Firefighters' protective jackets: Fit to female form and its effects on attributes relevant to thermal comfort

Often male and female workers wear protective garments of identical construction and style, with females typically wearing small-sized men's garments. Consequently, the air spaces under garments worn by male and female wearers can substantially differ in size and distribution affecting the physiological comfort of firefighters' protective clothing. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of varying dimensions and distributions of air spaces in the next-to-skin microclimate under firefighters' protective jackets on attributes relevant to the thermal comfort of wearer, not only in relation to garment construction and fit, but also to human body geometry using 3D body scanning. Analysis of 20 scans demonstrated that jackets of the same size and construction create larger air spaces under them worn on a female as opposed to on a male body form. Both thermal and vapor resistance of clothing were affected significantly by the volume of trapped air.