Title: Clothing recommendation based on fuzzy mathematics

Authors: Hong Lu; Yan Chen; Hong-qin Dai

Addresses: Key Laboratory of Clothing Design and Technology, Ministry of Education, Fashion Institute of Donghua University, Shanghai, 200051, China ' National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215021, China ' National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215021, China

Abstract: In this paper, a clothing recommendation method is developed based on fuzzy mathematics, which is the theoretical foundation of the clothing interactive system. The design elements and sensory knowledge are elicited by using the method of interviewing, laddering and card sorting. The different linguistic variables are represented by triangle fuzzy numbers. Fuzzy total utility value and fuzzy utility similarity are used to show the reflection between the design elements space and sensory image space. The method of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is applied to quantify the important ratio of nine design element items. On the basis of the fuzzy synthesis evaluation theory, all samples can be sorted into different sets respectively and then the garments in the proper set are recommended to customers according to their single or multiple needs. Although, men's suit is taken as a case study in this paper, the techniques and methods can be extended to other garments.

Keywords: sensory knowledge; clothing recommendation; fuzzy mathematics; analytical hierarchy process; AHP; operations management; design elements; fuzzy numbers; fuzzy sets; garment industry; clothing industry; apparel industry; mens suits; male garments; recommender systems.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAOM.2013.051323

International Journal of Advanced Operations Management, 2013 Vol.5 No.1, pp.14 - 30

Published online: 28 Apr 2014 *

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