to order clothing.
• Said customer may be provided with a representation of said made to order clothing, said virtual representation preferably being displayed in three dimensions and being moveable so as to show what said clothing might look like from different angles or points of view.
• Said customer may also be provided with a representation of a virtual person, preferably representative of their body shape in accordance with said estimated body measurements, wearing a piece of said made to order clothing in accordance with said pattern data, said virtual person preferably being presented in three dimensions and preferably being moveable so as to demonstrate by way of review what said clothing might look like in use.
• Said representation may be available to said customer in a plurality of different poses and backgrounds, such as for example simulations of posing or moving in urban and countryside environments, preferably with the possibility of additional virtual figures being present therein.
• Said representation may be available to said customer wearing clothing in addition to said made to order clothing, such as for example, in a case where said made to order clothing comprises a shirt, said additional clothing comprising a choice of trousers, whereby said customer can assess said made to order clothing in a variety of combinations and styles in overall dress.
• the present invention also provides an arrangement for the production of made to order clothing, comprising a controller operatively connected to an input means, said input means being adapted to provide to said controller input variables personal to a particular customer and said controller being adapted to process said input variables to predict a set of at least estimated body measurements, each of which body measurements is derived from one or more of said input variables and is used to derive clothing pattern data, said input variables comprising only the age, weight, height and collar size of said customer.
• the present invention also provides an information carrier, such as a CD-ROM, on which is encoded at least one program to enable implementation of an arrangement according to the invention, a said program comprising for example at least one of a web-site interface, a database of clothing options or dimension information, a web browser, an ordering/billing system and an imaging program for enabling the display of an image of said made to order clothing.
• an information carrier such as a CD-ROM
• a program comprising for example at least one of a web-site interface, a database of clothing options or dimension information, a web browser, an ordering/billing system and an imaging program for enabling the display of an image of said made to order clothing.
• the present invention also provides a method of producing made to order clothing, including: a) inputting into a controller input variables personal to a particular customer, one said input variable comprising a representation of the age of said customer, b) processing said input variables; and c) predicting a set of at least estimated body measurements from said processing, each of which body measurements is derived from one or more of said input variables and is used in the derivation of clothing pattern data
• the invention may also provide an arrangement in which a record is made, in for example a database, of feedback from orders placed using the invention.
• This feedback may take the form of warranty return information or customer feedback and may comprise one or both of positive and negative results.
• Said record may also be used to record cases in which it proves difficult or impossible to satisfy a customer, by which the information so gathered could also be used to protect a supplier of made to measure clothing produced using the invention against customers who are difficult to satisfy, for example by making a record of customers who habitually return goods for whatever reason.
• Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an arrangement according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• Figures 2 to 5 are graphical representations of information used in the development of the arrangement of Figure 1.
• an arrangement for the production and distribution of made to measure clothing comprises an input stage performed using an interactive interface 10 which implements an internet or mail order based scheme by communicating through the internet with a web server 12 at a made to measure order, billing, production and distribution premises.
• a user of the interface 10 responds to prompts for information and inputs variables comprising information personal to a particular customer ordering a piece of made to measure clothing.
• the item of clothing assumed to be ordered is a shirt 18, for which the input variables supplied are the age A, weight W, height H and collar size C of the customer, collar size also being referred to interchangeably in the art as neck girth N.
• the customer also inputs a command with regard to their choice of structure of at least a portion of the clothing being ordered, such as for example a type of material, colour, shape or fit, collar, cuff or sleeve design.
• the web server 12 captures the customer-specific input variables and choices and relays that information to a controller 14, which stores the customer choices and processes the input variables A, W, H, C in accordance with a set of rules in a predictor model.
• the controller 14 predicts a set of body measurements which are an estimate of the unknown body measurements.
• the predicted body measurements comprise chest circumference, waist circumference, arm circumference, wrist circumference, shoulder length, arm length and back length and optionally also the belly circumference.
• the controller 14 then turns the complete set of body measurements into a set of clothing pattern data.
• the customer is provided with a representation 20 of a virtual piece of clothing, displayed in accordance with the model they have chosen.
