Experts' views on sports clothing quality. Issue 1 (2nd January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Claussen, Lars; Lloyd, Alex; Ruiz, Daniel; Havenith, George
• Is Part Of: International journal of fashion design, technology and education. Volume 15:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 86
• Page End: 97
• Publication Date: 2022-01-02
• Subjects: Sports clothing quality -- attributes -- evaluation -- industry experts -- real-world problems; Fashion design -- Periodicals; Clothing trade -- Periodicals; 746.92
• DOI: 10.1080/17543266.2021.2011432
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1754-3266

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study investigated experts' understanding of sports clothing quality, the quality attributes they consider, and their views on the evaluation process. Twenty-two experts working in different sports clothing development and evaluation functions participated in semi-structured expert interviews. A thematic analysis highlighted three different views on quality, real-world problems in the evaluation process, and facilitated a sports clothing quality framework. Experts saw sports clothing quality as the fulfilment of use-case requirements, an immediate impression, or an individual perception. With the established sports clothing quality framework, it was possible to break down the overall quality impression in attributes and assign evaluation methods to it. Several challenges and suggestions for the evaluation process were detected. This ranged from the lack of measurability of attributes to solutions such as digitalisation.