A linguistic multi-criteria group decision support system for fabric hand evaluation

Fabric hand evaluation (FHE) is the main measure in textile material selection for fashion design and development. Fabric hand evaluation requires considering multiple evaluation aspects/criteria by a group of evaluators. Some fabric features can also be measured using instruments. The evaluation often uses linguistic terms in the weights of criteria, and the weights and judgments of evaluators. To support a FHE-based material selection, this study first develops a fabric hand-based textile material evaluation model. It then proposes a human-machine measure integrated fuzzy multi-criteria group decision-making method. A software tool is also developed, which implements the proposed method and is applied in fabric hand-based textile material evaluation.