• the virtual clothing is preferably interactively updateable in its characteristics to simultaneously reflect changes that could take place in the customer's choices in structure and options. It is preferably presented in three dimensions and moveable so as to be seen from different points of views.
• the virtual representation 20 may be extended to the rendering of a virtual person, preferably representative of the customer's predicted body shape in accordance with the estimated body measurements, wearing the made to order clothing selected in accordance with the pattern data generated by the controller 14.
• the virtual person is preferably presented in three dimensions (3- D) and is preferably moveable so as to demonstrate by way of review what the clothing might look like in use.
• Such virtual representations are known in the art and a suitable example of this technology can be found in EP0933728.
• the virtual representation 20 may be available to the customer in a plurality of different poses and backgrounds, such as for example simulations of posing or moving in urban and countryside environments, preferably with the possibility of additional virtual figures being present. It may also be available to the customer wearing clothing in addition to the made to order shirt 18, such as for example a choice of trousers. In this way, the customer can assess the shirt in a variety of settings, combinations and styles in overall dress. At this stage, the customer can alter their choices of style or even fit, by for example requesting a looser fitting. Once such choices and changes have been dealt with in the simulation, the customer is prompted to confirm or reject the order.
• the customer is put through an on-line billing scheme to set the order into production. It will be appreciated, of course, that customer accounts, charge cards and other similar schemes may be used for billing.
• the clothing pattern data is passed to a clothing manufacturing facility. This is includes a computer aided manufacturing plant 16 which selects the material from the choices stored in the controller 14 from the customer inputs/changes and cuts the material to the pattern data for the ordering customer.
• the output of the plant 16 is a shirt 18 made to order for the specific customer placing the order and it is then passed to a distribution centre (not shown separately) and subsequently shipped to the customer.
• the customer is prompted for the personal information required for designing the pattern not at the beginning of the order process but later on, after having chosen the clothing and just before billing.
• Unknown body measurements are estimated in the same way and pattern data is similarly derived from that prediction.
• the fundamental consideration upon which the calculation of the rules is based is that, in a given population, there exists some correlation between certain body measurements. For example, there is a proven correlation between body height and arm length. Another fundamental consideration is that there exists some correlation between the age and certain body measurements like the height or the waist girth.
• the identification of correlation between known variables (e.g. the input variables A, W, H, C) and unknown body measurements allows the construction of a predictive model and its use for the purpose of their estimation.
• the input variable is the collar size C and the body measurements represent a sample of potential customers.
• Chest girth is plotted against collar size C / neck girth and a "right fit zone" is developed around a best-fit line through the population.
• the chart represents the principle of a basic ready-to- wear industry sizing system. In this system, chest girth is assumed to be proportional to neck girth, which can be seen to be true to a certain extent but can leave many potential customers with fitting problems and is not accurate enough for made to measure clothing.
• the predictive model is based on regression techniques. Such regression techniques are aimed at establishing mathematical relationships between variables for predictive purposes, providing a significant sample of cases is gathered.
• the relationships are formalised as functions that describe how one dependent variable reacts when an independent variable is changed.
• the functions that are chosen are those that on average best describe the relationship between variables.
• the functions only approximate the average behaviour of the population and, although the prediction is generally satisfactory in most cases, an error can often be noticed when comparing the prediction with the actual value.
• the selected functions are the ones that minimise the absolute error between actual sample values and values calculated using the regression function.
• the techniques must be "multiple regression" because it is necessary to deal with several variables, e.g. four independent variables (age A, weight W, height H, and collar size C) and several variables dependent on them, i.e. the predicted body measurements of chest circumference, waist circumference, arm circumference, wrist circumference, shoulder length, arm length; back length plus optionally belly girth.
• the next step is then to formalise the relationships between variables by a set of equations.
• This step is the real "modelling" step where all parameters of the regression are settled and the predictor rules are finalised.
• a dedicated statistical package is useful, such as WINIDAMS, which preferably features a stepwise regression application.
• Stepwise regression building allows for the simultaneous identification of the relationships between variables (i.e. to obtain a set of equations/predictor rules) and for checking the significance of the improvement that each independent variable adds to the model. In other words if the standard error of the prediction does not decrease significantly by using a certain independent variable, this variable can be dismissed.
