Jeans Label Bettina Liano In Financial Strife

Corporate administrator Ferrier Hodgson has taken control of the company and is undertaking an urgent assessment of its financial position.

Administrator John Lindholm wrote in a letter to creditors sent last Friday that he and fellow administrator Brendan Richards now controlled the 28-year-old company's operations.

"The company's director has been requested to prepare a statement about the company's business, property, affairs and financial circumstances," Mr Lindholm wrote.

The iconic Australian mens clothing store brand currently employs 90 staff throughout Australia. It has seven boutiques in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. Bettina Liano clothing store are also distributed throughout the rest of Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia by over 120 stockists.

The brand became well-known for its sharp tailoring and ultra-skinny jeans, with a pair of their classic Ace indigo jeans, famous for its slimming ability, being a must-have item for all fashion-conscious women.

Celebrities like Lady Gaga, Sophie Monk, Elle McPherson and Liz Hurley have donned the brand, and even Prime Minister Julia Gillard was recently photographed wearing a white blazer by Bettina Liano.

Ferrier Hodgson's Suthesh Jeyakandan said it was not clear whether there would be store closures or job losses.

"We are going through the financials of each store," he said.

However according to the circular, while it is "business as usual", no refunds or gift vouchers can be issued.

A circular to employees also sent out last Friday said as the investigation proceeds their employment would remain the same.

"You will no doubt have concerns about your future and because my work is still at an early stage, it is too early to determine what the future might be," Mr Lindholm said.

Ferrier Hodgson said there would be a special creditors' meeting on July 20.

Bettina Liano is yet to make comment, however its Twitter account said their Spring/Summer collection would launch on Wednesday.

How Can Jeans Cost $300?

It is an enduring mystery to anyone reared on $50 Levi's: How can a pair of womens clothing store cost as much as the Phantom, the new look from True Religion that will be priced as high as $375?

The answer can be found here in Los Angeles, in the global capital of so-called premium denim—one of the few areas of fashion that remains largely American-made. An industrial zone here near the city's center is home to True Religion, J Brand, Seven For All Mankind and other pricey denim brands that have elevated what was once workman's togs to a luxury industry all its own.

This is a rarefied segment of the denim business. Americans bought $13.8 billion of men's and women's mens clothing store in the year ended April 30, according to market-research firm NPD Group. But only about 1% of clothing jeans sold in the U.S. over that year cost more than $50.

The prices of "premium" jeans—industry jargon for luxury-priced denim—appear to be edging slightly upward after a downturn following the financial crisis. Right now, J Brand's Maria women's accessories clothing store can sell for $226. Men's Aidan clothing store from Seven For All Mankind cost $225. Prices for Gucci jeans range from $495 to $665. Premium jeans are made in the U.S., which is a big part of their allure.

Gloria Vanderbilt and Calvin Klein introduced the world to so-called designer clothing jeans decades ago, and what began as a relatively small trend endured. Jeans are worn everywhere from the office to the opera these days. But there is a less-than-subtle caste system for denim: A pair of "Sevens," as some call jeans from Seven For All Mankind, conveys a statement about one's fashion savoir faire (and income) that less expensive brands don't.

It costs about $50 to make a pair of Super T jeans, True Religion's best-selling style with oversized white stitching, estimates founder, chairman and chief executive, Jeff Lubell. The wholesale price is $152, he says, and the average retail price is $335. Of course, plenty of these jeans sell at substantially less than full price.

True Religion's top-selling jeans, the Super T, cost about $50 to make and sell wholesale to retailers for $152 a pair. The average price in stores is $335. They feature white stitching on the back pocket and around the waistband.

Hunting for The Perfect Pair of Jeans can be an arduous challenge. With a few clicks, WSJ reporter Alina Dizik tries online made-to-measure jean shopping via sites IndiDenim, Thiumbler and MakeYourOwnJeans.

The Phantom was first shown to retailers in January, and True Religion is building its fall marketing campaign around the jean. With less prominent logos and detailing, it resonates with the current antilogo trend in fashion, but its details are designed to appeal to real "jeaners," as Mr. Lubell refers to premium-denim lovers. It has a small American flag hand-embroidered on the waistband. A subtle logo on the pocket is like a ghost, or phantom, of the brassy original logo.

"The Phantom is my Ferrari 458 Italia," says Mr. Lubell. "It's the newest, hottest baby of mine."

As with all fashion, a big part of the price of luxury denim is in the multiple profit margins taken at each level of production. Most any piece of clothing contains parts and services from potentially dozens of providers: from fabric and button makers, to designers and seamstresses, and wholesalers and sales agents. After all this, designers and retailers say the typical retail markup on all fashion items, including jeans, ranges from 2.2 to 2.6 times cost.

In the luxury business, those mark-ups cover huge marketing budgets (someone has to pay for giant billboards and ads in fashion magazines) as well as the costs of running stores, headquarters, shipping, and other overhead.

The profit margins on premium jeans can be substantial. Mr. Geliebter says his gross profit margin for private-label jeans, which he makes for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Sears Holdings Corp. and other retailers, are less than 20%, whereas the margins for his own premium lines are 40%-to-50%.

