Apparel is used to describe the clothes worn by people. There are many different types of apparel, worn to suit different  occasions and places. Many factors can therefore affect the type of clothes one wears.

The four factors are the climate of the country, its customs and traditions, the people's religion and the different status of a certain group of people in a country.

To explore the further, click on the following factors:
1) Climate
2) Customs and traditions
3) Religion
4) Status

People wear clothes for three basic purposes - protection, communication and decoration. But people of different regions of the world often need different kinds of protection, especially in different climates (see Climates).

People may also wear clothes that have a special meaning not understood by people of other countries. For example, many Muslim women wear veils in public because their religion requires them to hide their hair from strangers (see Religion). In addition, people have different ideas about what makes clothing attractive.

People in different countries may have different materials available for making clothes. For example, the people of France can wear clothes made from a much greater variety of materials than can the people in Indonesia. French stores sell garments made not only of such natural materials like cotton, fur, silk, leather and wool, but also of artificially made fibers like nylon and polyester. Most people in Indonesia can only choose clothing made of cotton.

Ways of making clothes vary from country to country. Highly industrialized countries like Canada, Japan, Russia, Germany and the United States use many kinds of machines and many processes to make clothes. For example, textile manufacturers in those countries can rapidly produce cotton cloth woven many different ways. They can also dye the cloth and rapidly sew it into different kinds of clothes.

People living in India may have only hand-powered equipment for weaving cloth. They need much more time than a machine to make cloth and they will also have to sew clothes by hand.

Clothing customs (see Customs) affect styles. Their customs develop in a country as generation after generation of children learn what clothes to wear. For example, a Mexican farmer and Chinese farmer may wear the same clothes made from similar materials and by the same basic methods.

They may also need clothes for the same purposes. But the custom in Mexico is to wear straw hats with brims that tilt up. In China, custom calls for straw hats with brims that slant down.

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