Clothing industry or garment industry summarizes the types of trade and industry along the production and value chain of clothing and garments, starting with the textile industry, embellishment using embroidery, via the fashion industry to apparel retailers up to trade with second-hand clothes and textile recycling. The producing sectors build upon a wealth of clothing technology some of which, like the loom, the cotton gin, and the sewing machine heralded industrialization not only of the previous textile manufacturing practices. Clothing industries are also known as allied industries, fashion industries, garment industries, or soft goods industries.
Clothing factory in Montreal, Quebec, 1941.
Nylon stocking inspection in Malmö, Sweden, in 1954.
Garment factory workers in Bangladesh, in 2013.
Clothing factory in Buryatia, Russia
Clothing is any item worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural products found in the environment, put together. The wearing of clothing is mostly restricted to human beings and is a feature of all human societies. The amount and type of clothing worn depends on gender, body type, social factors, and geographic considerations. Garments cover the body, footwear covers the feet, gloves cover the hands, while hats and headgear cover the head, and underwear covers the private parts.
Clothing in history, showing (from top) Egyptians, Ancient Greeks, Romans; Byzantines, Franks; and thirteenth through fifteenth century Europeans
A kanga, worn throughout the African Great Lakes region
Hindu lady wearing sari, one of the most ancient and popular pieces of clothing in the Indian subcontinent, painting by Raja Ravi Varma
A young woman wearing t-shirt and shorts at the warm summer in Åland