It seemed a few years ago that the high end of the denim business was doomed, with the financial crisis killing many consumers' appetites for expensive jeans. Premium-denim makers cut back on styling and details, and cut prices in many cases to under $200. Manufacturers hit a price floor at around $150, mainly because premium denim is manufactured primarily in the U.S., which can't compete China and other nations with low labor costs.

Beyond the rise, or waistband height, and leg silhouette—bootleg, skinny, or cigarette—the details that make jeans brands stand out are often on the pockets. J Brand's pockets are unadorned, while True Religion is known for its highly stylized pockets with swirly embroidery.

Jeans brands also try to stand out from season to season by using patented materials, such as rivets and stitching, and by using special washes and distressing methods. These might involve dying, pressing, and even using sandpaper and drills on the raw jeans. These methods can be particularly expensive when done in the U.S., where factories must meet more stringent environmental and labor standards than in many low-cost nations.

Most premium jeans' cotton denim fabric comes from the primary maker of high-end denim fabric used in the U.S. and Europe: Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Denim, a unit of the International Textile Group. There, in a plant known as White Oak, shuttle looms dating from the 1950s weave the denim fabric that winds up in many premium denim brands, including J Brand. The looms are older, narrower, and slower than highly efficient modern looms, but they weave fabric with slight irregularities known as slubs, which impart a texture and character that modern looms lack.

Delores Sides, a spokeswoman for Cone Denim, says most of the weavers employed there have at least 20 years of experience, and one woman has being working at the mill for 55 years. They are employed full time and are paid benefits such as health care, she says.

The Cone fabrics are shipped by truck or train to Los Angeles, where denim brands cut and sew them to their designs. Each part and bit of labor may ultimately be marked up five times or more before the pants reach retail stores. So the $23.30 spent for a Los Angeles-based seamstress to sew a pair of Super Ts will cost the consumer more than $100 at full price. Other notable costs include roughly $10 worth of fabric (1.8 yards a pair, on average), 44 cents for pocket linings, 37 cents for a zipper, and $2 for the embroidery on a back pocket. Washes for coloring and fading may be done in Los Angeles or, sometimes, at mills in Mexico.

To be produced domestically, jeans have to be priced at "$200-plus," says Shelda Hartwell-Hale, a vice president at Directives West, an L.A.-based division of fashion consulting firm Doneger Group.

Jeans makers say that manufacturing in the U.S., in addition to appealing to consumers, allows them to move quickly. When Jeff Rudes, founder and chief executive of J Brand, saw designer Jil Sander's electric colors in New York's Jeffrey boutique earlier this year, he asked his designers to come up with a hot pink and an emerald green color for jeans. Five days later, the first, small run of jeans were shipping into Barneys New York. Mr. Rudes says it typically takes his company six to eight weeks to make a pair of jeans in the U.S., compared with three to six months in China.

True Religion is one of the industry's giants, making 4 million units of clothing a year. He estimates that his $300 jeans could sell for $40 if he manufactured in China.

Still, Mr. Lubell has caved when it comes to jackets, the cutting and styling of which is more complex than pants. He makes them in Mexico, where costs are higher than in Asia, but less than in the U.S. The jackets retail for about $375. "If I made them here," he says, "they would be about $600."

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What is this clothing?

A feature of most humans societies is the wearing of clothing, 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 also enhance safety during hazardous activities such as hiking and cooking, by providing a barrier between the skin and the environment. Further, clothes provide a hygienic barrier, keeping toxins away from the body and limiting the transmission of germs.
Clothing performs a range of social and cultural functions, such as individual, occupational and sexual differentiation, and social status. A uniform, for example, may identify civil authority figures, such as police and military personnel, or it may identify team, group or political affiliations. In many societies, norms about clothing reflect standards of modesty, religion, gender, and social status. Clothing may also function as a form of adornment and an expression of personal taste or style.
Throughout history, many materials have been used for clothes. Materials have ranged from leather and furs, to woven materials, to elaborate and exotic natural and synthetic fabrics. Recent scientific research estimates that humans have been wearing clothing for as long as 650,000 years. Others claim that clothing probably did not originate until the Neolithic Age (the "New Stone Age").
Articles carried rather than worn (such as purses), worn on a single part of the body and easily removed (scarves), worn purely for adornment (jewelry), or those that serve a function other than protection (eyeglasses), are normally considered accessories rather than clothing.

Functions

A baby wearing many items of winter clothing: headband, cap, fur-lined coat, shawl and sweater

It can be said that there are five primary factors in clothing comfort, "identifiable as the '4 Fs of Comfort' (1) fashion; (2) feel; (3) fit; and (4) function. One of the primary purposes of clothing is to keep the wearer comfortable. In hot climates, clothing provides protection from sunburn or wind damage, while in cold climates its thermal insulation properties are generally more important. Shelter usually reduces the functional need for clothing. For example, coats, hats, gloves, shoes, socks, and other superficial layers are normally removed when entering a warm home, particularly if one is residing or sleeping there. Similarly, clothing has 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 protects people 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, as well as from the sun. Clothes also reduce the level of risk during activity, such as work or sport. Clothing at times is worn as protection from specific environmental hazards, such as insects, noxious chemicals, weapons, and contact with abrasive substances. Conversely, clothing may protect the environment from the clothing wearer, as with doctors wearing 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 often have protective value and clothes designed for functional often consider fashion in their design.

