Smart Arse: Posture Classification with Textile Sensors in Trousers

“We talk ‘through’ our clothes, if we want [sic] or not.” – say a research team from Queen Mary University of London, who have recently created ‘Smart Arse’ – a pair of ‘sensing trousers’ (that’s ‘sensing pants’ US) – which can reveal details of the ‘conversational engagement’ of the wearers. “People continually adjust their posture […]

The Ziptune® musical zipper (new patent)

Inventor Stan Divranos, of Chino, California, has just been granted a US patent (Aug 29th 2017) for his Ziptune® musical zipper. “Various types of zippers are known in the prior art. However, what has been needed is a musical zipper including a zipper having a slider, a continuous C-shaped flap having a pair of outer ends […]

Future fashion cycles of Korean pants – a study

Is it possible to establish a fashion theory frame to forecast future fashion cycles of pants (in the Republic of Korea) – through analyzing past fashion cycles of pants through a diachronic method? Yes! says researcher Seonsook Kim of the Dept. of Clothing & Textiles, Daejeon University, Republic of Korea. A paper on the subject […]

Sagging pants and the logic of abductive inference

Not all that many academic studies have examined the possibilities of abductive inference with regard to sagging pants [sagging trousers (UK)]. There are exceptions though. Professor Marcia Morgado of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa has a paper in the journal Critical Studies in Men’s Fashion (Volume 2 Issue 2-3, September 2015) which: “[…] explores […]

A(nother) new kind of underpants (US patent)

UK-based inventor Paul O’Leary has received (as of 20th Jan 2015) a US patent for his ‘Underwear Garment’ “A significant amount of effort has been expended into research of clothing and, in particular, the aspects of underwear garments which help to promote confidence and self-esteem within a wearer. Such research and development has typically centred […]

Trouser (pants) creases – a metrological examination

If you’re one those people who wonders about accurate trouser-crease measurement in woolen trousers (pants), you should perhaps turn to the Textile Research Journal, March 1966 36: pp. 264-272, where R.C. Landwehr (of the Western Regional Research Lab, Albany, California) presented an apparatus and procedures to reliably measure wool creases. The ratio of maximum crease […]

A Gentleman’s Posterior — fashion considerations

This advertisement, showing a gentleman playing billiards in his underwear, promoted the Imperial Underwear Company’s ‘DROP SEAT’ Union Suit, and appeared on page 66 of the Literary Digest, Oct 27, 1917. Approaching one hundred years later the ad. also featured in the paper ‘Considerations on a Gentleman’s Posterior’ (in : Fashion Theory: The Journal of […]

Flammable trousers: then, and later, and now

Behold three eras in the international saga of trouser flammability. THEN: The 2005 Ig Nobel Prize for agricultural history was awarded to James Watson of Massey University, New Zealand, for his study, concerning the period between World War I and World War II, called “The Significance of Mr. Richard Buckley’s Exploding Trousers.” LATER: This month, in 2013, the […]