Clothing

 Smart Money is shopping resale. Whether you are looking for clothing, furniture or household appliances/accessories, you can have everything you want at a fraction of retail by shopping resale shops, thrift store or consignment boutiques. Before you curl your lip, know that there is a purpose and difference between thrift, resale and consignment.

 Thrift generally benefits a nonprofit organization. Their inventory comes from donation and they pretty much accept anything sent their way. Resale shops “purchase” their inventory and select only what they think will sell, hence the merchandise is usually more consistent in quality.  Consignment boutiques pay a commission to its hand selected suppliers who provide only the best.  In most consignment shops you would be hard pressed to know that the merchandise is “used”.

 All three are great places to find darn good deals. If you want everything nice and neat, resale and consignment are your best bet. If you prefer the “hunt”, thrift shops can be a gold mine.  Find what suits you best and frequent those places often.  Their inventories change daily and its finder’s keepers.

Kim Kovach, owner
Fair Trade Consignment
7440 W. Cactus Rd A-5
Peoria, AZ 85381

A feature of nearly all human societies is the wearing of clothing or clothes, a category encompassing a wide variety of materials that cover the body. The primary purpose of clothing is functional, as a protection from the elements. Clothes enhance safety during activity by providing a barrier between the skin and the environment. Clothing also acts as a hygenic barrier, keeping toxins away from the body and limiting the transmission of bacteria and viruses. Outside of their purely functional purpose, clothes often play an important social and cultural role. Most socieities develop norms about modesty, religious practices, behavioral appropriateness, social status, and even political affiliations in which clothes play an important role. Finally, clothing functions as a form of adornment and an expression of personal taste or style.

Throughout history clothes have been made of materials ranging from natural grasses and furs to elaborate and exotic synthetic compounds. Some recent scientific research involving lice estimates that humans have been wearing clothing for as long as 650,000 years.

Articles carried rather than worn (such as purses, canes, and umbrellas) are normally considered fashion accessories rather than clothing, but hats and small dress sweaters can be called either clothing or accessories. Jewelry and eyeglasses are usually considered as accessories as well, even though in common speech these particular items are described as being worn rather than carried.

One of the primary purposes of clothing is to keep the wearer warm or in some cases cool. In hot climates this function is minimal, while in very cold climates it is more important. Shelter usually reduces the functional need for clothing. For example, coats, hats, gloves, shoes, socks, and other superficial layers would normally be removed when entering or once inside a warm home, particularly if one is residing or sleeping there. Similarly, clothing have seasonal and regional aspects, so that thinner materials and fewer layers of clothing are generally worn in warmer seasons and regions than in colder ones.

Clothing at times is worn as protection from specific environmental hazards, such as insects, noxious chemicals, weapons, and contact with abrasive substances. Clothing can protect against many things that might injure the uncovered human body. Clothes act as protection from the elements, including rain, snow and wind and other weather conditions, even from the sun. Clothes also reduce the level of risk during an activity, such as work or sport. Conversely, clothing may protect the environment from the clothing wearer, as for example wearing of medical scrubs.

Humans have shown extreme inventiveness in devising clothing solutions to environmental hazards. Some examples include: space suits, air conditioned clothing, armor, diving suits, swimsuits, bee-keeper gear, motorcycle leathers, high-visibility clothing, and other pieces of protective clothing. Meanwhile, the distinction between clothing and protective equipment is not always clear-cut, since clothes designed to be fashionable will often have some protective value and clothes which are designed to be functional will often consider fashion in their design.

In Western societies, skirts, dresses and high-heeled shoes are usually seen as women's clothing, while neckties are usually seen as men's clothing. Trousers were once seen as exclusively male clothing, but are nowadays worn by both sexes. Male clothes are often more practical (that is, they can function well under a wide variety of situations), but a wider range of clothing styles is available for females. Males are typically allowed to bare their chests in a greater variety of public places. It is generally acceptable for a woman to wear traditionally male clothing, while the converse is unusual.

A skirt is a tube- or cone-shaped garment that hangs from the waist and covers all or part of the legs.

In European culture, skirts are usually considered women's clothing. However, there are exceptions. The kilt is a traditional men's garment in Scotland, and some fashion designers, such as Jean-Paul Gaultier, have shown men's skirts.

At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of material (such as pareos), but most skirts are fitted to the body at the waist and fuller below, with the fullness introduced by means of dart, gores, pleats, or panels. Modern skirts are usually made of light to mid-weight fabrics, such as denim, jersey, worsted, or poplin. Skirts of thin or clingy fabrics are often worn with slips to make the material of the skirt drape better and for modesty.

The hemline of skirts can be as high as the upper thigh or as low as the ground, depending on the whims of fashion and the modesty or personal taste of the wearer.