Girth prediction of young female body using orthogonal silhouettes

Body girths are the primary dimensions needed for apparel patternmaking. Although 3D body scanning systems can provide direct girth measurements, their high price and complexity prevent widespread use in the apparel industry, especially in small-business operations. Regular 2D body images can be used to measure body widths, depths, and heights, but are not usable for direct girth measurements. In this study, we proposed a new approach to predict girths of young female body with a dedicated 2D body imaging system. In our 2D system, the frontal and side images of a subject were obtained to extract the orthogonal silhouettes, and the body widths and depths were measured at landmarks found from the silhouettes. We found that the measurements had more than 94% of the data in the error range of ±1 cm. Body girths were then predicted through the empirical equations built on the width and depth measurements. The prediction results were compared with those of the manual measurements, and examined in a perspective of apparel-manufacturing requirements. The girth prediction models established in this study were found to be effective, which could facilitate automatic girth measurements essential in apparel pattern alteration using 2D images.