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Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel and attire) is a collective term for items worn on the body. Clothing is typically made of fabrics or but over time has included garments made from animal skin or other thin sheets of materials put together. The wearing of clothing is mostly restricted to and is a feature of all human societies. The amount and type of clothing worn depends on gender, body type, social, and geographic considerations.
Clothing serves many purposes: it can serve as protection from the weather, rough surfaces, rash-causing plants, insect bites, , thorns and prickles by providing a barrier between the skin and the environment. Clothes can insulate against cold or hot conditions, and they can provide a hygienic barrier, keeping infectious and toxic materials away from the body. Clothing also provides protection from Ultraviolet.
Wearing clothes is also a Dress code, and being deprived of clothing in front of others may be Embarrassment. Not wearing clothes in public so that genitals, (for women) or buttocks are visible could be considered indecent exposure.
Clothing performs a range of social and culture functions, such as individual, occupational and gender differentiation, and social status. Alternative (This work is one of the earliest attempts at an overview of the psycho-social and practical functions of clothing) In many societies, norms about clothing reflect standards of modesty, religion, gender, and social status. Clothing may also function as adornment and an expression of personal taste or style.
Clothing has been made from a very wide variety of materials, ranging from leather and to woven fabrics to elaborate and exotic natural and Synthetic fiber. Not all body coverings are regarded as clothing. Articles carried rather than worn (such as Handbag), worn on a single part of the body and easily removed (scarves), worn purely for adornment (jewelry), or those that serve a function other than protection (eyeglasses), are normally considered accessories rather than clothing.
Clothing protects against many things that might injure or irritate the uncovered human body, including rain, snow, wind, and other weather, as well as from the sun. Garments that are too sheer, thin, small or tight offer less protection. Appropriate clothes can also reduce risk during activities such as work or sport. Some clothing protects from specific hazards, such as , noxious chemicals, weather, weapons, and contact with abrasive substances.
Humans have devised clothing solutions to environmental or other hazards: such as space suits, air conditioned clothing, armor, diving suits, swimsuits, bee-keeper gear, motorcycle leathers, high-visibility clothing, and other pieces of protective clothing. The distinction between clothing and protective equipment is not always clear-cut, since clothes designed to be fashionable often have protective value and clothes designed for function often consider fashion in their design. The choice of clothes also has social implications. They cover parts of the body that social norms require to be covered, act as a form of adornment, and serve other social purposes. Someone who lacks the means to procure reasonable clothing due to poverty or affordability, or simply lack of inclination, is sometimes said to be scruffy, ragged, or shabby.Baradel, Lacey. "Geographic Mobility and Domesticity in Eastman Johnson’s The Tramp." American Art 28.2 (2014): 26–49
In most cultures, gender differentiation of clothing is considered appropriate. The differences are in styles, colors, fabrics and types.
In Western societies, , dresses and are usually seen as women's clothing, while are usually seen as men's clothing. Trousers were once seen as exclusively male clothing, but can nowadays be worn by both genders. Male clothes are often more practical (that is, they can function well under a wide variety of situations), but a wider range of clothing styles are available for females. Males are typically allowed to bare chested in a greater variety of public places. It is generally acceptable for a woman to wear clothing perceived as masculine, while the opposite is seen as unusual.
In some cultures, regulate what men and women are required to wear. Islam requires women to wear more modest forms of attire, usually hijab. What qualifies as "modest" varies in different Muslim societies. However, women are usually required to cover more of their bodies than men are. Articles of clothing Muslim women wear for modesty range from the headscarf to the burqa.
Men may sometimes choose to wear men's skirts such as togas or in particular cultures, especially on ceremonial occasions. Such garments were (in previous times) often worn as normal daily clothing by men.
Clothing designed to be worn by either sex is called unisex clothing. Unisex clothes, such as T-shirts, tend to be cut straighter to fit a wider variety of bodies. The majority of unisex clothing styles have started out as menswear, but some articles, like the fedora, were originally worn by women.
For example, and Muslim men wear unstitched cloth pieces when performing religious ceremonies. The unstitched cloth signifies unified and complete devotion to the task at hand, with no digression. Sikhs wear a turban as it is a part of their religion.
The cleanliness of religious dresses in some religions such as Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Islam and Jainism is of paramount importance since it indicates purity.
Clothing appears in numerous contexts in the Bible; the most prominent passages are: the story of Adam and Eve who made coverings for themselves out of fig leaf, Joseph's cloak, Judah and Tamar, Mordecai and Esther. Furthermore, the priests officiating in the Temple in Jerusalem had very specific garments, the lack of which made one liable to death.
The Quran says about husbands and wives, regarding clothing: "...They are clothing/covering (Libaas) for you; and you for them" (chapter 2:187).
Jewish ritual also requires rending of one's upper garment as a sign of mourning.
Scientists are still debating when people started wearing clothes. Ralf Kittler, Manfred Kayser and Mark Stoneking, anthropology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, have conducted a genetic analysis of human body lice that suggests clothing originated around 170,000 years ago. Body lice are an indicator of clothes-wearing, since most humans have sparse body hair, and lice thus require human clothing to survive. Their research suggests that the invention of clothing may have coincided with the northward migration of modern Homo sapiens away from the warm climate of Africa, thought to have begun between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. However, a second group of researchers using similar genetic methods estimate that clothing originated around 540,000 years ago. For now, the date of the origin of clothing remains unresolved.
