Textiles and fashion are vibrant and innovative industry
sectors and recent scientific developments allow researchers to improve the fit
and sizing of garments as well as gain insights into fashion consumer
behaviour.
Body scanning technology uses image capture devices to
render real 3D objects as virtual 3D objects, so for instance, people as
avatars. Modern body scanners such as the Size Stream typically use infra-red
depth sensors, similar to those used in interactive home video games systems, which
are positioned at different angles and heights to get full body coverage in a
few seconds without any contact. Specialist software then coverts the sensor
data into high quality 3D scans which can be used to define body measurements,
population shapes and sizes, enabling analysis of individuals as well as populations.
Body scans help to better inform fashion product development, supporting
bespoke garment development as well as allowing greater insights for improving
size and fit in mass produced garments. Researchers at The University of
Manchester use this technology to investigate methods for creating custom garments,
to develop sizing systems and to investigate human size shape and proportion.
As well as application in sizing and fit innovation,
technological advances also enable us to better understand fashion consumer
behaviour. Mobile eye-trackers are designed for capturing consumer data in the
real world, as they are able to collect eye-movement data whilst the wearer
moves freely and naturally in any situation, for example through a shopping
mall or department store. The Tobii Glasses have five cameras built into a lightweight
head unit, one of which faces forward and records the wearer’s view. The other four
face the wearer’s eyes to capture how the pupils are moving, which enables to
system to place exactly where the wearer is looking. The eye-movement data that
is captured includes fixations, saccades and scan paths. A fixation happens when
the eyes are stationary on one point and typically lasts between 100-600 milliseconds.
A saccade is the extremely fast movement of the eyes between these fixations,
while a scan path shows the order of the fixations and saccades in
chronological order.
To analyse
eye-tracking data, researchers firstly determine the areas of interest (AOIs) in
the wearer’s scene, then look at metrics such as the total fixation duration or
the time to first fixation. The total fixation duration metric gives an
indication of the AOI which the wearer found most interesting or engaging, as
they gave it most of their attention. The time to first fixation metric would
be useful for understanding how long it might take a shopper to notice a particular
advert or offer in a store.
Not only does science allow us to track what consumers are
looking at, there are also possibilities to understand their brain activity
when they are shopping for fashion or being exposed to marketing communications,
such as adverts.
An EEG (electroencephalogram) is a non-invasive procedure
which measures the brain’s electrical activity at different sites on the head
using electrodes placed on the scalp, and is used in a medical context to
diagnose epilepsy and sleep disorders. However, with the advancements of
technology and demands for insight into the subconscious aspects of human
behaviour such as attention, emotion and decision making, the EEG is also being
used in other fields such as neuro-marketing to provide a window into the mind
of the consumer.
EEG recordings are typically measured through frequency
analysis, or the presence of different brain oscillations. There are five main
frequency bands (alpha, beta, theta, delta and gamma), of which two are
associated with common modes of behaviour: the measurement of relaxation (alpha
rhythms) and focused attention (beta rhythms). With these, it is possible to
understand what part of the brain is active whilst the consumer is shopping. It
can also communicate with the computer via the brain and thus has many future
uses in gaming and artificial intelligence. It provides accurate results and
can be combined with other technological inputs such as the eye-tracker. The
Emotiv EEG headset is particularly easy to use as it only requires placement on
the head, without the usual gel and careful placing of electrodes on the scalp
used in a medical context.
The Pi: Interactive Textiles and Fashion Technology event on
Friday 30 October provides a unique opportunity to personally experience all of
these technologies and meet researchers and doctoral students from The
University of Manchester’s School of Materials to find out more. Get scanned in
our Sizestream 3D bodyscanner and take a print-out of your very own 3D avatar.
Wear the Tobii Mobile Glasses and see how your eye movements are tracked on the
laptop beside you. Try on the Emotiv EEG headset and see how you can control a
game with your thoughts.
By Patsy Perry, University of Manchester
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