SEOUL, October 20 (AJP) - Most leggings on the market are built around younger women's bodies, and a study measuring how tight they should sit on women in their 40s and 50s has won a Sookmyung Women's University professor a national science paper award.
Lim Ho-sun, a professor in Sookmyung's Department of Clothing and Textiles, and her co-author Lee Jong-kyu found that garment pressure should stay below 2.48 kilopascals at the middle of the kneecap, 2.09 kilopascals just below the inner knee and 0.98 kilopascals at the waist. At 2.48 kilopascals, the pressure on the skin is roughly the weight of 25 grams resting on each square centimeter.
Lim received the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies (KOFST) Excellent Science and Technology Paper Award on Sept. 30 at the Korea Science and Technology Center in Seoul. This was the award's 36th year. The ceremony was held alongside KOFST's 60th anniversary celebration, where the federation also announced its vision for the future.
The paper said leggings sold today follow a sizing system based on young women. That system does not suit the way women's bodies change in their 40s and 50s. The researchers argued that clothing makers need to know how much pressure each part of the body can take before customers become uncomfortable.
To find out, the team measured garment pressure at points across the lower body and asked wearers to rate how the leggings felt on each part.
The rear of the waist registered 0.00 kilopascals, which the researchers read as a sign that the area is less affected by pressure than the rest of the body. Wearers were more satisfied when the back crotch seam sat at a steeper angle.
Pressure above the thresholds caused discomfort that grew with age, which the paper linked to a decline in peak and average blood flow. The lower leg was the exception. There, firmer pressure helped wearers move.
Sookmyung said the study proposes a design method that weighs the body's anatomy together with the stretch of the fabric. It also sets out pattern standards meant to improve comfort and freedom of movement. The university said the work could help clothing makers develop athleisure, sportswear designed for everyday use, and other functional clothing for middle-aged women.
"This award is thanks to the efforts of the students and fellow researchers I have worked with," Lim said. She added that she would continue research that contributes to the field of clothing science.
The standards are still a design proposal. Sookmyung did not say whether any clothing maker has adopted them, and the paper's published abstract does not state how many women took part in the wear tests.
KOFST gives the award every year to researchers who publish creative, high-quality work. The federation says the award aims to encourage academic research and advance science and technology in South Korea.
The paper appeared in the April 2025 issue of the Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles, a journal indexed in Scopus, one of the largest databases of peer-reviewed research.
[Reference Information]
Journal/Source: Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
Title: Pressure Evaluation and Leggings Modeling of Stretch Knit Materials by Body Parts
Link/DOI: https://doi.org/10.5850/JKSCT.2025.49.2.240
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.