|
ApparelSource.in – Apparel WWW Database
www.apparelsource.in – The Only Online Bookmark You’ll Ever Need for Apparel
|
|
This web page intends to be a one stop resource for information and web links for textile apparel.
Add Links: If you have a web site that you wish to include in this database, do let us know the details by sending a note about your URL to narsi@esource.in. We’ll quickly review the web site, and if found relevant, add it to the database. We look forward to web site owners and link exchange partners to submit URL. Thanks!
|
..
..
..
..
|
Apparel & Clothing Info
Clothing From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!) Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. This article has been tagged since June 2007. This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the talk page for details. This article or section may contain an unpublished synthesis of published material that conveys ideas not attributable to the original sources. Please help Wikipedia by adding sources whose main topic is "Clothing". See the talk page for details.
Clothing protects the vulnerable nude human body from the extremes of weather, other features of our environment, and for safety reasons. Every article of clothing also carries a cultural and social meaning. Human beings are the only creatures known to wear clothing, with the exception of pets clothed by their owners.
People also decorate their bodies with makeup or cosmetics, perfume, and other ornamentation; they also cut, dye, and arrange the hair of their heads, faces, and bodies (see hairstyle), and sometimes also mark their skin (by tattoos, scarifications, and piercings). All these decorations contribute to the overall effect and message of clothing, but do not constitute clothing per se.
Articles carried rather than worn (such as purses, canes, and umbrellas) are normally counted as fashion accessories rather than as clothing. Jewelry and eyeglasses are usually counted as accessories as well, even though in common speech these items are described as being worn rather than carried.
The practical function of clothing is to protect the human body from dangers in the environment: weather (strong sunlight, extreme heat or cold, and precipitation, for example), insects, noxious chemicals, weapons, and contact with abrasive substances, and other hazards. Clothing can protect against many things that might injure the naked human body. In some cases clothing protects the environment from the clothing wearer as well (example: medical scrubs).
Humans have shown extreme inventiveness in devising clothing solutions to practical problems and the distinction between clothing and other protective equipment is not always clear-cut. See, among others: air conditioned clothing, armor, diving suit, swimsuit, bee-keeper's costume, motorcycle leathers, high-visibility clothing, and protective clothing.
Contents 1 Social status 2 Occupation 3 Marital status 4 Sexual availability 5 Religious habits and special religious clothing 6 Sport and activity 7 Clothing materials 8 Clothing maintenance 8.1 Laundry, ironing, storage 8.2 Mending 9 The life cycle of clothing 10 Early 21st-century clothing styles 10.1 Regional styles 11 Origin and history of clothing 12 Future trends 13 Clothing industry 14 See also 15 External links
Social status
Alim Khan's bemedaled robe is a social messageIn many societies, people of high rank reserve special items of clothing or decoration for themselves as symbols of their social status. In ancient times, only Roman senators could wear garments dyed with Tyrian purple; only high-ranking Hawaiian chiefs could wear feather cloaks and palaoa or carved whale teeth. Under the Travancore kingdom of Kerala (India), lower caste women had to pay a tax for the right to cover their upper body. In China before the establishment of the republic, only the emperor could wear yellow. In many cases throughout history, there have been elaborate systems of sumptuary laws regulating who could wear what. In other societies (including most modern societies), no laws prohibit lower-status people wearing high status garments, but the high cost of status garments effectively limits purchase and display. In current Western society, only the rich can afford haute couture. The threat of social ostracism may also limit garment choice.
Occupation See also: undercover.
In many regions of the world, national costumes and styles in clothing and ornament declare membership in a certain village, caste, religion, etc. A Scotsman declares his clan with his tartan. A Muslim woman might wear a hijab to express her religion. A male Sikh may display his religious affiliation by wearing a turban and other traditional clothing. A French peasant woman may identify her village with her cap or coif.
Clothes can also proclaim dissent from cultural norms and mainstream beliefs, as well as personal independence. In 19th-century Europe, artists and writers lived la vie de Bohème and dressed to shock: George Sand in men's clothing, female emancipationists in bloomers, male artists in velvet waistcoats and gaudy neckcloths. Bohemians, beatniks, hippies, goths, punks and skinheads have continued the counter-cultural) tradition in the 20th-century West. Now that haute couture plagiarises street fashion within a year or so, street fashion may have lost some of its power to shock, but it still motivates millions trying to look hip and cool.
