Finding Tendencies of Outfits for Gym Workout Based on the User Emotions: A Study Using Kansei Method

Abstract: Currently, consumers already have predefined outfits coming more and more often from various sources, which rely on classification through trends in color, fabric, styling, and other parameters that limit the consumer to combinations that might not satisfy them on other emotional levels. It’s noticeable that fashion retailing doesn’t always rely on “newness” for a competitive advantage, so the clothing design process should imply subjectivity in the clothing's purpose or preference, as well as in the social behavior of the target market. Therefore, there’s a need to create outfits that highlight the construction and communication of identity over physical product properties.This project uses the Kansei Method to achieve a predictive model for women's gym wear, in order to find outfit tendencies based on the potential user's emotional reactions that will serve as both a model to support the decision-making of the designer through the new product development process, and as a model to develop a database to support online fashion advisors embedded on fashion stores’ websites. This research intends to present the creative process, product creation, and outfit trends in fashion design in order to answer the questions of what kind of gym workout outfits for women can be developed; which words better translate the emotional reactions occurring from the anticipation of the usage of those outfits; how is it possible to create a model that predicts the tendencies related to those emotional reactions; and how can the resulting model be applied for garments classification in online shopping.In this project, the Kansei Method, which can be described as a translator of the consumer’s emotions into concrete design characteristics, consists of the following stages: Span the semantic space of emotional words for gym workout outfits, with Elegant, Functional, Flashy, Confident, and Stimulated being the selected Kansei words; Span the space of the properties for gym workout outfits, where the outfits properties and their levels were decided to be: Color property with the levels Top, Bottom, Top and Bottom; Fitting property with the levels Tight, Loose; and Pattern property with the levels With pattern, Without pattern. These properties were combined with all the levels resulting in 12 different outfit possibilities, for instance, Color on top, loose and with pattern being one of them; Data Compiling and Data Collection were made in two countries, Portugal and Switzerland; which brought the inputs for the establishment of the final predictive Kansei Model.As a result of this investigation, a prototype of an online website was developed from the Kansei Model where outfits classification is made with the selected Kansei Words. Through the usability studies made in both countries to test this website, the outfit with the properties: color on bottom, tight fit and without pattern, by presenting the highest values, revealed to be the one that more strongly evokes an emotional reaction of the user, which is the emotion of feeling flashy while anticipating the usage of this outfit in a workout at the gym scenario.

Keywords: Fashion Design, Outfits, Emotional Design, Kansei Method, User Experience, Online store

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1003358

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