History & Culture of Clothing
The first clothes were made from natural elements: animal skin, fur, grass, leaves, bone, and shells. Garments were often draped or tied; however, simple needles made out of animal bone provide evidence of sewn leather and fur garments from at least 30,000 years ago.
Scientists are still debating when people started wearing clothes. 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 suggestsclothing originated around 170,000 years ago.
The study of the history of clothing and textiles traces the development, use, and availability of clothing and textiles over human history. … Anthropologists believe that animal skins and vegetation were adapted into coverings as protection from cold, heat and rain, especially as humans migrated to new climates.
In Ancient India, cotton was used as material for clothing from 5000 BC. … They also wore tunics, robes, short-sleeved shirts, pleated skirts. Women also wore draped dresses made of white or unbleached fabric. Cretanclothes were made from wool and flax from which loincloths were made.
The world now consumes about 80 billion new pieces of clothing every year.