Marital status Hindu women, once married, wear sindoor, a red powder, in the parting of their hair; if widowed, they abandon sindoor and jewelry and wear simple white clothing. Men and women of the Western world may wear wedding rings to indicate their marital status.
See also: Visual markers of marital status
Sexual availability Clothing may signal an individual's receptiveness to sexual advances. Some garments signal lack of interest in advances; some garments and accessories indicate openness to flirtation. What constitutes modesty and allurement varies radically from culture to culture, within different contexts in the same culture, and over time as different fashions rise and fall. Often, exposure of skin and hair is an availability signal; covering skin and hair signals unavailability. However, minute adjustments of "modesty" signals can subvert the surface meaning and convey a mixed message ("I'm nice but I like to flirt too").
The vocabulary of women's clothing is usually more developed than the vocabulary of men's clothing in this regard. [original research?]
Examples of sexual signaling:
In Amish communities, both men and women dress in plain garments that cover the body, without intricate details or patterns. Women also wear a prayer veil. Unmarried women wear black veils, married women wear white ones. Many Muslim women wear a head or body covering (see hijab, burqa or bourqa, chador and abaya) that proclaims their status as respectable and modest women. Streetwalking prostitutes in countries such as the United States where prostitution is illegal dress to advertise their status to potential customers, while avoiding anything that might constitute an unambiguous offer of sex for sale (which would increase their chances of being caught and convicted). They tend to wear current fashions in exaggerated form, bare a great deal of skin, and wear heavy makeup.
Religious habits and special religious clothing Religious clothing might be considered a special case of occupational clothing. Sometimes it is worn only during the performance of religious ceremonies. However, it may also be worn everyday as a marker for special religious status.
For example, Jains wear unstitched cloth pieces when performing religious ceremonies. The unstitched cloth signifies unified and complete devotion to the task at hand, with no digression.
The cleanliness of religious dresses in Eastern Religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism is of paramount importance, which indicates purity.
See also: Category:Religious vesture.
Sport and activity Most sports and physical activities are practised wearing special clothing, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Common sportswear garments include shorts, T-shirts, polo shirts, tracksuits, and trainers. Specialised garments include wet suits (for swimming, diving or surfing) and salopettes (for skiing).
Clothing materials Common clothing materials include:
Cloth, typically made of viscose cotton, flax, wool, hemp, ramie, silk, lyocell, or synthetic fibers such as Polyester and Nylon among many others. Down for down-filled parkas Fur Leather Denim Less-common clothing materials include:
Paper Jute Rubber PVC Recycled PET Tyvek Rayon Hemp Bamboo Recycled or Recovered Cotton Soy Other Natural Fibers Reinforcing materials such as wood, bone, plastic and metal may be used in fasteners or to stiffen garments.
Clothing maintenance Clothing, once manufactured, suffers assault both from within and from without. The human body inside sheds skin cells and body oils, and exudes sweat, urine, and feces. From the outside, sun damage, damp, abrasion, dirt, and other indignities afflict the garment. Fleas and lice take up residence in clothing seams. Well-worn clothing, if not cleaned and refurbished, will smell, itch, look scruffy, and lose functionality (as when buttons fall off and zippers fail).
In some cases, people simply wear an item of clothing until it falls apart. Cleaning leather presents difficulties; one cannot wash bark cloth (tapa) without dissolving it. Owners may patch tears and rips, and brush off surface dirt, but old leather and bark clothing will always look old.
But most clothing consists of cloth, and most cloth can be laundered and mended (patching, darning, but compare felt).
Laundry, ironing, storage Humans have developed many specialized methods for laundering, ranging from the earliest "pound clothes against rocks in running stream" to the latest in electronic washing machines and dry cleaning (dissolving dirt in solvents other than water).