Although modern consumers may take the production of clothing for granted, making fabric by hand is a tedious and labor-intensive process involving fiber making, spinning, and weaving. The textile industry was the first to be mechanized – with the power loom – during the Industrial Revolution.
Different cultures have evolved various ways of creating clothes out of cloth. One approach simply involves draping the cloth. Many people wore, and still wear, garments consisting of rectangles of cloth wrapped to fit – for example, the dhoti for men and the sari for women in the Indian subcontinent, the Scottish kilt and the Javanese sarong. The clothes may simply be tied up (dhoti and sari); or pins or belts hold the garments in place (kilt and sarong). The cloth remains uncut, and people of various Clothing sizes can wear the garment.
Another approach involves measuring, cutting, and sewing the cloth by hand or with a sewing machine. Clothing can be cut from a sewing pattern and adjusted by a tailor to the wearer's measurements. An adjustable sewing mannequin or dress form is used to create form-fitting clothing. If the fabric is expensive, the tailor tries to use every bit of the cloth rectangle in constructing the clothing; perhaps cutting triangular pieces from one corner of the cloth, and adding them elsewhere as . Traditional European patterns for men's and women's take this approach. These remnants can also be reused to make patchwork hats, vests, and skirts.
Modern European fashion treats cloth much less conservatively, typically cutting in such a way as to leave various odd-shaped cloth remnants. Industrial sewing operations sell these as waste; home sewers may turn them into .
In the thousands of years that humans have been making clothing, they have created an astonishing array of styles, many of which have been reconstructed from surviving garments, , , , etc., as well as from written descriptions. Costume history can inspire current , as well as costumiers for plays, , television, and historical reenactment.
Jeans in the Western dress code are worn by both men and women. There are several unique styles of jeans found which include: high rise jeans, mid rise jeans, low rise jeans, bootcut jeans, straight jeans, cropped jeans, skinny jeans, cuffed jeans, boyfriend jeans, and capri jeans.
The licensing of designer names was pioneered by designers like Pierre Cardin in the 1960s and has been a common practice within the fashion industry from about the 1970s. Among the more popular include Marc Jacobs and Gucci, named for Marc Jacobs and Guccio Gucci respectively.
In the 21st century a diverse range of styles exist in fashion, varying by geography, exposure to modern media, economic conditions, and ranging from expensive haute couture to traditional garb, to thrift store grunge. are events for designers to show off new and often extravagant designs.
Coalitions of , designers (including Katharine Hamnett, American Apparel, Veja Sneakers, Quiksilver, eVocal, and Edun) and campaign groups like the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights as well as textile and clothing trade unions have sought to improve these conditions as much as possible by sponsoring awareness-raising events, which draw the attention of both the media and the general public to the workers.
Outsourcing production to low wage countries like Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka became possible when the Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA) was abolished. The MFA, which placed quotas on textiles imports, was deemed a protectionist measure. Although many countries recognize treaties like the International Labour Organization, which attempt to set standards for worker safety and rights, many countries have made exceptions to certain parts of the treaties or failed to thoroughly enforce them. India for example has not ratified sections 87 and 92 of the treaty.
Despite the strong reactions that "sweatshops" evoked among critics of globalization, the textile industry has functioned as a consistent industry for developing nations providing work and wages, whether construed as exploitative or not, to many thousands of people.
Often, people wear an item of clothing until it falls apart. Some materials present problems. Cleaning leather is difficult, and bark cloth (tapa) cannot be washed without dissolving it. Owners may patch tears and rips, and brush off surface dirt, but materials like these inevitably age.
However, most clothing consists of cloth, and most cloth can be laundry and mended (patching, darning, but compare felt).
Many kinds of clothing are designed to be Ironing before they are worn to remove wrinkles. Most modern formal and semi-formal clothing is in this category (for example, and suits). Ironed clothes are believed to look clean, fresh, and neat. Much contemporary casual clothing is made of knit materials that do not readily wrinkle, and do not require ironing. Some clothing is permanent press, having been treated with a coating (such as polytetrafluoroethylene) that suppresses wrinkles and creates a smooth appearance without ironing.
Once clothes have been laundered and possibly ironed, they are usually hung on or folded, to keep them fresh until they are worn. Clothes are folded to allow them to be stored compactly, to prevent creasing, to preserve creases or to present them in a more pleasing manner, for instance when they are put on sale in stores.
Certain types of insects and larvae feed on clothing and textiles, such as the Black carpet beetle and Clothing Moth. To deter such pests, clothes may be stored in cedar-lined closets or chests, or placed in drawers or containers with materials having pest repellent properties, such as Lavender or . Airtight containers (such as sealed, heavy-duty plastic bags) may also deter insect pest damage to clothing materials.
There are many concerns about the life cycle of synthetics, which come primarily from petrochemicals. Unlike natural fibers, their source is not renewable and they are not biodegradable. The Textile Materials Eco Battle Between Natural and Synthetic Fabrics "Steven E. Davis, Sweatshirt Station".
Excess inventory of clothing is sometimes destroyed to preserve brand value.
EU member states exported €116 billion of clothes in 2018, including 77% to other EU member states.
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