Development of Scented Bow-Tie: User Experience

The bow-tie is a male and female fashion accessory. It can be made in diff erent designs and of diff erent materials, and by connecting diff erent research areas, it can also be given various functionalities. In the study, knowledge on textile materials, printing and microencapsulation was combined with sensory perception (senses of smell and vision), which plays an important role especially in marketing. In the process from an idea through the invention to fi nal innovation, we were able to develop a new product, i.e. a scented bow-tie. In the research, microcapsules with a melamine formaldehyde shell, and fragranced female and male oil in the core were produced and analysed (size, size distribution and shell permeability). Microcapsules were applied with the screen printing technique to selected textile materials which were later used for designing bow-ties. Forty bow-ties were used in the continuation of the research, together with a questionnaire of bow-tie testing, distributed between male and female users, who were testing the bow-ties for three months. By means of the questionnaire, information on the characteristics, intensity and duration of the fragrance as well as the likeability of bow-ties and packaging was gathered and analysed. To obtain specifi c target groups for the designed bow-ties, the method of motivation groups was included into the questionnaire. The obtained results enabled the conclusion that the microcapsules with fragrance oil were just slightly permeable (male slightly less than female). Therefore, diff usion of fragrance through the shell was gentle, pleasant and discreet, which was an important characteristic of our bow-ties. After each wear, fragrance faded; the users were hence instructed to rub the bowties between their fi ngers. Consequently, microcapsules ruptured and the fragrance was again released from the core. For the bow-tie users, this was an amusing experience, since the fragrance lasted for the predicted ten wears and even longer. The added value of bow-ties was recognised in interesting decorative patterns printed on the face, in their elegant design and shape, as well as in the pleasant fragrance, which was characterised as an alpha motive for the male users and stayed unidentifi ed by the female users.