New Hohenstein study will help make sure sports and safety gloves fit
09/07/2012
For work in environments such as cold stores, steel works or building sites, or even when practising different sports, wearers depend on perfectly fitting gloves. However, they can only have the full functionality of sports gloves and work gloves if the gloves offer the correct ergonomic properties, Hohenstein has said.
Standard DIN EN 420 only specifies hand circumference and length for protective gloves. Until now, the institute insists, there has been no “precise and validated data” of the ratio of hand circumference to finger length, finger circumference and three-dimensional shape information.
An initial pilot study measured the hands of 100 men. The 3D data capture enabled 48 longitudinal and circumference measurements for each hand to be recorded and analysed.
In addition to the capture of hand dimensions, the innovative digital method enables the generation of "average size hands" to be determined. This is achieved by consolidating all hands which should fit a particular glove size in an elaborate method using specialised 3D software. The results are virtual 3D mouldings which both represent a glove size in its measurable dimensions and also in its three-dimensional form.
In an additional step towards the virtual fit test, average hands can also be used to analyse clothing physiology aspects.
“Further measurements are required to be able to develop a reliable and representative hand size database covering all hand sizes,” the Hohenstein Institute said on announcing the study. It is seeking interested industry partners who would like to use the results of the hand measurements and the resulting generated data for product development or to improve the fit of current product ranges.
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