Understanding the factors that control the extent of tissue damage as a result of material failure in soft tissues may provide means to improve diagnosis and treatment of soft tissue injuries. The objective of this research was to develop and test a computational framework for the study of the failure of anisotropic soft tissues subjected to finite deformation. An anisotropic constitutive model incorporating strain-based failure criteria was implemented in an existing computational solid mechanics software based on the material point method (MPM), a quasi-meshless particle method for simulations in computational mechanics. The constitutive model and the strain-based failure formulations were tested using simulations of simple shear and tensile mechanical tests. The model was then applied to investigate a scenario of a penetrating injury: a low-speed projectile was released through a myocardial material slab. Sensitivity studies were performed to establish the necessary grid resolution and time-step size. Results of the simple shear and tensile test simulations demonstrated the correct implementation of the constitutive model and the influence of both fiber family and matrix failure on predictions of overall tissue failure. The slab penetration simulations produced physically realistic wound tracts, exhibiting diameter increase from entrance to exit. Simulations examining the effect of bullet initial velocity showed that the anisotropy influenced the shape and size of the exit wound more at lower velocities. Furthermore, the size and taper of the wound cavity was smaller for the higher bullet velocity. It was concluded that these effects were due to the amount of momentum transfer. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using MPM and the associated failure model for large-scale numerical simulations of soft tissue failure.

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Sustainability in the textile and clothing industry is seen as a subject of the major producers, with many brands divulging their concern about protecting people and the environment and adopting an environmental friendly communication approach. For companies in the textile and clothing sector (especially SMEs), the circular economy provides an opportunity to create new profit streams, increase their resilience to volatile input costs, and support their efforts to become completely sustainable and socially responsible. EU textile and clothing industry needs a flexible workforce that can respond to the development and to the globalised market and the need for sustainable design and manufacturing in order to respond to the global demand for sustainable creative products. In this frame, it is important to have suitable tools to train the employees, to prepare them to deal with these new challenges, to enhance their knowledge, and to develop new skills and competencies for this new type of business. This paper introduces a new training toolkit, which will contribute to the training process of the personnel involved in the textile and clothing industry. This toolkit contains e-learning courses in six European languages, mainly various sources (books, video) and activities (quizzes and forums), which are uploaded and available on the Udemy platform.

Background: A challenge for designers is to create fashionable and very well-fitting personalised garments (multi-layered) that have a suitable shape (balance and size) and provide the wearer with the desired degree of freedom. In this paper, the authors have developed an ergonomic solution for designing the pattern of a business casual men’s jacket by integrating the dynamic data of the body into the design process. Methodology: The pattern was elaborated by interactive design process based on mathematical relationships and the use of specific input data. The 3D virtual prototype was created in Clo3D (the static and typical dynamic positions of the mannequin). The dynamic data needed for the study were measured directly on 50 male subjects. These values were analysed by using the statistical method and then integrated into the design scenario in a specific way. The shapes of the new 3D prototypes were evaluated by examining the relationships between the constructive and longitudinal allowance along the back region as independent variables and sleeve angle and upper back tension as dependent variables. Results: By allowing a certain degree of dynamic effect in the design process, one can see that the personalized model of the casual business jacket with Ab (constructive allowance) = 4.5 cm and Aars (longitudinal allowance distributed along with the back height) = 3.6 cm is well balanced and fits the body. Conclusions: This design method can be used and further developed for other garment categories and customers by any design department that has the right IT tools to facilitate the personalized design process.

The textile and clothing industry uses many resources. It causes a lot of environmental problems: water pollution, consuming a massive amount of raw materials, energy, chemicals, etc. The garments are produced to be worn and cleaned several times, and their lifespan is considerably reduced. Over 60% of what the consumer buys, becomes unuseful (either the consumer forgot what he/she has, or the product is not fashionable anymore, or it does not fit). It is compulsory and essential to understand the necessity of creating a new balance between the use of resources, the lifespan of the products and consumer behaviour. Closing the loop and building a new understanding of how the textile and clothing industry can exist is the key to the future – to develop and implement the circular business model. This type of business implies some changes in the production flow: the materials are recycled in several rounds, the design process has to take into account several lifecycles of the items (with the same destination or a different one), the products are designed to be re-included in a system where it is possible, and the consumer has to be educated to accept these categories of products. Each stage of the production process has to be sustainable, environmentally friendly and with a low production cost. In terms of a sustainable design process, this paper presents the main stages of the designing process of a garment (leisure sports jacket), with a versatile shape and usage (garment/ backpack). The garment is designed and manufactured to allow and the vice-versa transformation without any technological modifications. By using a creative and feasible design and manufacturing solution, the waste of worn garments will be considerably reduced, and the product lifespan prolonged, as much as it is possible.