Alfredo Lujan (pictured here), a clothing designer at the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, shows a developmental pattern (on table) and a prototype for a kinetic garment (blue garment on mannequin to left of Lujan). Lujan ...
The Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center's Bootstrap Initiative provides employees the opportunity to propose innovative ideas, with employees given the chance to vote on which ideas proposed by their colleagues will receive fu...
NATICK, Mass. -- Alfredo Lujan knows that Soldiers are always on the move, so he's investigating new ways to make sure their clothing moves with them.
Lujan -- a clothing designer on the Design Pattern and Prototype team at the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, or NSRDEC -- is focusing specifically on repatterning the shirt for the Army Service Uniform, or ASU.
Lujan's redesign efforts were inspired by Swedish researcher and fashion designer Rickard Linqvist's thesis, "Kinetic Garment Construction," or KGC.
"I found out about KGC online while I was researching pattern making," said Lujan. "I became interested because it is something that is so different from conventional pattern making. The garments are cut in one piece and different portions of the garment are off grain. They actually move better with the body because the grain is slightly askew."
Traditional pattern making involves garments being cut into multiple components and assumes a static, upright body, while KGC involves cutting garments in one piece that wrap ergonomically around the body. Lujan explained that instead of approximating the measurements of the body, Lindqvist actually draped the fabrics on live models.
"He paid special attention to the different joints of the body," said Lujan. "That's how he placed his different seams. So he was creating something that would work with the body instead of just creating a garment that would cover up the body. He really looked at how the clothing was moving with the body. Is the wearer constrained by the placement of a certain seam?"
With encouragement and support from his Team Leader, Annette LaFleur, as well as fellow team members, Lujan wrote a proposal for NSRDEC's Bootstrap Initiative.
NSRDEC's Dr. Ken Desabrais, human protections administrator, conceived the Bootstrap Initiative, which was implemented to encourage innovation and creativity while streamlining processes and minimizing bureaucracy. Through the program, government civilian NSRDEC employees are allowed to submit proposals for a new technology, research project or business process.
Under the Bootstrap proposal, "We Are Not Squares!!", Lujan will create prototype variations of the ASU shirt, using the principals of KGC.
"Researching this type of possible innovation may not have been possible without Bootstrap," said Lujan. "Bootstrap encourages innovation and helps secure funding for ideas or equipment that may not be directly tied to a project but would be beneficial to the Warfighter. By being able to try an innovation on a small scale, we are able to see if this idea works and makes an item better and if it can be applied to other work that we do."
User feedback is an important part of Lujan's proposal.
"Users will compare the different prototypes to see which has more range of movement," said Lujan. "User responses will be collected and incorporated into the research. It's all about the user."
Since the patterns for the prototypes will be based on human movement, the new design could potentially help optimize Soldier performance.
"KGC also creates more ergonomic garments with greater range of motion by realigning the fabric's grain within a garment," said Lujan. "This research could really benefit the Soldier."
In addition to the ergonomic benefits, Lujan explained that he believes KGC research is also important because it has been shown to reduce material waste by creating more efficient layouts and lessens manufacturing time by reducing the number of total seams.
Research is still in its early stages, but there are possibilities for collaboration with other teams at NSRDEC, something that Lujan discovered during NSRDEC's Bootstrap Pitch Day. During Pitch Day, proposers are given the chance to garner employee voter support for their ideas as well as the chance to find out opportunities for potential collaboration with other researchers at NSRDEC.
"During Pitch Day, I talked to an NSRDEC subject matter expert who was involved with wearable electronics about what their needs and issues are," said Lujan. "For instance, an electronics wire might have to cross over a seam, but with this type of design, there are far fewer seams. So there may be opportunities and options for fitting clothing with electronics that have less of an impact on Soldier performance."
Lujan is excited about the possibilities.
"Soldiers are in such high stakes situations," said Lujan. "Their clothing needs to move with them to enable them to perform better. It's very motivating to be working on something that will help Warfighters do their jobs better by improving range of movement or by enabling electronics to transmit information better."
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The U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to provide innovative research, development and engineering to produce capabilities for decisive overmatch to the Army against the complexities of the current and future operating environments in support of the Joint Warfighter and the Nation. RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.
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U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center
U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command
Related Links:
U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center
U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command
Related Links:
U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center
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