Material and design strategies to provide movement performance

Fabric properties and garment design both have influence on garment comfort. Fabric weight , thickness, stiffness, stretch and recovery property have effect on Body movement. Woven fabrics are inherently less flexible than knitted fabrics due to their structure Required elongation percentage for some clothing are mentioned here.

Elongation for regular wear between 10 to 25 %

 Elongation for sports wear between 20 to 35 %

 Active wear between 35 to 50 % 

 Form fitting garment 30 to 40 % 

Clothing needs elongation property as well as recovery from elongation, which Should be from 95 to 100 % In case of protective clothing, comfortability could be improved by using more flexible fabric e.g a stretch fabric in a panel under the arm in a rain jacket, by using a fabric treating differently in different areas e.g knitted gardening glove with rubberized areas and untreated areas. Lining fabric is frequently used to provide slip of the garment over the body which also add comfort to the garment. Restriction to body movement by the garment also increases metabolic cost about 16 % .

Clothing design for some active wear can provide comfort during active position but may feel uncomfortable during inactive situation. An example is bike shorts that fit and move well when the wearer is on the bicycle, but are baggy and bind the wearer walks. Another example is a well designed gloves that have curved finger position.