Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) consists of items worn on the body. Clothing is typically made from textiles but may also be made from animal skins, furs, and other natural materials and synthetic fibres. Clothing is a feature of every known human society, and its form and use vary according to climate, culture, available materials, technology, social norms, and individual preference.
Clothing serves protective, physiological, social, and cultural functions by providing comfort, thermal regulation, protection against environmental hazards, and specialized protection for particular occupations, sports, and other activities. Clothing also expresses social status, gender, cultural identity, religious affiliation, modesty, and personal style, and plays a central role in fashion.
Humans likely began wearing clothing at least tens of thousands of years ago, and early clothing was made from animal skins and plant fibres before the widespread use of woven textiles.
Over time, advances in textile production, tailoring, and industrial manufacturing transformed clothing production into one of the world's largest industries. The garment and textile industries employ millions of people, play an important role in global trade, and face challenges related to working conditions and sustainability. The clothing life cycle encompasses the care, maintenance, reuse, recycling, and disposal of garments.
Origin and history
Early use
Estimates of when humans began wearing clothes range from 40,000 to as many as 3 million years ago. A 2003 study suggested humans were wearing clothing at least 100,000 years ago, based on evidence from lice. Human body lice cannot survive outside clothing and die within a few hours without shelter. This strongly implies that the date of the body louse's speciation from its parent, Pediculus humanus, could not have occurred earlier than the earliest human adoption of clothing. This date, at which the body louse (P. humanus corporis) diverged from both its parent species and its sibling subspecies, the head louse (P. humanus capitis), has been estimated to be between 40,000 and 170,000 years before present. However, recent transcriptome analyses cast doubt on whether lice provide a means to date the origin of clothes since they have found that "body and head lice were almost genetically identical. Indeed, the phenotypic flexibility associated with the emergence of body lice is probably a result of regulatory changes, perhaps epigenetic in origin, triggered by environmental signals."
Dating with direct archeological evidence produces dates consistent with those of lice. In September 2021, scientists reported evidence of clothes being made 120,000 years ago based on findings in deposits in Morocco.
The development of clothing is deeply connected to human evolution, with early garments likely consisting of animal skins and natural fibers adapted for protection and social signaling. According to anthropologists and archaeologists, the earliest clothing likely consisted of fur, leather, leaves, or grass that was draped, wrapped, or tied around the body. Knowledge of such clothing remains inferential, as clothing materials deteriorate quickly compared with stone, bone, shell, and metal artifacts. Archeologists have identified very early sewing needles of bone and ivory from about 30,000 BC, found near Kostenki, Russia in 1988, and in 2016 a needle at least 50,000 years old from Denisova Cave in Siberia made by Denisovans. Dyed flax fibers that date back to 34,000 BC and could have been used in clothing have been found in a prehistoric cave in Georgia. Supporting Online Material
The oldest known piece of woven clothing is the Tarkhan dress, an over 5000 year old linen garment.
Making clothing
Several distinct human cultures, including those residing in the Arctic Circle, have historically crafted their garments exclusively from treated and adorned animal furs and skins. In contrast, numerous other societies have complemented or substituted leather and skins with textiles woven, knitted, or twined from a diverse array of animal and plant fibers, such as linen, wool, cotton, silk, hemp, and ramie.
Making fabric by hand is a tedious, labor-intensive process involving fiber preparation, spinning, and weaving. The textile industry was the first to be mechanized – with the powered loom – during the Industrial Revolution.
Different cultures have developed various ways of making clothes from cloth. One approach 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 be tied up (dhoti and sari) or held in place with pins or belts (kilt and sarong). The cloth remains uncut, and people of various 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 rectangular cloth when constructing the garment; perhaps cutting triangular pieces from one corner of the cloth and adding them elsewhere as gussets. Traditional European patterns for shirts and chemises take this approach. These remnants can also be reused to make patchwork pockets, hats, vests, and skirts.
Modern European fashion treats cloth much less conservatively, typically cutting in ways that leave various oddly-shaped cloth remnants. Industrial sewing operations sell these as waste; domestic sewers may turn them into quilts.
Over thousands of years of making clothing, humans have created an array of styles, many of which have been reconstructed from surviving garments, photographs, paintings, mosaics, and written descriptions. Costume history can inspire current fashion designers, as well as costumiers for plays, films, television, and historical reenactment.