• this model is derived from one particular sample of one particular population. Using another sample or even changing the threshold level of significance in the stepwise regression, or retaining only strict linear relationships, or also changing the linear adjustment method, can result in very different looking equations. But the predicted values of the dependent variables will remain close.
• the predictive model would become less accurate. However, it is possible to alter the model so that it reflects the evolution of the population. The regression simply has to be performed again in the exact same way but using a new, updated sample of individual variables. If an updated sample is continuously available, the rules can evolve continuously as well. In this case each time an order is placed or each time the sample is changed the regression could be performed to generate new rules.
• the model can be recalculated on the basis of a new sample extracted from the considered different population.
• Such morphological differences can for example reflect specificities in the geographical or ethnic origin of the newly targeted population.
• Yet another improving step in the same direction would consist in adding to the model new personal variables representing the geographical or ethnic origin of the customer. Introducing the new variables in the regression would result in a single model that could be applied to different morphological types.
• age A as an independent input variable and within the predictor rules is of particular note. Its use has been found experimentally to lead in some cases to the following reduction in error of the estimates. The figures can be read as being the improvement in terms of prediction accuracy resulting from the use of the age variable A.
• an input variable indicative of arm or sleeve length and also an input variable of waist would further increase accuracy.
• additional input variables specific to the female form and generally known to the customer such as for example the bust size.
• the invention may also be varied to produce other items of made to measure clothing such as, for example, trousers, where the use of age is also useful in the prediction of changes over time in for example the girth of thighs.
• body height is in fact already 'known' by the model it can already generally take into account the effect of body length and its shrinkage due to age.
• the prediction of the back length is generally unaffected by the introduction of age into the model, although in absolute terms the back length may well be quite affected by age as space between vertebras reduces. Under such circumstances, it would also be preferable to request input variables indicative of foot and leg length, e.g. shoe size and inside seam.
• an information carrier such as a CD-ROM could be provided, for example given away as a promotional gift or sold and redeemable against later purchases.
• the results of the samples taken while building the database could be used to further develop the invention such that limits can be determined as to whether or not a particular customer can be catered for using the automated procedure for estimating body measurements.
• a boundary is placed around the region of the results having the highest density of data and that boundary may for example comprise an ellipse or an oval, which may extend beyond the limits of the right fit zone. If the input variables supplied by a potential customer place them outside the boundary, they are defined as impractical to supply. This may be caused by extraordinary or very inaccurate input variables being supplied on their part and could result in a message being sent to them interactively recommending that they check their input variables or possibly even be measured professionally.
• a database could also be set up in which details of extraordinary customers is kept, along with records of the measurements used in any orders which are returned or reported as badly fitting, e.g. warranty returns. Further records would advantageously kept in this database of orders where no complaint was made.
• the data gathered in this way is then used to update the population sample records and/or predictor rules so as to protect against trends towards inaccuracy from negative or out of tolerance inputs, or to bolster confidence in robustness from positive results as the case may be.
• the database can be integrated with the records of the original/updated sample or be separate from it, such as might prove necessary in the event that a third party database was bought-in.
• the information so gathered could also be used to protect against customers who are difficult to satisfy, for example by making a record of customers who habitually return goods for whatever reason.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Biophysics (AREA)
• Professional, Industrial, Or Sporting Protective Garments (AREA)
• Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)
• General Factory Administration (AREA)
• Silicates, Zeolites, And Molecular Sieves (AREA)
• Seeds, Soups, And Other Foods (AREA)
• Undergarments, Swaddling Clothes, Handkerchiefs Or Underwear Materials (AREA)
• Game Rules And Presentations Of Slot Machines (AREA)

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Cited By (7)

Citations (8)

• 2001
  • 2001-10-30 WO PCT/BE2001/000190 patent/WO2002035952A2/en active IP Right Grant
  • 2001-10-30 AU AU2002220381A patent/AU2002220381A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2001-10-30 EP EP01992511A patent/EP1341427B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2001-10-30 DE DE60116528T patent/DE60116528T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2001-10-30 AT AT01992511T patent/ATE314813T1/de active

Patent Citations (8)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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