Clothing

(See also List of types of clothing and Clothing terminology)

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 re-furbished, will smell, itch, look scruffy, and lose functionality (as when buttons fall off and zippers fail).

Related Topics:
Button - Zipper

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In some cases, people simply wear an item of clothing until it falls apart. Cleaning leather presents difficulties; one cannot wash barkcloth (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.

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But most clothing consists of cloth, and most cloth can be laundered and mended (patching, darning) (but compare felt).

Related Topics:
Laundered - Patching - Darning - Felt

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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).

Related Topics:
Washing machine - Dry cleaning - Solvent

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In past times, mending was an art. A meticulous tailor or seamstress could mend rips with thread ravelled from hems and seam edges, so skillfuly 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.

Related Topics:
Mending - Tailor - Seamstress - Hem - Zipper - Button

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