Scholarship

Although dissertations on clothing and its functionality are found from the 1800s as colonising countries dealt with new environments, concerted scientific research into psycho-social, physiological and other functions of clothing (e.g. protective, cartage) occurred in the first half of the 20th century, with publications such as Flugel's Psychology of Clothes in 1930, and Newburgh's seminal Physiology of Heat Regulation and The Science of Clothing in 1949. By 1968, the field of environmental physiology had advanced and expanded significantly, but the science of clothing in relation to environmental physiology had changed little. While considerable research has since occurred and the knowledge-base has grown significantly, the main concepts remain unchanged, and indeed Newburgh's book continues to be cited by contemporary authors, including those attempting to develop thermoregulatory models of clothing development.

Cultural aspects

Gender differentiation

Former US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice and Turkish President Abdullah Gül both wearing Western-style business suits.

In most cultures, gender differentiation of clothing is considered appropriate for men and women. The differences are in styles, colors and fabrics.
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 genders. 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 are 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.
In some cultures, sumptuary laws regulate what men and women are required to wear. Islam requires women to wear more modest forms of attire, usually hijab. What qualifies as "modest" varies in different Muslim societies; however, women are usually required to cover more of their bodies than men are. Articles of clothing worn by Muslim women for purposes of modesty range from the headscarf to the burqa.
Men may sometimes choose to wear men's skirts such as togas or kilts, especially on ceremonial occasions. Such garments were (in previous times) often worn as normal daily clothing by men. Compared to men's clothing, women's clothing tends to be more attractive, often intended to be looked at by men. In modern industrialized nations, women are more likely to wear makeup, jewelry, and colorful clothing, while in very traditional cultures women are protected from men's gazes by modest dress.

 Social status

Alim Khan's bemedaled robe sends a social message about his wealth, status, and power

In some societies, clothing may be used to indicate rank or status. In ancient Rome, for example, only senators were permitted to wear garments dyed with Tyrian purple. In traditional Hawaiian society only high-ranking chiefs could wear feather cloaks and palaoa or carved whale teeth. Under the Travancore Kingdom of Kerala, (India), lower caste women had to pay a tax for the right to cover their upper body. In China, before the establishment of the republic, only the emperor could wear yellow. History provides many examples of elaborate sumptuary laws that regulated what people could wear. In societies without such laws, which includes most modern societies, social status is instead signaled by the purchase of rare or luxury items that are limited by cost to those with wealth or status. In addition, peer pressure influences clothing choice.

Religion

See also: Category:Religious vesture

Arabs usually wear white robes and a cap during prayers

Religious clothing might be considered a special case of occupational clothing. Sometimes it is worn only during the performance of religious ceremonies. However, it may also be worn everyday as a marker for special religious status.
For example, Jains wear unstitched cloth pieces when performing religious ceremonies. The unstitched cloth signifies unified and complete devotion to the task at hand, with no digression. Sikhs wear a turban as it is a part of their religion.
The cleanliness of religious dresses in Eastern Religions like Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism is of paramount importance, since it indicates purity.
Clothing figures prominently in the Bible where it appears in numerous contexts, the more prominent ones being: the story of Adam and Eve, Joseph's cloak, Judah and Tamar, Mordecai and Esther. Furthermore the priests officiating in the Temple had very specific garments, the lack of which made one liable to death.
Jewish ritual also requires rending of one's upper garment as a sign of mourning. This practice is found in the Bible when Jacob hears of the apparent death of his son Joseph.

Origin and history

Main article: History of clothing

See also: History of Western fashion and Category:History of clothing

First recorded use

According to archaeologists and anthropologists, the earliest clothing likely consisted of fur, leather, leaves, or grass that were draped, wrapped, or tied around the body. Knowledge of such clothing remains inferential, since clothing materials deteriorate quickly compared to stone, bone, shell and metal artifacts. Archeologists have identified very early sewing needles of bone and ivory from about 30,000 BC, found near Kostenki, Russia in 1988. Dyed flax fibers that could have been used in clothing have been found in a prehistoric cave in the Republic of Georgia that date back to 36,000 BP.
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 suggests clothing originated quite recently, around 107,000 years ago. Body lice is an indicator of clothes-wearing, since most humans have sparse body hair, and lice thus require human clothing to survive. Their research suggests the invention of clothing may have coincided with the northward migration of modern Homo sapiens away from the warm climate of Africa, thought to have begun between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. However, a second group of researchers using similar genetic methods estimate that clothing originated around 540,000 years ago (Reed et al. 2004. PLoS Biology 2(11): e340). For now, the date of the origin of clothing remains unresolved.

