1.1. Research Background and Motivation
For the garment industry, inventory has always been one of its main pain points. The product backlog not only occupies the company’s operating capital but also increases the company’s management and profit costs, reducing the company’s overall profits, and is also an obstacle to the sustainable development of the garment industry. Linkshop [
1] collated the annual inventory data of eight Chinese listed garment enterprises from 2012 to third quarter 2016, including HLA, YOUNGOR, SEMIR, HODO, METERS BONWE, SHANSHAN, JOEONE, and BUSEN; these data were calculated from the annual reports of enterprises, as shown in
Figure 1.
The figure above shows that the inventory value of YOUNGOR exceeded 10 billion RMB annually every year from 2012 to third quarter 2016, and even reached 23.473 billion RMB in 2012. Even the lowest inventory value of the eight companies, BUSEN, still exceeded 200 million RMB annually between 2012 and 2016. It can be seen that the inventory problem is becoming an obstacle to the sustainable development of the garment industry. The study of pattern preference is not only an effective tool with which to solve the inventory problem of the garment industry but also an important theoretical basis for the sustainable design of apparel. It is of great significance to the sustainable development of the garment industry.
To solve the inventory problem of the garment industry and promote the sustainable development of the garment industry, we need not only a strong supply chain system but also rapid market response ability to support the extremely high inventory turnover. Consumer clothing preference research is an effective tool with which to support the market reaction ability of the garment industry. The market economy causes the decision-making power of the garment industry to be transferred from enterprises to consumers. By understanding the preferences of consumers, clothing enterprises can avoid unsold clothing as much as possible and reduce inventory. By understanding the preferences of consumers, the design and production of clothing enterprises can reduce undesirable clothing and thus reduce inventory.
“Sustainable design” is formed in the deep thinking of the relationship between human development and environmental problems and the practice of constantly seeking change. The strategy of the “sustainable design” of clothing can be summed up in three ways: sustainable design based on a material foundation aims at reducing the use of materials and optimizing the use of materials, and intuitively reflects the ecological concept of environmental protection; sustainable design based on conveying specific ideas uses emotional design methods to convey sustainable ideas sensibly to consumers; and sustainable design based on life cycle considerations aims at prolonging clothing usage and service life. Overall, the third method is the easiest to implement and can be achieved in a short period of time; the study of clothing preference can improve the durability of the relationship between clothing and people, thereby reducing consumption and waste of resources.
From the above point of view, this paper carried out a psychophysical experiment to investigate factors affecting pattern preferences for black-and-white shirts and the differences and similarities between male and female pattern preferences. Psychophysics has been defined as “the analysis of perceptual processes by studying the effect on a subject’s experience or behavior of systematically varying the properties of a stimulus along one or more physical dimensions” [
2].
Research on fabric preferences has mostly focused on color. For instance, Jiang investigated the color of clothing and emphasized the rule that color brightness influences positive–negative emotional categorization [
3]. Hsu carried out a psychophysical experiment to investigate factors affecting color preferences for Taiwanese floral pattern fabrics as a case study of object color preference [
4]. These studies mainly stressed color. Compared with color, pattern is also an important part of textiles. This researcher summarized some studies on textile patterns.
Eun Yi Kim discussed challenging issues in how to index images based on human emotions and presented a heuristic approach to emotion-based textile indexing using colors and texture [
5].
Soo-jeong Kim proposed a textile indexing system that can classify textile images based on human emotions [
6].
Na Yeon Kim proposed a neural network-based approach for emotion-based textile indexing [
7].
So-Ra Lee found out the effects of textile motifs and application methods on the wearer’s image perception [
8].
Na Yeon Kim proposed a novel method using color and pattern information for recognizing emotions included in a textile [
9].
Soo-Kyoung Choi investigated the image of casual shirts according to the color combination, tone, and interval of the checked pattern in tone-in-tone coloration. The images, according to color combination, tone, and interval of checked pattern, consisted of five dimensions of attractiveness, youth-activity, appeal, modesty, and freshness. This study discussed how the color combination, tone, and interval of checked pattern affects the five dimensions [
10].
Felecia Davis presented a study that related the communication of emotion to people via the aesthetic textural expression of computational textiles or textiles that transform through electronic commands over time [
11].
