Comfort of Military

Clothing and Fabrics

By: A.Chitra Siva

Sankar
 Comfort of Military Clothing and Fabrics
By: A.Chitra Siva Sankar
Source: Textile Review

The primary purposes of military clothing have always been protection, functionality, and
identification. In general, comfort has taken a secondary role to these other factors. Many textile
researchers have captured the trade off that has to be made between providing protection versus the
clothing comfort. It is very important to know that any human being cannot perform satisfactorily
until they are completely comfortable. In an overall understanding, we consider the comfort as how
an individual feels wearing a fabric.

Throughout the ages, fighting men have worn protective clothing or armour, and since the Middle Ages
military forces have adopted standards of military clothing that we refer to as 'uniforms'. The primary
purposes of military clothing have always been protection, functionality, and identification. In general,
comfort has taken a secondary role to these other factors. Many textile researchers have captured the trade
off that has to be made between providing protection versus the clothing comfort. It is very important to know
that any human being cannot perform satisfactorily until they are completely comfortable. In an overall
understanding, we consider the comfort as how an individual feels wearing a fabric. Comfort properties
mainly comprises of three main areas - thermal, tactile and fit of the garment. In this report, you will see the
various properties that influence the comfort of the military clothing. Effort has been made to describe about
the various testing procedures for the testing of the comfort properties of the military clothing also.

War is not something which started in the middle ages. People from different countries and areas have.been
fighting from the ancient period, mainly for land power and other basic resources. We know the warriors in
the ancient period wore protective armour, and by the starting of middle age and henceforth, military forces
have adopted standards of military clothing what is known as 'Uniforms'. The primary purposes of the
military clothing have always been protection, functionality, and identification - protection from projectiles,
explosions, toxic chemicals and gases, extreme environments, radiation; functionality to aid in the
performance of military tasks quickly, effectively and with a minimum of energy expenditure; and
identification of friend and foe. In general, comfort has always taken a secondary role in military textiles.

Slater in the year 1996, mentioned in his paper 'Comfort or Protection: the clothing dilemma' that 'human
beings cannot function satisfactorily if they are not completely comfortable'. For instance, low moisture
permeability in the garment can lead to heat stress, profuse sweating which impedes visual, cognitive and
physical performance. Abrasive materials can cause chafing in the skin. These can give raise to
psychological discomfort that interferes with motivation and wiIIingness to perform high-risk missions.

Comfort Definition

The word 'Comfort' has a variety of meanings as it relates to clothing and to the wearer. The word 'Comfort'
refers to how an individual feels. There are three main viewpoints for analyzing comfort of any fabric' as
shown in the figure 1.
The foremost notion of comfort is always 'thermal comfort', i.e. that is comfort or discomfort related to how a
hot or cold a person feels. Thermal comfort is associated with changes in many physiological and
environmental variables; the activity level of the individuals; and clothing properties, such as the fabric
insulation values and water vapor permeabiIity.Thermal comfort is mostly quantified using physiological
parameters though it is a psychological concept. Second way to interpret comfort is the tactile sensations
that result from the fabrics in contact with the skin. For instance, a military garment may prove smooth or
rough when rubbing against skin. The buzz words in tactile comfort are stiffness, thickness, and fuzziness
etc.Since mostly military clothing are worn on a daily basis in routine, non-combat situations we are forced to
consider the tactile comfort or the discomfort also to the overall comfort and performance of the military
clothing.

A third component of comfort arises from the fit of the garment. A poorly fitting garment, especially too small
or too large can impede mobility and performance, although impact on comfort may not be as great, but it
influences the psychological perceptions of the wearer through personal or cultural preferences regarding fit
and fashion size trends. We know that fashion play fewer roles in the case of military clothing. When it
comes to psychological comfort, even the protective element of mil itary clothing plays a significant role.
Whether we are considering thermal comfort, sensory skin-feel comfort, comfort due to fit, or the
psychological comfort of clothing, each of these can have considerable impact on the individual' physical
and cognitive performance and, in turn, on mission performance. For this reason 'Comfort' must be seen as
an essential element in all areas of military clothing.

In the context of protective clothing systems, comfort may be defined in many different ways:
• A state of satisfaction with the protective clothing system in terms of human body interaction with the
system.
• The presence of a friendly environment provided by the protective clothing system in terms of heat
and moisture transfer from and to the body
• A state of unawareness of the protective clothing system by the user

The above definitions define the physical effects, thermal effects and the psychological effects.
Psychologically comfort being a natural state makes it easier for the wearer to describe the discomfort using
common terms as 'too prickly', 'too hot', or 'too cold'. Among all the aspects associated with the human
feelings and desires, comfort represents a central concern. The comfort level of a human is driven by a host
of factors, which may be divided into three main categories': environmental, physical and psychological
which is depicted in the figure 2. We should also note that human hardly ever experiences a still
environment or body conditions. In other words, there is a continuous change over time that leads to
transitional effects. Comfort analysis can be divided into three main categories:

• Objective analysis - tactile and thermal parameters

• Subjective analysis - psychological evaluation
• Correspondence analysis - combining the above two to develop quantitative measures
The Trade-Off between Protection and Comfort

