Wearing tests for the ease of buttoning and unbuttoning blouse cuffs were carried out on elderly women, as well as women in their 20s, for the purpose of designing clothes which elderly women can put on and take off easily.
The main results are as follows :
1) Comparing the time it took to button and unbutton the front and cuff buttons of the blouses, the elderly group took longer. The time difference was significant for buttoning up.
2) Analyzing the variance in the time it took to button up cuff buttons, differences among women in their 20s depended on the length of the sleeves. Differences in the elderly group did not generally depend on the length of the sleeves, but there were marked individual differences. Analyzing the variance in the time it took various age groups, to button up cuffs, butttoning up varied greatly only in the 70s' group.
3) Two different buttoning methods in the elderly women's groups were observed, which were not followed by the women in their 20s. Both of these methods involved pressing the cuffs firmly against the arm or body before doing up the button.