Designing an Elementary School Uniform with Functions of Fit, Comfort, and Road Safety

Abstract

The aim of this study was to propose and verify a new design of school uniforms for Chinese elementary school students in a functional design process, with attention to size fit, road safety, and wearing comfort. According to feedback from a questionnaire concerning the quality of current school uniforms, the most common complaints were unsafe fabric, improper size, outdated style, monotonous color, poor quality, and need for frequent purchase. Thus, a functional design for elementary school uniform was proposed, including the use of natural and environmentally friendly materials, creative design, attachments of reflective, and nocturnal materials, and attention to aesthetic style. A prototype was developed to verify these new concepts. A unique design with adjustable sizes was validated with wear trials, showing that one uniform design fit six wearers of different heights and body shapes, which could extend the service time of the school uniforms from one year to three years. It was also found that the reflective and nocturnal materials on the newly developed prototype significantly enhanced the visibility of clothing in dark environments, which could contribute to the road safety. The research findings provided some new concepts and a basic methodology for functional designs of elementary school uniforms.

Keywords:

• school uniform
• design concept
• functional design
• adjustable size
• visibility

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Longnv Zhang for helping with sample making, Jinwenyang Yu and Siyuan Chu for sketches illustrating, and Shitan Wang and Mengying Zhang for proofreading.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peijing Li

Peijing Li is from Shanghai High School in Shanghai, China. He has participated in research and has made progress toward his goal of redesigning school uniforms. As a coauthor, he has published three academic papers focusing on comfort properties of school uniforms. [email protected]