DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI
TLE M15
CLOTHING SELECTION,
PURCHASE AND CARE
UNIT 1 – WEEK 3
LEARNING MODULE
Prepared by:
Michelle Ann M. Espinosa, LPT
TLE M15 – Clothing Selection, Purchase and Care | Page 1
Instructor: Michelle Ann M. Espinosa,LPT
DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI
Week 3
Unit 1: Clothing Selection
Topic: Origin of Clothing
Learning Outcomes:
1. Describe the development of clothing from the emergent
to the contemporary.
2. Outline them milestones in the history of clothing
Concept Digest (Discussion)
Origin of Clothing
• The origin of clothing is inferred mainly from
archaeological findings, ancient paintings and figurines.
The actual dating of the origin of clothing keeps changing
with new findings by archaeologists and the interpretations
provided by anthropologists who study various aspects of
human existence in the past and present societies.
Anthropological research on human head lice and lice that
live in clothes, suggests that clothing may have originated
around 170,000 years ago. Other researchers claim that
clothing may have originated around 540,000 years ago.
• One view is that the origin of clothing may have coincided
with the northward migration of the modern homo sapiens away
from the warm climate of Africa. Another view is that the
invention of clothing may have been necessitated by the loss
of body hair by human beings during the process of
evolution. The severe cold of the northern regions would
have forced them to cover themselves with objects available
in the surroundings. They also suggest that the earliest
forms of clothing may have been made of animal hide and fur,
as well as vegetation including bark, leaves and grass that
were draped, wrapped or tied around the body.
• Archaeological findings of dyed and twisted flax fibers
found in the prehistoric Dzudzuanacave (34000 BCE)in the
Republic of Georgia, and sewing needles made of bone or
ivory (30000 BCE)suggest that clothing may have originated
quite early in human history.
Milestones in the History of Clothing
In the long history of clothing, there have been important
milestones in the development of clothing. These include the
following:
1) Fiber and thread: The processes of pressing and
compacting fibers together were used to make the first
textile called felt. Bark cloth called Tapa or Kapa was
a primitive fabric made by beating and matting the soft
inner bark of certain trees. Twisted and dyed flax
fibers have been found in a prehistoric cave in
Georgia. This was followed by Nålebinding (needle
TLE M15 – Clothing Selection, Purchase and Care | Page 2
Instructor: Michelle Ann M. Espinosa,LPT
DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI
binding) technique which was a form of single needle
knitting. In the Palaeolithic Age (30,000 BCE- 10,000
BCE)and the Mesolithic Age (10,000 BCE to 4,000 BCE)
thread and cord made of grass, and animal sinews were
used to bind or fasten tools and other possessions
together for ease of travel in a hunter-gatherer
society.
2) Sewing: The sewing needle with an eye, made of bone or
ivory, are among the earliest clothing-making tools
discovered by archaeologists in 1988 from caves in
Russia dating back to 30,000 BCE. These needles were
perhaps used to stitch vegetation or pieces of leather
together for making clothes that protected human beings
from extreme cold.
3) Woven Fabric: Spinning and weaving developed and spread
during the Neolithic period (10,000 to 4,500 BCE) with
vegetable bast fibers, flax, cotton, silk and wool. The
earliest finding of woven woollen cloth is dated around
6,500 BC. The oldest cotton fabric was found in the
ancient city of Mohenjo Daro that existed around 2,500
BC.Silk textile also flourished during the Neolithic
Age in China and Japan. The earliest evidence of silk
production in China dates from between 5000BCE and 3000
BCE. Japan started weaving during the Jōmon period
between 12,000 BCE to 300BCE.
4) Sewing machine: The earliest sewing machine was
invented in 1790 by Thomas Saint which used the chain
stitch technique. Subsequent inventions attempted to
create better sewing machines. However, it was Isaac
Merritt Singer who won the technology race in 1851with
a patented sewing machine that dramatically changed the
way clothing was sewn.
5) Power loom: The mechanized power loom that partially
automated textile weaving, was one of the most
important inventions of the Industrial Revolution.
Edmund Cartwright designed the first power loom in 1784
which he built and patented the next year. Kenworthy
and Bullough developed the semi-automatic power loom
called Lancashire loom in 1842. By 1850 England had
over 260,000 power looms in operation. The Northrop
loom made fifty years later was a fully automatic loom
with a self-feeding shuttle mechanism. Power looms
ensured that there was no shortage of fabrics for the
clothing industry.
6) Fashion Design: Historically one-of-a-kind clothes were
designed and made-to measure exclusively for the
royalty and the most fashionable figures at the royal
courts by dressmakers and seamstresses. Rose Bertin was
dressmaker to Marie Antoinette who was the queen of
France during the French Revolution and faced criticism
for excessive spending on clothes. However the history
of fashion began with the development of the textiles
and clothing industry during the Industrial Revolution
in the 18thand 19th century. The first professional
TLE M15 – Clothing Selection, Purchase and Care | Page 3
Instructor: Michelle Ann M. Espinosa,LPT
DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI
fashion designer was Charles Fredrick Worth, also known
as the ‘Father of Couture’ who was an Englishman living
in Paris who had a business employing several drapers,
tailors and seamstresses. His talent was noticed by
Empress Eugénie of France whose patronage brought him
into the limelight. This also made Paris as the fashion
capital that influenced the other fashion centres in
other countries.
TLE M15 – Clothing Selection, Purchase and Care | Page 4
Instructor: Michelle Ann M. Espinosa,LPT