Many kinds of clothing are designed to be ironed before they are worn to remove wrinkles. Most modern formal and semi-formal clothing is in this category (for example, dress shirts and suits). Ironed clothes are believed to look clean, fresh, and neat. However, much contemporary casual clothing is made of knit materials that do not readily wrinkle and so do not have to be ironed. Some clothing is permanent press, meaning that it has been treated with a synthetic 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 up on clothes hangers 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.
Many kinds of clothes are folded before they are put in suitcases as preparation for travel. Other clothes, such as suits, may be hung up in special garment bags, or rolled rather than folded. Many people use their clothing as packing material around fragile items that might otherwise break in transit.
Mending In past times, mending was an art. A meticulous tailor or seamstress could mend rips with thread raveled from hems and seam edges so skillfully that the darn was practically invisible. When the raw material — cloth — was worth more than labor, it made sense to expend labor in saving it. Today clothing is considered a consumable item. Mass-manufactured clothing is less expensive than the time it would take to repair it. Many people prefer to buy a new piece of clothing rather than to spend their time mending old clothes. But the thrifty still replace zippers and buttons and sew up ripped hems.
The life cycle of clothing Used, no-longer-wearable clothing was once desirable raw material for quilts, rag rugs, bandages, and many other household uses. It could also be recycled into paper. Now it is usually thrown away. Used but still wearable clothing can be sold at consignment shops, flea markets, online auction, or just donated to charity. Charities usually skim the best of the clothing to sell in their own thrift stores and sell the rest to merchants, who bale it up and ship it to poor Third World countries, where vendors bid for the bales and then make what profit they can selling used clothing.
Early 21st-century clothing styles Western fashion has, to a certain extent, become international fashion, as Western media and styles penetrate all parts of the world. Very few parts of the world remain where people do not wear items of cheap, mass-produced Western clothing. Even people in poor countries can afford used clothing from richer Western countries.
However, people may wear ethnic or national dress on special occasions or if carrying out certain roles or occupations. For example, most Japanese women have adopted Western-style dress for daily wear, but will still wear silk kimonos on special occasions. Items of Western dress may also appear worn or accessorized in distinctive, non-Western ways. A Tongan man may combine a used T-shirt with a Tongan wrapped skirt, or tupenu.
Western fashion, too, does not function monolithically. It comes in many varieties, from expensive haute couture to thrift store grunge.
Regional styles Clothing of Europe and Russia Clothing in the Americas South American fashion United States mainstream fashion For example: "Catalogue" fashion, regional styles such as preppy or Western wear.
United States alternative fashion These fashions are often associated with fans of various musical styles. See also: Gothic fashion, Hippie, Grunge, Hip hop music, and Fetish clothing Clothing in Asia Clothing in Africa Clothing in Oceania Islamic clothing
Origin and history of clothing Main article: History of clothing
A Neanderthal clothed in furAccording to archaeologists and anthropologists, the earliest clothing probably consisted of fur, leather, leaves or grass, draped, wrapped or tied about the body for protection from the elements. Knowledge of such clothing remains inferential, since clothing materials deteriorate quickly compared to 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.
Ralf Kittler, Manfred Kayser and Mark Stoneking, anthropologists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, have conducted a genetic analysis of human body lice that indicates that they originated about 107,000 years ago. Since most humans have very sparse body hair, body lice require clothing to survive, so this suggests a surprisingly recent date for the invention of clothing. Its invention may have coincided with the spread of modern Homo sapiens from the warm climate of Africa, thought to have begun between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. However, a second group of researchers used similar genetic methods to estimate that body lice originated about 540,000 years ago (Reed et al. 2004. PLoS Biology 2(11): e340). For now, the date of the origin of clothing remains unresolved.
Some human cultures, such as the various peoples of the Arctic Circle, until recently made their clothing entirely of furs and skins, cutting clothing to fit and decorating lavishly.
Other cultures have supplemented or replaced leather and skins with cloth: woven, knitted, or twined from various animal and vegetable fibres.
See also: weaving, knitting, and twining Although modern consumers take clothing for granted, making the fabrics that go into clothing is not easy. One sign of this is that the textile industry was the first to be mechanized during the Industrial Revolution; before the invention of the powered loom, textile production was a tedious and labor-intensive process. Therefore, methods were developed for making most efficient use of textiles.
