Scholarship

Although dissertations on clothing and its functionality are found from the 19th century as colonising countries dealt with new environments,^[3] concerted scientific research into psycho-social, physiological and other functions of clothing (e.g. protective, cartage) occurred in the first half of the 20th century, with publications such as Flugel's Psychology of Clothes in 1930,^[1] and Newburgh's seminal Physiology of Heat Regulation and The Science of Clothing in 1949.^[4] By 1968, the field of environmental physiology had advanced and expanded significantly, but the science of clothing in relation to environmental physiology had changed little.^[5] While considerable research has since occurred and the knowledge-base has grown significantly, the main concepts remain unchanged, and indeed Newburgh's book continues to be cited by contemporary authors, including those attempting to develop thermoregulatory models of clothing development.^[6]