Making clothing

See also: Weaving, Knitting, and Twining

Some human cultures, such as the various people of the Arctic Circle, make their clothing entirely of prepared and decorated furs and skins. Other cultures have supplemented or replaced leather and skins with cloth: woven, knitted, or twined from various animal and vegetable fibers.
Although modern consumers may take the production of clothing for granted, making fabric by hand is a tedious and labor intensive process. That the textile industry was the first to be mechanized — with the powered loom — during the Industrial Revolution attests to this fact.
Different cultures have evolved various ways of creating clothes out of cloth. One approach simply involves draping the cloth. Many people wore, and still wear, garments consisting of rectangles of cloth wrapped to fit — for example, the dhoti for men and the sari for women in the Indian subcontinent, the Scottish kilt or the Javanese sarong. The clothes may simply be tied up, as is the case of the first two garments; or pins or belts hold the garments in place, as in the case of the latter two. The precious cloth remains uncut, and people of various sizes or the same person at different sizes can wear the garment.
Another approach involves cutting and sewing the cloth, but using every bit of the cloth rectangle in constructing the clothing. The tailor may cut triangular pieces from one corner of the cloth, and then add them elsewhere as gussets. Traditional European patterns for men's shirts and women's chemises take this approach.
Modern European fashion treats cloth much less conservatively, typically cutting in such a way as to leave various odd-shaped cloth remnants. Industrial sewing operations sell these as waste; home sewers may turn them into quilts.
In the thousands of years that humans have spent constructing clothing, they have created an astonishing array of styles, many of which have been reconstructed from surviving garments, photos,paintings, mosaics, etc., as well as from written descriptions. Costume history serves as a source of inspiration to current fashion designers, as well as a topic of professional interest to costumers constructing for plays, films, television, and historical reenactment.

Contemporary clothing

A rave style, 2007

This section requires expansion.

Spread of western styles

By the early years of the 21st century, western clothing styles had, to some extent, become international styles. This process began hundreds of years earlier, during the periods of European colonialism. The process of cultural dissemination has perpetuated over the centuries as Western media corporations have penetrated markets throughout the world, spreading Western culture and styles. Fast fashion clothing has also become a global phenomenon. These garments are less expensive, mass-produced Western clothing. Donated used clothing from Western countries are also delivered to people in poor countries by charity organizations.

Ethnic and cultural heritage

People may wear ethnic or national dress on special occasions or in certain roles or occupations. For example, most Korean men and women have adopted Western-style dress for daily wear, but still wear traditional hanboks on special occasions, like weddings and cultural holidays. Items of Western dress may also appear worn or accessorized in distinctive, non-Western ways. A Tongan man may combine a used T-shirt with a Tongan wrapped skirt, or tupenu.

Sport and activity

Most sports and physical activities are practiced wearing special clothing, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Common sportswear garments include short pants, T-shirts, tennis shirts, tracksuits, and trainers. Specialized garments include wet suits (for swimming, diving or surfing), salopettes (for skiing) and leotards (for gymnastics). Also, spandex materials are often used as base layers to soak up sweat. Spandex is also preferable for active sports that require form fitting garments, such as wrestling, track & field, dance, gymnastics and swimming.

Fashion

Main article: Fashion

There exists a diverse range of styles in fashion, varying by geography, exposure to modern media, economic conditions, and ranging from expensive haute couture to traditional garb, to thrift store grunge.

Future trends

The world of clothing is always changing, as new cultural influences meet technological innovations. Researchers in scientific labs have been developing prototypes for fabrics that can serve functional purposes well beyond their traditional roles, for example, clothes that can automatically adjust their temperature, repel bullets, project images, and generate electricity. Some practical advances already available to consumers are bullet-resistant garments made with kevlar and stain-resistant fabrics that are coated with chemical mixtures that reduce the absorption of liquids.

Political issues

Working conditions

This section requires expansion.

Though mechanization transformed most aspects of human industry by the mid 20th century, garment workers have continued to labor under challenging conditions that demand repetitive manual labor. Mass-produced clothing is often made in what are considered by some to be sweatshops, typified by long work hours, lack of benefits, and lack of worker representation. While most examples of such conditions are found in developing countries, clothes made in industrialized nations may also be manufactured similarly, often staffed by undocumented immigrants.
Coalitions of NGOs, designers (Katharine Hamnett, American Apparel, Veja, Quiksilver, eVocal, Edun,...) and campaign groups like the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) have sought to improve these conditions as much as possible by sponsoring awareness-raising events, which draw the attention of both the media and the general public to the workers.
Outsourcing production to low wage countries like Bangladesh, China, India and Sri Lanka became possible when the Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA) was abolished. The MFA, which placed quotas on textiles imports, was deemed a protectionist measure. Globalization is often quoted as the single most contributing factor to the poor working conditions of garment workers. Although many countries recognize treaties like the International Labor Organization, which attempt to set standards for worker safety and rights, many countries have made exceptions to certain parts of the treaties or failed to thoroughly enforce them. India for example has not ratified sections 87 and 92 of the treaty.
Despite the strong reactions that "sweatshops" evoked among critics of globalization, the production of textiles has functioned as a consistent industry for developing nations providing work and wages, whether construed as exploitative or not, to thousands of people.

Fur

Main article: Fur clothing

The use of animal fur in clothing dates to prehistoric times. It is currently associated in developed countries with expensive, designer clothing, although fur is still used by indigenous people in arctic zones and higher elevations for its warmth and protection. Once uncontroversial, it has recently been the focus of campaigns on the grounds that campaigners consider it cruel and unnecessary. PETA, along with other animal rights and animal liberation groups have called attention to fur farming and other practices they consider cruel.

