PurposeThis paper aims to identify the relationship between users' perception image, clothing design features and users' preference and propose a clothing design scheme based on users perception image and users' preference.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, men's suit is composed into multiple design features under the design elements. Using the orthogonal experiment method, 16 schemes of the representative suit are designed. Through perception evaluation experiment, users' perception images and preference degree of the samples are obtained. By partial least squares (PLS) analysis method, the models between users' perception image, suit design features and users' preference are built.FindingsThe interrelationship between the three is identified by establishing PLS models between users' perception image, suit design features and users' preference. According to the coefficients of the models, the optimization schemes of men's suits considering users' perception image and preference are proposed. Verification results show that the optimization schemes are significantly better than other schemes.Originality/valueThe results of this paper can be used for consumer demand-oriented clothing design and provide references and methods for converting consumer's perceived needs into clothing design features.