Avoiding situations that involve discomfort and difficulty is human nature. Among all the people who use
protective clothing, the primary concern with protective clothing systems is undoubtedly the parallel
discomfort Even if these systems are tolerated by virtue of their necessity, efficiency and long-lasting
effectiveness wiII certainly be in question. The decision of suitability of certain productive clothing is largely
based on the protective features of the product after some use, two critical aspects of protective clothing
surface very quickly: care and comfort. Given the fact that, for protective systems, protection is the primary
design focus, the key design question is what extent comfort and care should be emphasized.
.
Comfort Properties of the Military Clothing and Fabrics

Theoretical Aspects

The comfort is an emotional experience that results from a variety of factors related to the individual, his/her
clothing, the environment, cognitive and psychological influences, and past learning and experience. The
3
first widely accepted method was developed by Gagge et a1 • This method employed a simple 4-point
category scale that ranged from 'comfortable' through 'slightly uncomfortable', 'uncomfortable' and 'very
uncomfortable'. This scale suffered from a limited number of scale points, which limited its sensitivity, and
from imbalance in the scale, i.e. there were three levels of discomfort but only one level of comfort. Scales
were also developed for the purpose of rating 'thermal comfort', such as the McGinnis Thermal Scale' which
requires individuals to rate their subjective experience on a 13-point scale that ranges from 'I am so cold, I
am helpless' to'l am so hot, I am sick and nauseated'. Although this scale employs a sufficient number of
scale points, the labels on the scale use a mix of sensory, affective and behaviourally oriented terminology,
which confounded multiple dimensions of comfort experience and behaviour.

In most areas of psychological measurement, category scales have given way to better and more
sophisticated psychophysical methods.

The reasons for this are

• The points on the scale are of uneven intervals.

• The subjects tend not to use the end categories; this reduces the effective length of the scale.

Calm Scale
S
US Army Natick Soldier RD&E (NSRDEC) using contemporary psychophysical scaling techniques
developed a scale for measuring comfort. This Comfort Affective Labelled Magnitude (CALM) scale was
modelled after earlier labelled magnitude scales. The scale was developed by having consumers rate the
semantic meaning of 43 different word and phrases that can be used to describe comfort or discomfort.
There are 5 main phrases which define comfort and discomfort, which also have other sub levels.

As said earlier, the scale was modelled using two different works; one is Cardello et ai, and the second from
Gagge et al.

This comfort scale employs a line with the end-points labelled 'greatest imaginable discomfort' and 'greatest
imaginable comfort' and with neither 'comfortable nor uncomfortable' located in the middle. The CALM scale
shown in the figure 3 has several advantages over other comfort scales.

• The scale is simple to use, merely requiring individuals to place a slash mark somewhere on the
vertical line.
• The labels are located along the scale at points that represents the magnitude of labels are located
along the scale at points that represent the magnitude of their semantic meaning as determined by a
ratio scaling procedure (magnitude estimation), the measured distances along the scale can be
treated as ratio-level data. This property of the CALM scale makes it possible to describe a fabric as
one-third, 2 times... as comfortable or uncomfortable as another fabric.
• The CALM scale labels of 'greatest imaginable liking/disliking' enable extreme ratings than
'extremely comfortable or uncomfortable', allowing greater sensitivity to differences among very
comfortable or uncomfortable fabrics/garments.
• This can be used in both laboratory and wear trial evaluations to assess either skin contact or
overall contact.
Role of Comfort on Military Performance

Clothing factors affects the cognitive performance of the wearer·. However the studies conducted before
have focussed mainly on the effects of heat stress and fit. In a study conducted by NSRDEC, the influence
of clothing comfort on cognitive performance was examined in a naturalistic setting' as in a laboratory
setting. In the naturalistic setting 88 students from a local university who were taking a one-hour statistics
exam self-reported the type of clothing that they were wearing and their perceived level of comfort in this
clothing using the CALM scale. The comfort rating was noted down against the exam scores scored the
students. For each 3% increase in self-reported clothing comfort, there was 1 % increase in exam score.
Thus, if the clothing comfort were increased by 30%, a 10% or full-grade increase in exam performance
would be predicted. Although these data pertain to civilian clothing, they point to the potential influence of
military clothing comfort on performance, especially in tasks related to cognition and reasoning.

In another study conducted by NSRDEC, comfort was directly manipulated through the use of different
fabrics during a standardized test of cognitive performance". 40 male and female subjects participated in a
computerized visual vigilance task during test sessions in which they wore different clothing fabrics in
contact with their neck and arms. The fabrics in contact with their skin were 80% cotton/20% stretch nylon,
85% wool/15% nylon, or they wore no material on their neck and arms. The 85% wool fabric was found to be
uncomfortable and it significantly increased reaction time during the test period. Hence, we can understand
that the both the reaction time and accuracy on important military tasks, like those that involve vigilance,
can be adversely affected in the condition of discomfort of the clothing worn.

Both the naturalistic study and the laboratory study point the need to focus greater attention on improving
military clothing comfort to improve combat effectiveness.