Life cycle

Clothing maintenance

Clothing suffers assault both from within and without. The human body sheds skin cells and body oils, and exudes sweat, urine, and feces. From the outside, sun damage, moisture, abrasion and dirt assault garments. Fleas and lice can hide in seams. Worn clothing, if not cleaned and refurbished, itches, looks scruffy, and loses functionality (as when buttons fall off, seams come undone, fabrics thin or tear, and zippers fail).
In some cases, people wear an item of clothing until it falls apart. Cleaning leather presents difficulties, and bark cloth (tapa) cannot be washed without dissolving it. Owners may patch tears and rips, and brush off surface dirt, but old leather and bark clothing always look old.
But most clothing consists of cloth, and most cloth can be laundered and mended (patching, darning, but compare felt).

Laundry, ironing, storage

Humans have developed many specialized methods for laundering, ranging from early methods of pounding clothes against rocks in running streams, to the latest in electronic washing machines and dry cleaning (dissolving dirt in solvents other than water). Hot water washing (boiling), chemical cleaning and ironing are all traditional methods of sterilizing fabrics for hygiene purposes.
Many kinds of clothing are designed to be ironed before they are worn to remove wrinkles. Most modern formal and semi-formal clothing is in this category (for example, dress shirts and suits). Ironed clothes are believed to look clean, fresh, and neat. Much contemporary casual clothing is made of knit materials that do not readily wrinkle, and do not require ironing. Some clothing is permanent press, having been treated with a coating (such as polytetrafluoroethylene) that suppresses wrinkles and creates a smooth appearance without ironing.
Once clothes have been laundered and possibly ironed, they are usually hung on clothes hangers or folded, to keep them fresh until they are worn. Clothes are folded to allow them to be stored compactly, to prevent creasing, to preserve creases or to present them in a more pleasing manner, for instance when they are put on sale in stores.
Many kinds of clothes are folded before they are put in suitcases as preparation for travel. Other clothes, such as suits, may be hung up in special garment bags, or rolled rather than folded. Many people use their clothing as packing material around fragile items that might otherwise break in transit.

Mending

In past times, mending was an art. A meticulous tailor or seamstress could mend rips with thread raveled from hems and seam edges so skillfully that the tear 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 labor required to repair it. Many people buy a new piece of clothing rather than spend time mending. The thrifty still replace zippers and buttons and sew up ripped hems.

Recycling

Used, unwearable clothing was once used for quilts, rags, rugs, bandages, and many other household uses. It could also be recycled into paper. Today, used clothing is usually thrown out or donated to charity. It is also sold to consignment shops, dress agencies and flea markets and in online auctions.
There are many concerns about the life cycle of synthetics, which come primarily from petrochemicals. Unlike natural fibers, their source is not renewable (in less than millions of years) and they are not biodegradable.

More Information about Pants

Terminology

North America, Australia and New Zealand use pants as the general category term (though Ambrose Bierce found the word "vulgar exceedingly" and recommended trousers), whereas trousers (sometimes slacks in Australia, the United States and, due to a recent resurgence, the United Kingdom) refers, often more formally, to tailored garments with a waistband and (typically) belt-loops and a fly-front. For instance, informal elastic-waist knitted garments would be called slacks.
North Americans call undergarments underwear, underpants, or panties (the last are women's garments specifically) to distinguish them from other pants that are worn on the outside. The term drawers normally refers to undergarments, but in some dialects, may be found as a synonym for "breeches", that is, trousers. In these dialects, the term underdrawers is used for undergarments. In Australia, men's undergarments are called underwear, underpants, undies, under-dacks, dacks or jocks.
Most speakers in the United Kingdom use trousers or slacks as the general category term; pants usually refers to underwear but is used, interchangably with trousers, in some Northern dialects. In some parts of Scotland, trousers are known as trews, from which the word Trousers itself comes. whilst in Scots, trousers are known as breeks.
Various people in the fashion industry use the word pant instead of pants. This is nonstandard usage. The word "pants" is a plurale tantum, always in plural form—much like the words "scissors" and "tongs".

History

Prehistory

There is some evidence, from figurative art, of trousers being worn in the Upper Paleolithic. An example are the figurines found at the Siberian sites of Mal'ta and Buret'.

Antiquity

Scythian archer. Interior from an Ancient Greek Attic red-figure plate, ca. 520-500 BC, from Vulci. British Museum, London.

Germanic trousers of the 4th century found in the Thorsberg moor, Germany

Trousers first enter recorded history in the 6th century BCE, with the appearance of horse-riding Iranian peoples in Greek ethnography. At this time, not only the Persians, but also allied Central Asian peoples such as the Bactrians, Armenians, and the Tigraxauda Scythians are known to have worn them. Trousers are believed to have been worn by both sexes among these early users.
The ancient Greeks used the term "ἀναξυρίδες" (anaxyrides) for the trousers worn by eastern nations and "σαράβαρα" (sarabara) for the loose trousers worn by the Scythians. However, they did not wear trousers since they thought them ridiculous, using the word "θύλακες" (thulakes), pl. of "θύλακος" (thulakos), "sack", as a slang term for the loose trousers of Persians and other orientals.
Republican Rome viewed the draped clothing of Egypt, Babylon, Greece, and Minoan (Crete) culture as an emblem of civilization and disdained trousers as the mark of barbarians. As the Empire expanded beyond the Mediterranean basin, however, the greater warmth provided by trousers led to their adoption. Two types of trousers eventually saw widespread use in Rome; the Feminalia, which fit snugly and usually fell to knee of mid-calf length, and the Braccae, a loose fitting trouser which was closed at the ankles. Both garments were adopted originally from the dress of theCelts of Europe, although later familiarity with the Persian Teutons increased acceptance. Feminalia and Braccae both began use as military garments, spreading to civilian dress later and were eventually made in a variety of materials including leather, wool, cotton and silk.