Clothing as comfort
Comfort is related to various perceptions and to physiological, social, and psychological needs; after food, clothing satisfies these comfort needs. Clothing provides aesthetic, tactile, thermal, moisture, and pressure comfort. Aesthetic comfort Visual perception is influenced by color, fabric construction, style, garment fit, fashion compatibility, and finish of clothing material. Aesthetic comfort is necessary for psychological and social comfort. Thermoregulation and thermophysiological comfort Thermophysiological comfort is the capacity of the clothing material that maintains the balance of moisture and heat between the body and the environment. It is a property of textile materials that creates ease by maintaining moisture and thermal levels in a human's resting and active states. The selection of textile material significantly affects the wearer's comfort. Different textile fibers have unique properties that make them suitable for use in various environments. For example, natural fibers are breathable and absorb moisture, while synthetic fibers are hydrophobic, repel moisture, and do not allow air to pass. Different environments demand a diverse selection of clothing materials. Hence, the appropriate choice is important. The major determinants that influence thermophysiological comfort are permeable construction, heat, and moisture transfer rate. Thermal comfort One of the primary criteria for our physiological needs is thermal comfort. The heat-dissipation effectiveness of clothing gives the wearer a feeling that is neither very hot nor very cold. The optimum temperature for thermal comfort of the skin surface is between . Thermophysiology reacts whenever the temperature falls below or exceeds the neutral point on either side; it is discomforting below 28 and above 30 degrees. Clothing maintains a thermal balance; it keeps the skin dry and cool. It helps to keep the body from overheating while avoiding heat from the environment. Moisture comfort Moisture comfort is a property related to avoiding a damp sensation. Tactile comfort Tactile comfort is a resistance to the discomfort related to the friction created by clothing against the body. It is related to the smoothness, roughness, softness, and stiffness of the fabric used in clothing. The degree of tactile discomfort may vary among individuals due to factors such as allergies, tickling, prickling, skin abrasion, coolness, and the fabric's weight, structure, and thickness. There are specific surface finishes (mechanical and chemical) that can enhance tactile comfort. Fleece sweatshirts and velvet clothing, for example. Soft, clingy, stiff, heavy, light, hard, sticky, scratchy, and prickly are all terms used to describe tactile sensations. Pressure comfort The comfort of the human body's pressure receptors' (present in the skin) sensory response towards clothing. Fabric with Lycra feels more comfortable because of this response and superior pressure comfort. The sensation response is influenced by the material's structure: snugging, looseness, heaviness, lightness, softness, or stiffness.
Functions
The most obvious function of clothing is to protect the wearer from the elements. It helps prevent wind damage and protects against sunburn. In the cold, it offers thermal insulation. Shelter can reduce the functional need for clothing. For example, coats, hats, gloves, and other outer layers are normally removed when entering a warm place. Similarly, clothing has seasonal and regional aspects, so thinner materials and fewer layers are generally worn in warmer regions and seasons than in colder ones. Boots, hats, jackets, ponchos, and coats designed to protect from rain and snow are specialized clothing items.
Clothing has been made from a wide variety of materials, ranging from leather and furs to woven fabrics and elaborate, exotic natural and synthetic fabrics. Not all body coverings are regarded as clothing. Articles carried rather than worn normally are considered accessories rather than clothing (such as Handbags), items worn on a single part of the body and easily removed (scarves), worn purely for adornment (jewelry), or items that do not serve a protective function. For instance, corrective eyeglasses, Arctic goggles, and sunglasses would not be considered an accessory because of their protective functions.
Clothing protects against many things that might injure or irritate the naked human body, including rain, snow, wind, and other weather, as well as 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 against specific hazards, such as insects, toxic chemicals, weather, weapons, and abrasive substances.
Humans have devised clothing solutions to environmental or other hazards: such as space suits, 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 incorporate corporate fashion elements.
The choice of clothes also has social implications. They cover body parts that social norms require to be covered, serve as adornment, and fulfill other social purposes. Someone who lacks the means to procure appropriate clothing due to poverty or affordability, or lack of inclination, sometimes is said to be worn, ragged, or shabby.