The Comfort Trilobite

As seen earlier, comfort is a result of three basic aspects: tactile, thermal and psychological. This is based
on three coexisting factors: body, clothing and environment. The clothing system consists of constituents
each of which can contribute to the comfort status as shown in the figure

Tactile Aspects of Fabric Comfort

Tactile comfort reflects the feel of the fabric against the skin. This feel is triggered by sensory receptors in
the skin, which are connected to the brain by a network of nerve fibers. For understanding the tactile aspects
of the fabric we go for two main categories of fabric hand evaluation systems, indirect and direct system of
handle evaluation. The two main systems which are used are Kawabata Evaluation System (KES®) and
Fabric Assurance by Simple Testing (FAST®) and these are indirect handle evaluation systems. Direct
methods include the ring method and the slot method. It should be known that the term 'direct' doesn't imply
that this method is more representative or more accurate in comparison with the indirect systems.

Thermo-Physiological Comfort

People reach thermo-physiological comfort when they do not need to add or remove clothing in order to be
satisfied with the temperature. This aspect of comfort becomes very critical in case of the military clothing
and is enormously difficult to achieve as the military personnel are exposed to several different thermal
environments. Fanger' identified six variables
 • Air temperature,
• Mean radiant temperature, Relative ai r velocity,
• Water vapor pressure in the ambient air,
• Activity level (heat production), and
• Thermal resistance of clothing (clo).

The effect of clothing on thermal comfort depends mainly on such factors as;

• Physical properties of fabrics,

• Air spaces between the body and the fabric, and
• Characteristics of the ambient environment.

In addition to the heat transfer, water-absorbing properties play an important role in comfort and warmth. In
general, if the clothing becomes wet, the insulating ability of the fabric will be lowered. In 1970, Fanger
developed a mathematical model to define the neutral thermal comfort zone of men in different combinations
of clothing and activity levels. Based on his study, ASHRAElO developed comfort charts and indices of
thermal sensations. A international thermal comfort standard (ISO 7730) was developed based on Fanger'
comfort model. The major focus in comfort studies of military clothing was always on thermal comfort rather
than tactile comfort. Focus changed towards tactile comfort in very recent years since the BDUs are worn on
a daily basis in garrison situations; thus tactile comfort is also important equally to thermal comfort.

Psychological Comfort

When understanding the psychological comfort of the military clothing, comfort/discomfort can be defined as
a status of the level of awareness of clothing. In this regard, the main factors influencing the level of
awareness are:

• Physical activity level,

• Fabric tactile behaviour, and
• Fabric thermal behaviour.

The relationship between the level of awareness and each one of these factors will obviously vary,
depending on the product type and application considered. However, in most cases, the physical activity
exhibits an exponential relationship with the level of awareness. The other concept in this is that the degree
of protection differs for different kinds of clothing. The degree of protection required in traditional clothing is
much less than that required in military clothing, as shown in figure 4.
Conclusion

The comfort of military clothing is composed of a complex mix of sensory, cognitive, and affective variables.
We can understand from different literatures and test results that when we apply judiciously the advanced
sensory, psychophysical, and cognitive methods to the problem of military clothing comfort can lead to a
better understanding of the factors that control the comfort of the military forces

References

1) BELL, R., CARDELLO, AV and SCHUTZ, H.G. (2003), Relations among comfort of fabrics ratings of
comfort and visual vigilance. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 97, 57-67.
2) KILING-BALCI, F.S., Developing a Design-Oriented Comfort Model, Ph.D. Thesis, Auburn
University, Auburn, AL, 2004.
3) GAGGE, A.P., STOLWIjK, J.A.J. and HARDY, JD (1967). Comfort and thermal sensations and
associated physiological responses al various ambient temperatures. Environmental Research, 1,1-
20.
4) HOLLIES, N.R., CUSTER, A.G., MORIN, c.j. AND HOWARD, M.E. (1979), A human perception
analysis approach to c10lhing comfort. Textile Research Journal, 49, 557· S64.
5) BELL, R., CARDELLO, A.V. and SCHUTZ, H.G. (2003), Relations among comfort of fabrics ratings
of comfort and visual vigilance. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 97, 57-67.
6) BROOKS, J.E. and PARSONS, K.C. (1999), An ergonomics investigation into human thermal
comfort using an automobile seat heated with encapsulated carbonized fabric. Ergonomics. 42(5),
661-673.
7) BELL, R., CARDELLO, A.V., AND SCHUTZ, H.G. (2005), Relationship between perceived clothing
comfort and exam performance. Family and Consumer Sciences ResearchjournaI.31,1-13.
8) BELL, R., CARDELLO, A.V. and SCHUTZ, H.G. (2003), Relations among comfort of fabrics ratings
of comfort and visual vigilance. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 97, 57-67.
9) FANGER, P.O., Thermal Comfort, Danish Technical Press, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1970.
10) American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers

About the Author

Author is currently pursuing Final Year in Bachelor of Textiles in Textile Technology in DKTES’ Textile and
Engineering Institute, Shivaji University, Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra, India.

Originally published in Textile Review: February 2010