Medieval Europe

Trousers of various design were worn throughout the Middles Ages in Europe, especially by males. Loose fitting trousers were worn in Byzantium under long tunics, and were worn by many of the barbarian tribes that migrated through Europe in the Early Middle Ages, as evidenced by both artistic sources and the such relics as the Fourth Century costumes recovered from the Thorsberg bog.(See illustration.) Trousers in this period, generally called brais, varied in length and were often closed at the cuff or even have attached feet covering, although open legged pants also seen.
By the Eighth Century there is evidence of the wearing in Europe of two layers of trousers, especially among upper class males. This under layer is today referred to by costume historians as “drawers,” although that usage did not emerge until the late 16th Century. Over the drawers were worn trousers of wool or linen, which in the 10th Century began to be referred to as breeches in many places. Tightness of fit and length of leg varied by period, class, and geography. (Open legged trousers can be seen on the Norman soldiers of the Bayeux Tapestry.)
Although Charlemagne (742-814) is recorded to have habitually worn his trousers, donning the Byzantine tunic only for ceremonial occasions, the influence of the Roman past and the example of Byzantium led to the increasing use of long tunics by men, hiding most of the trousers from view and eventually rendering it an undergarment for many. As undergarments, these trousers became briefer or longer as the length of the various medieval outer-garments changed and were met by, and usually attached to another garment variously called hose or stockings.
In the 14th Century it became common among the men of the noble and knightly classes to connect the hose directly to their pourpoints (the padded under jacket worn with armored breastplates that would later evolve into the doublet) rather than to their drawers. In the 15th Century, rising hemlines led to ever briefer drawers until they were dispensed with altogether by the most fashionable elites who joined their skin tight hose back into trousers. These trousers, which we would today call tights but which were still called hose or sometimes joined hose at the time, emerged late in the 15th Century and were conspicuous by their open crotch which was covered by an independently fastening front panel, the codpiece. The exposure of the hose to the waist was consistent with 15th Century trends which also brought pourpoint/doublet and the shirt, previous undergarments, into view, but the most revealing of these fashions were only ever adopted at court and not by the general population.
Men's clothes in Hungary in the 15th century consisted of a shirt and trousers as underwear, and a dolman worn over them, as well as a short fur-lined or sheepskin coat. Hungarians generally wore simple trousers, only their colour being unusual; the dolman covered the greater part of the trousers.

Modern Europe

Around the turn of the turn of the 16th century it became convention to separate hose into two pieces, one from the waist to the crotch which fastened around the top of the legs, called Trunk Hose, and the other running beneath it to the foot. The trunk hose soon reach down the thigh to fasten below the knee and were now usually called "breeches" to distinguish them from the lower leg coverings still called hose or, sometimes stockings. By the end of the 16th century, the codpiece had also been incorporated into breeches which featured a fly or fall front opening.
During the French Revolution, the male citizens of France adopted a working-class costume including ankle-length trousers, or pantaloons, (from a Commedia dell'Arte character named Pantalone) in place of the aristocratic knee-breeches. The new garment of the revolutionaries differed from that of the ancien regime upper classes in three ways: It was loose where the style for breeches had most recently been form-fitting, it was ankle length where breeches had generally been knee-length for more than two centuries, and they were open at the bottom while breeches were fastened. This style was introduced to England in the early 19th century, possibly by Beau Brummell, and by mid-century had supplanted breeches as fashionable street wear. At this point, even knee length pants adopted the open bottoms of trousers (See Shorts) and were worn by young boys, for sports, and in tropical climates. Breeches proper survived into the 20th century as Court Dress, and also in baggy mid-calf (or three-quarter length) version known as plus-fours or knickers worn for active sports and by young school-boys. Types of breeches are still worn today by baseball and American football players.
Sailors may have played a role in the worldwide dissemination of trousers as a fashion. In the 17th and 18th centuries, sailors wore baggy trousers known as galligaskins. Sailors also pioneered the wearing of jeans, trousers made of denim. These became more popular in the late 19th century in the American West because of their ruggedness and durability.

Women's trousers

Main article: Women wearing pants

Amazon wearing trousers and carrying a shield with an attached patterned cloth and a quiver. Ancient Greek Attic white-ground alabastron, ca. 470 BC, British Museum, London

Wigan pit brow girl.

