Book excerpt: Biomechanical engineering enables wearers to achieve the highest level of comfort, fit and interaction from their clothing as it is designed with the mechanics of the body in mind. This enables products to be developed that are specifically designed for the mechanics of their end purpose (e.g. sports bra) as well as the everyday movement of the body. This is the first book to systematically describe the techniques of biomechanical engineering principles, methods, computer simulation, measurements and applications.Biomechanical engineering of textiles and clothing addresses issues of designing and producing textiles and clothing for optimum interaction and contact with the body. It covers the fundamental theories, principles and models behind design and engineering for the human body's biomechanics, contact problems arising between textiles/clothing and the body and the mechanics of fibres, yarns, textiles and clothing. Material properties are discussed in relation to mechanical performance. It also includes coverage of the Clothing Biomechanical Engineering System developed at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and its associated models and databases. The book concludes with practical examples of clothing applications to illustrate how to carry out biomechanical engineering design for specific applications. - Addresses issues of designing and producing textiles for interaction and contact with the body - Covers fundamental theories, principles and models behind design and engineering - Contains practical examples of clothing applications to illustrate biomechanical engineering design for specific applications