One approach simply involves draping the cloth. Many peoples wore, and still wear, garments consisting of rectangles of cloth wrapped to fit — for example, the dhoti for men and the saree for women in the Indian subcontinent, the Scottish kilt or the Javanese sarong. The clothes may simply be tied up, as is the case of the first two garments; or pins or belts hold the garments in place, as in the case of the latter two. The precious cloth remains uncut, and people of various sizes or the same person at different sizes can wear the garment.
Another approach involves cutting and sewing the cloth, but using every bit of the cloth rectangle in constructing the clothing. The tailor may cut triangular pieces from one corner of the cloth, and then add them elsewhere as gussets. Traditional European patterns for men's shirts and women's chemises take this approach.
Modern European fashion treats cloth much more prodigally, 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 quilts.
In the thousands of years that humans have spent constructing clothing, they have created an astonishing array of styles, many of which we can reconstruct from surviving garments, photos, paintings, mosaics, etc., as well as from written descriptions. Costume history serves as a source of inspiration to current fashion designers, as well as a topic of professional interest to costumers constructing for plays, films, television, and historical reenactment.
See also: History of Western fashion and :Category:History of clothing
Future trends As technologies change, so will clothing. Many people, including futurologists have extrapolated current trends and made the following predictions:
Man-made fibers such as nylon, polyester, terylene, terycot, lycra, and Gore-Tex already account for much of the clothing market. Many more types of fibers will certainly be developed.
Clothing industry This short section requires expansion.
The clothing industry is concentrated outside of western Europe and America, and garment workers often have to labor under poor conditions. Coalitions of NGOs, designers (Katharine Hamnett, American Apparel, Veja, Quicksilver, Edun,...) and trade unions like the Clean clothes campaign (CCC) seek 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' conditions.
See also Find more information on clothing by searching Wikipedia's sister projects Dictionary definitions from Wiktionary Textbooks from Wikibooks Quotations from Wikiquote Source texts from Wikisource Images and media from Commons News stories from Wikinews Learning resources from Wikiversity Clothing terminology Nudity Costume Clothes valet Clothes hanger
External links La Couturière Parisienne German Hosiery Museum (English language) Molecular Evolution of Pediculus humanus and the Origin of Clothing by Ralf Kittler, Manfred Kayser and Mark Stoneking (.PDF file)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing"
Other Categories Under Apparel
Companies & Brands
Types
Trends & Styles
Marketing & Promotion
Women’s
Men’s
Children’s
Accessories
Specialty
Technology
Apparel Industry Reference & Resources
The main sections in this page are:
If you know of any apparel related resource which could be useful from a research, reference or news point of view, do let us know by sending a note to the web site co-ordinator whose contact email is provided at the end of this page.
Pictures
Analysis of apparel market & the apparel industry supply chain Apparel & footwear industry IT solutions – from Wipro
o T-shirts · Howard Besser’s T-Shirts Database · A T-shirt History – from Underwear to Outerwear · Going Postal’s T-shirt History · Art T-shirt Online Reference & Guide · T-shirt Designing from Virtual Art Room · Stencil Revolution Tutorials – T-shirt Printing with Stencils
· Lingerie · Yahoo! Directory for Undergarments & Lingerie · Felina – History of Lingerie · The History of Sexy Lingerie o Bras § The History of the Brassiere o Corsets § Underwear, Corset & Corset Supply Links § Yahoo Groups Directory for Corset Groups § The Secret History of the Corset & Crinoline § A Brief History of Women’s Corsets
..
..
