The meaning and importance of clothing comfort: A case study for Turkey

Consumers prefer garments that not only look good but also feel good especially during the last years because of their increased consciousness about a better life. Therefore, there have been many studies about subjective evaluation techniques such as subjective wear trials and consumer research techniques to understand how consumers perceive clothing and formulate their comfort perceptions at any specific moment. In this study, the meaning and importance of clothing comfort and main comfort problems according to a group of Turkish consumers having different properties were determined by a questionnaire survey study. Analysis of the results indicated that, garment fit and comfort were the most important criteria for the investigated group during purchase decisions and nearly all of the respondents considered clothing comfort as more important than before. The basic comfort problems of people were mostly related to ease of movement, sweating and garment fit. This study is a preparation stage for wear trials that will constitute the subjective part of a comfort evaluation method to be developed.