A Statistical Analysis of Subjective and Objective Methods of Evaluating Fabric Handle

The data obtained from a survey of the fabric handle preferences of panels of judges drawn from the textile and clothing industries of Japan, Australia, India, New Zealand and the United States of America are compared with data provided from objective mechanical measurements.The model used takes into account the fact that judges may differ in their assessment in non-random ways, for example, some judges may prefer thicker fabrics, and gives a picture of how objective measurements may perform not only to explain, but also to predict how individual judges perform.Although it is demonstrated that a substantial amount of individual sudjective handle assessment can be explained by mechanical test parameters, predictions of handle assessment by Australian judges compared with their actual assessments were generally poorer when based on objective data, rather than subjective data. The implication of this is that the set of mechanical measurements used in the analysis did not contain all the necessary information to predict fabric handle preference.