Sports Apparel
· Baseball · Baseball Apparel Listing from Open Directory
· Cricket · Cricket Apparel Listing from Open Directory, Cricket Supplies
· Golf · Golf Apparel Directory at Yahoo, Only Golf Apparel
· Soccer & Football · Open Directory Listing for Soccer Apparel · Football Apparel Resources from About.com · How to Buy Youth Soccer Cleats - eHow
· Hockey
· Tennis · Tennis Apparel Listing in the Yahoo Directory
· Rugby · Rugby Apparel in the Yahoo Directory · Rugby Apparel Listing at the Open Directory
· Boxing
· Athletics
· Swimming · Harvard Varsity Swimming Apparel Index · Swimming Apparel Directory at Yahoo
· Gymnastics · Gymnastics Apparel from Open Directory
· Auto-racing Wear · Auto Racing Apparel in the Yahoo Directory
· Bodycoolers · Specialty Apparel – Body Coolers, Yahoo Directory
· Cheerleaders
· Climbing · Climbing Gear Resources from Gorp
· Cycling Wear · Cycling Apparel Listing at Open Directory
· Dance - Ball Room Shoes · Dance Apparel Listing at Open Directory · Dance Apparel Supplies Directory at Yahoo
· Golf – Cleats, Gloves · Golf Shoes Cleats Listing in the Yahoo Directory
· Ice Skating Wear · Open Directory Skating Clothes & Costumes Listing
· Running Wear · Athletic Wear Directory at Yahoo
· Volleyball Wear · Volleyball Apparel from About.com
· Maternity Wear · Accessories, Baby Slings – How to Shop for Maternity Wear – from eHow · Parenting – Clothes Guidance from BBC
· Sailing Apparel · Sailing Apparel in the Yahoo Directory
· Meshed Nets · Nylon Meshed Nets Manufacturers Listing from Indian Industry
· Thigh Guards
Leather Apparel
· American Leather Apparels Association · Leather Apparel in the Yahoo Directory · Leather Clothing Listing at Open Directory · Women’s Leather Apparel at Business.com · Leather Shoes Sourcing & Finished Leather Sourcing
· Leather Jackets · Top Designer Leather Jacket Styles from About.com
· Sheepskin Footwear · Sheepskin Footwear in the Yahoo Directory
Specialty Apparel
· Airbrushed Apparel · Airbrush Apparels Directory at Yahoo
· Batik – Sarongs · Introduction to Batik, Traditional Indonesian Textile · Batik in the Yahoo Directory · Batik Information from Wikipedia
· Beachwear & Swimwear · Yahoo Directory for Beachwear · Open Directory Listing for Swimwear
· Costumes - Different Sewing Patterns · Historical Costumes Shopping Directory from Dmoz
· Hawaiian Apparel · Hawaiian Apparel Listing in the Yahoo Directory
· Indian Apparel · Saree o Saree Online, The Story of the Saree · Salwar Kameez o Salwar Kameez Information from Answers.com · Lehengas & Ghagras o Description & Pictures, Ghagra Information · Choli o About Cholis from Flying Skirts
· Kilts o Kiltmen – Bravehearts in Kilts
· Kimono
· Motorcycle Apparel o Motorcycle Apparel & Gifts Resources from About.com
· Sweaters o Sweater Information from Wikipedia
· Blankets & Coats o American Indian Trade Blankets
· Fleece o Llamapaedia – Wool, Fleece Evaluation
· Blazers
· Bridal Wear o Bridal Wear in the UK Net Guide o History of Wedding Dress in Great Britain
· Capes o Patterns from the Past - Capes
· Eyewear o Eye Wear Information from i-wear.org
· Legwear
Uniform Apparel
· Fire Fighters Apparel
· Hospitality Apparel o Medical Uniforms Listing in the Yahoo Directory
· School Apparel o School Uniform Directory at Yahoo
Animal Apparel
Apparel made of
Dressing and Clothing Styles & Fashions in Various Countries
· Fashion Section at Wikipedia · FTV · Vintage Clothing – History & Information
|
|
Reference
Some interesting questions from the Billion Dollar Site
This site is operated by eSource. This site provides directory and web links resources It is intended to be useful for research and information as well as for buyers, sellers, manufacturers, traders, suppliers, producers, exporters, providers and importers. It will make an effort to provide related info and link, details on trade & market resources, data, statistics such as price, prices, demand-supply for buyer, seller, manufacturer, trader, supplier, exporter, provider and producer.
|
Other Resources from eSource India and Sourcing - Gems & Jewelry, Textiles & Apparel (Directory), Leather & Leather Products
© 2005 – 06, ApparelSource.in – The Home of Textile Apparel Online
