Abstract
The assessment of fabric hand is influenced by three variables—namely: products, evaluators, and end-uses. In this study the influence of perceiver variable on the hand preference of flame-retardant fabrics for children's sleepwear was evaluated. Subject hand ratings and response profiles as indices of perceiver preference were analyzed. The response profile was determined as a linear function of three stimulus values of flexural rigidity, coefficient of friction, and compact ness and subject hand rating. The results of the response profiles indicated that all three panel groups chose roughness for all four categories of test fabrics. Softness was preferred for all instances except for the medium-weight woven category by homemaker and student groups. For compactness-openness, the trained panel chose compactness for the flannels, wovens, and knit category, whereas homemaker and student groups chose openness for the plain wovens. knits, and overall sleep wear category.