Felecia Davis investigated what still and shape-changing textural expressions of computational textiles can communicate emotionally to people [
12].
Siri Homlong studied how simple and complex patterns in printed textile fabrics are perceived and expressed verbally, as well as how judgments, concepts, and values in relation to designed textile patterns are expressed by schoolchildren, consumers, teachers of textile handicrafts, and designers [
13].
The above research did not explore the pattern preference of yarn-dyed fabrics. Therefore, this study probed into textile patterns and how patterns influence consumer preferences. This study hypothesized that men and women will have different or similar pattern preferences for textiles. It was worth exploring the characteristics of these patterns.
The object of this paper was to investigate the patterns of plaid shirts made of two-color yarn-dyed fabrics. There were several reasons why these objects were selected for investigation. First, from the design of weaving technologies to the wide application of plaids in modern clothing, plaids have evolved along with the history and civilization of humans. It was therefore significant to regard plaids as the basic research objects of patterns of textiles. Second, this study focused on the aesthetic differences and similarities between men and women in terms of plaids. Clothing has no gender; it is classified into men’s and women’s clothing because of the gender of the wearers. It can be seen that the gender of clothing is a consensus established by society. No other commodity in the world has such distinct gender differences as clothing. Hence, it was reasonable to consider clothing rather than other textiles as the research object. Lastly, the type of clothing that is commonly worn by males and females is plaid shirts.
The application of plaids has a long history. Today, tartan is thought to have originated in Scotland; however, tartan was first discovered far from the British Isles. According to the textile historian E. J. W. Barber, the Hallstatt culture of Central Europe, which is linked with ancient Celtic populations and flourished between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, produced tartan-like textiles [
14]. Some of them were discovered in 2004, remarkably preserved, in the Hallstatt salt mines near Salzburg, Austria [
15]. Textile analysis of fabric from the Tarim mummies in Xinjiang, northwestern China has also shown it to be similar to that of the Iron Age Hallstatt culture [
16].
At around 1700 AD, plaid patterns in Scotland started to reflect distinct geographical features. Martin Martin, in A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, published in 1703, wrote that Scottish tartans could be used to distinguish the inhabitants of different regions. He expressly wrote that the inhabitants of various islands and the mainland of the Highlands were not all dressed alike, but that the setts and colours of the various tartans varied from isle to isle [
15]. People in the same area tended to adopt the same plaids. This also meant that plaid patterns in Scotland were formed. Furthermore, every family or tribe had its own plaid patterns, known as family plaids, which were also a symbol of status and wealth. In addition, plaids were later developed for different occasions. For instance, there were plaids specific for formal and hunting clothes. With the advent of the industrial age, various countries and regions began to register their own plaids. In the combination of aesthetics and the consumer psychology of modern society, plaids became a design element and source of inspiration in later eras and were fully applied to the design of textiles such as clothing.
Many variations of the major patterns exist, as designers constantly come up with new and different styles. Shirt patterns are often enhanced or can be a combination of different check patterns. The classic plaids shown in
Table 1 consist of horizontal and vertical lines and planes processed by yarn-dyed technology. The pictures in
Table 1 were drawn using Matlab in this study, and the description of check patterns refers to the research of Christina Lee [
17].
1.2. Research Purpose
As mentioned above, with the changing times, more and more types of plaid fabrics have been produced. Each has its own unique characteristics. Pattern and color are two important components of plaids. As a basic study on plaid preferences, this study explored two-color plaids in the first part to lay a foundation for follow-up research on multi-color plaids. This study probed into the effects of these characteristics on the preferences of males and females in the hope of identifying the factors influencing the preference of two-color plaid shirts. The research questions included the following:
What is the relationship between the plaid features and aesthetic emotions?
What types of two-color plaid shirts show significant differences in preferences between men and women?
What are the characteristics of two-color plaid shirts that are liked or disliked by both men and women?
In order to answer these questions, this study conducted a psychophysical experiment that covered four semantic scales, including light–dark, delicate–rough, simple–complex, and like–dislike. A 10-point scale was adopted to assess the fabric and patterns of plaid shirts. Regression analysis between the four semantic scales and three pattern features was performed, including an independent sample t-test of differences in the preferences between men and women, a one-sample t-test of differences in the preferences of different patterns, and Two-Way Mixed-Design ANOVA.