ABSTRACT

The study focused on the development functional apparel for female fishmongers in Abia State using Computer Aided Design.. Specifically it was designed; to determine the design criteria that should be employed based on the needs of functional apparel of fishmongers; establish the prototype design preference of fishmongers; establish the mean body measurement of female fishmongers based on different size categories; develop pattern using CAD for the final design obtained in different size categories; construct the fishmongers work apparel based on mean body measurements obtained in different size categories; determine the mean ratings of fishmongers on parameters required of functional apparel; determine the mean ratings of judges on parameters required of fishmongers apparel. The study area was Abia State. The Research and Development design cycle of Gall and Borg was employed to achieve the goals of the study. The stages of the design process was incorporated into three major phases of the study which included the; development of design criteria based on functional apparel needs assessment of female fishmonger; construction of the prototype functional apparel in small, medium and large size; and evaluation of the prototype apparel. Two sets of population were used in phase I and III. In phase I, the population was Four Hundred and Thirty-Eight (438) fishmongers and population for phase 111 one hundred and nine (109) respondents that served as judges comprising of Home Economics Lecturers, fishmongers Excos and functional apparel producers. A multistage techniques was adopted at different stages of data collection. The sample for population in phase 1 was two hundred and nine (209) fishmongers, and sample for phase III was eighty five (85) respondents that served as judges. Four sets of instrument were used for data collection in phase I and III. The instruments were Functional Apparel Needs Assessment for Fishmongers (FANAF); Functional Apparel Design Assessment Instrument for Fishmongers (FADAF); Functional Apparel Design Assessment Instrument for Judges (FADAJ); and My 3D Label Pattern Software. Cronbach Alpha Coefficient was used to determine the reliability and the reliability of the instruments were above 0.70. Descriptive statistics like frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviation were used to analyse research questions while t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to test the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The findings revealed that the female fishmongers and judges scored the fit of the functional apparel very good with mean above 3.00 on all the attributes. There was no significant difference in the mean ratings of fishmongers on small, medium and large sized based users on parameter (mobility, fit, comfort, protection/safety, utilitarian aesthetic and expressive) required of functional apparel: there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of fishmongers and judges on small, medium and large sized based users on parameters required of functional apparel. It was concluded that the developed apparel did not hinder the movement /mobility of fishmongers: other attributes assessed had high mean scores. It was therefore recommended among others that CAD should be used by lecturers and apparel designers in teaching pattern development.