Although women began wearing men's trousers for outdoor work a hundred years earlier, it was taboo for women to wear trousers as they were a symbol of male power and a way to separate the sexes. It wasn't until the 1970s, that trousers became acceptable for women to wear.
Starting around the mid 19th Century, Wigan pit brow girls scandalized Victorian society by wearing trousers for their work at the local coal mines. They wore skirts over their trousers and rolled them up to their waist to keep them out of the way. Although pit brow lasses worked above-ground at the pit-head, their task of sorting and shovelling coal involved hard manual labour, so wearing the usual long skirts of the time would have greatly hindered their movements.
Women working the ranches of the 19th century American West also wore trousers for riding. In the early 20th century aviatrices and other working women often wore trousers. Frequent photographs from the 1930s of actresses Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn in trousers helped make trousers acceptable for women. During World War II, women working in factories and doing other forms of "men's work" on war service wore trousers when the work demanded it. In the post-war era, trousers became acceptable casual wear for gardening, the beach, and other leisurely pursuits.
In Britain during the Second World War, because of the rationing of clothing, many women took to wearing their husbands' civilian clothes, including their trousers, to work while their husbands were away from home serving in the armed forces. This was partly because they were seen as practical garments of workwear and partly to allow women to keep their clothing allowance for other uses. As this practice of wearing trousers became more widespread and as the men's clothing wore out, replacements were needed. By the summer of 1944, it was reported that sales of women's trousers were five times more than they had been in the previous year.
In the 1960s, André Courrèges introduced long trousers for women as a fashion item, leading to the era of the pantsuit and designer jeans and the gradual eroding of social prohibitions against girls and women wearing trousers in schools, the workplace and in fine restaurants.

Parts of trousers

Pleats

Pleats just below the waistband on the front typify many styles of formal and casual trousers, including suit trousers and khakis. There may be one, two, three, or no pleats, which may face either direction. When the pleats open towards the pockets they are called reverse pleats (typical of corduroy trousers) and when they open toward the zipper, they are known as forward pleats.

Cuffs

Most trouser-makers finish the legs by hemming the bottom to prevent fraying. Trousers with turn-ups (cuffs in American English), after hemming, are rolled outward and sometimes pressed or stitched into place. The main reason for the turn-ups is to add weight to the bottom of the leg, to help the drape of the trousers.

Fly

Main article: Fly (clothing)

A fly (on clothing) consists of a covering over an opening join concealing the mechanism, such as azip, velcro or buttons used to join the opening. The term is most frequently applied to a short opening in trousers, shorts and other garments covering the lower abdomen and penis, which allows the garments to be put on and taken off with greater ease.
Trousers have varied historically in whether or not they have a fly. Originally, hose did not cover the area between the legs. This was instead covered by a doublet or by a codpiece. When breeches were worn, during the Regency period for example, they were fall-fronted (or broad fall). Later, after trousers (pantaloons) were invented, the fly-front (split fall) emerged. The panelled front returned as a sporting option, such as in riding breeches, but is now hardly ever used, a fly being by far the most common fastening. Most flies now use a zipper/zip, though enthusiasts continue to wear button-fly pants, an example of which are Levi's 501 jeans

Trouser support

At present, most trousers are held up through the assistance of a belt which is passed through the belt loops on the waistband of the trousers. However, this was traditionally a style acceptable only for casual trousers and work trousers; suit trousers and formal trousers were suspended by the use of braces (suspenders in American English) attached to buttons located on the interior or exterior of the waistband. Today, this remains the preferred method of trouser support amongst adherents of classical British tailoring. Many men claim this method is more effective and more comfortable because it requires no cinching of the waist or periodic adjustment.

Society

In modern Western society, males customarily wear trousers and not skirts or dresses. There are exceptions, however, such as the ceremonial Scottish kilt and Greek foustanella, as well as robes or robe-like clothing like the cassocks of clergy and the academic robes, both rarely worn today in daily use. (See also Men's skirts.)

Convertible Ventilated Trousers shown with one leg cover removed

Based on Deuteronomy 22:5 in the Bible ("The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man"), some groups, such as Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites, some Baptists, a few churches of Christ, and a few others believe that women should not wear trousers, but only skirts and dresses. These groups do permit women to wear underpants as long as they are hidden.
Among certain groups, low-rise, baggy trousers exposing underwear became fashionable; for example, among skaters and in 1990s hip hop fashion. This fashion is called sagging or, alternatively, "busting slack."
Cut-offs are homemade shorts made by cutting the legs off trousers, usually after holes have been worn in fabric around the knees. This extends the useful life of the trousers. The remaining leg fabric may be hemmed or left to fray after being cut.

Law

In May 2004 in Louisiana, state legislator Derrick Shepherd proposed a bill that would make it a crime to appear in public wearing trousers below the waist and thereby exposing one's skin or "intimate clothing". The Louisiana bill was retracted after negative public reaction.
In February 2005, Virginia legislators tried to pass a similar law that would have made punishable by a $50 fine: "any person who, while in a public place, intentionally wears and displays his below-waist undergarments, intended to cover a person's intimate parts, in a lewd or indecent manner". (It is not clear whether, with the same coverage by the trousers, exposing underwear was considered worse than exposing bare skin, or whether the latter was already covered by another law.) The law passed in the Virginia House of Delegates. However, various criticisms to it arose. For example, newspaper columnists and radio talk show hosts consistently said that since most people that would be penalized under the law would be young African-American men, the law would thus be a form of discrimination against them. Virginia's state senators voted against passing the law.
Carol Broussard, mayor of Delcambre, said that he will sign the proposal unanimously passed by town councillors, so that wearing trousers that reveal one's underwear will lead to a $500 penalty and the risk of six months in jail. "If you expose your private parts, you'll get a fine," said Mr Broussard. He told the Associated Press that people wearing low-slung trousers are "better off taking the pants off and wearing a dress." Ted Ayo, town attorney, said that the new legislation would expand on existing indecent exposure laws in Louisiana: "This is a new ordinance that deals specifically with sagging pants. It's about showing off your underwear in public". Mr. Broussard has received local criticism for the ordinance, with some Delcambre residents claiming that the proposal is racially motivated, due to the popularity of "sagging pants" among black hip-hop fans. However, he responded: "White people wear sagging pants, too."

