The article analyses the existing methods of studying the characteristics of bending stiffness. Topicality of improving the methodology for assessing and predicting bending stiffness in relation to the operating conditions of the studied contingent of consumers is substantiated. The methodology includes two main stages – an experimental study of the stiffness characteristics taking into account the characteristics of the range under study and a stage of forecasting the design solutions of the product. Comprehensive experimen-tal studies of the bending characteristics of modern fabrics of the jacket assortment for adaptive clothing of people with motor disabilities have been carried out. For an objective assessment of wear during use, the proposed method implements an additional forced bending of samples in opposite directions in order to bring the test results closer to real operating conditions. The results of experimental studies can be used at the design stage to predict the bending characteristics of the fabrics of the jacket assortment of clothing for people with motor disabilities.