Trousers aka Pants

Trousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth stretching across both as in skirts and dresses). The word trousers is used in the UK, but some other English-speaking countries such as Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United States often refer to such items of clothing as pants. Additional synonyms include slacks, strides, kegs or kex, breeches (sometimes pronounced /ˈbrɪtʃɨz/), or breeks. Shorts are similar to trousers, but with legs that come down only to around the area of the knee, higher or lower than the knee depending on the style of the garment.
In most of the Western world, trousers have been the most common form of lower body clothing for males since the early 19th century, although shorts are also widely worn, and kilts and other garments may be worn in various regions and cultures. Shorts are often preferred in hot weather or for some sports, and also often by children. Since the late 20th century, trousers have become prevalent for females as well. Trousers are worn at the hips or waist, and may be held up by their own fastenings, a belt, or suspenders (braces). Leggings are form-fitting trousers of a clingy material, often knitted cotton and lycra.

More about t-shirts

Expressive messages

Since the 1980s, T-shirts have flourished as a form of personal expression.

Screen printed T-shirts have been a standard form of marketing for major consumer products, such as Coca-cola and Mickey Mouse, since the 1970s. However, since the 1990s, it has become common practice for companies of all sizes to produce T-shirts with their corporate logos or messages as part of their overall advertising campaigns. Since the late 1980s and especially the 1990s, T-shirts with prominent designer-name logos have become popular, especially with teenagers and young adults.

These garments allow consumers to flaunt their taste for designer brands in an inexpensive way, in addition to being decorative. Examples of designer T-shirt branding include Calvin Klein, FUBU, Ralph Lauren and The Gap. These examples also include representations of rock bands, among other obscure pop-culture references. Licensed T-shirts are also extremely popular. Movie and TV T-shirts can have images of the actors, logos and funny quotes from the movie or TV show. Often, the most popular T-shirts are those that characters wore in the film itself (e.g., Bubba Gump from Forest Gump and Vote For Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite).

Designer Katharine Hamnett in the early 1980s pioneered outsize T-shirts with large-print slogans. The early first decade of the 21st century saw the renewed popularity of T-shirts with slogans and designs with a strong inclination to the humorous and/or ironic. The trend has only increased later in this decade; embraced by celebrities, such as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, and reflected back on them, too ('Team Aniston').
The political and social statements that T-shirts often display have become, since the first decade of the 21st century, one of the reasons that they have so deeply permeated different levels of culture and society.

The statements also may be found to be offensive, shocking or pornographic to some. Many different organizations have caught on to the statement-making trend, including chain and independent stores, websites, and schools.
A popular phrase on the front of T-shirts demonstrating T-shirts' popularity among tourists is the humorous phrase "I did _____ and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." Examples include "My parents went to Las Vegas and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."
T-shirt exchange is an activity where people trade their T-shirts they are wearing. Some designs specifically write on the shirt "trade with me"

Environmental impact

A life cycle study of one T-shirt brand shows that the CO₂ emissions from a T-shirt is about 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds) -- including the growing of the cotton, manufacturing and wholesale distribution. The loss of natural habitat potential from the T-shirt is estimated to be 10.8 square meters (116 square feet).

Football shirts

A F.C. Barcelona football shirt.

Replica football shirts, normally replicas of the sports shirts worn by sportsmen, are commonly found in the football (soccer) market, with increased popularity after the commercialisation of football in the 1990s. With the rise of advertising in the mid 20th century, sponsors' logos began to appear on the shirts, and replica strips were made available for fans to purchase, generating significant amounts of revenue for clubs.
In the United Kingdom, several clubs have been accused of price fixing, and Manchester United were in fact fined in 2003. The high prices, and the fact that new designs are brought out each season for many clubs, mean that shirts are often the subject of satire among football fans, but many still consider it an obligation to wear them. Newcastle United and Manchester United fans for example have a famously high take-up rate on their clubs black and white striped and red and white shirts respectively. The prices have also led to many fans buying fake shirts which are imported into the UK from Thailand, Malaysia and Far East Asia; many sellers on eBay now indicate that their shirt are real rather than fake
Football players and fans wear this form of T-shirt that carries the team colours as a singe of their team loyalties. These tops are of a major personal and sentimental value to those supporters and the players who were them. Football players are obliged to wear them on the pitch and during the game itsself as a means of in-game identification of their team affiliation.

World Records

Nick Umbs t-shirts record stunt. Georgetown, Washington, DC. 2007

Nick Umbs of Burke, Virginia broke the U.S. record for most T-shirts worn at one time. Nick donned 183 T-shirts between sizes small and 10XL during a six-hour session in October 2007. Nick's record-breaking stunt was recorded by the Discovery Channel for the hit show "Is It True?".

Gallery

The home shirt of Olympique de Marseille for the 2006–07 season.

A T-shirt promoting the Swedish Language Wikipedia.