While buying clothes the first thing which comes to our mind is the purpose for which the cloth is being purchased. Does it serve the purpose and fulfill the specific requirement? Can this dress be used for other occasions also? It is important that clothes are purchased for the specific purpose.
Sometimes some problems do crop up while buying these clothes. Sometimes, due to ignorance, such clothes are purchased which do not suit the occasion and become useless after few usages.
All type of clothes is not suitable for all occasions. Satin and silk clothes cannot be used in daily wear as clothes of daily wear require daily washing. Similarly sheer materials for the clothes of children in the playful j age are not desirable. Material for a trousers or skirt would be thicker than that for a blouse.
Daily wear clothes, e.g., hard woven clothes should be durable and easily washable. Soft and good quality clothes can be selected for specific occasions.
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Quality
Consumer must know the specific qualities of various clothes. The cloth used for vest should have some specific qualities like softness of texture, easy to wash, sweat absorbing, and durable. It is essential for a consumer to know which cloth will have all these qualities. This principle applies to all type of clothes.
The qualities affecting the selection of clothes are as follows:
1. Appearance:
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While purchasing cloth we pay attention to appearance, colour, and texture. To judge the quality of cloth our senses like touch, smell, and vision should be active. Clothes should be nice and attractive. The blending of colours should also be proper only then it would appeal to the eyes.
The same fabric appears different with different colour combinations. Fiber, yarn weave, and finishes effect the appearance of the cloth, by touching the fabric, we can feel the softness of silk, warmth of wool and coolness of linen. If the cloth appeals to the buyer, he will purchase it irrespective of the purpose and quality of the cloth. Hence, the appearance of the cloth is an important factor in its selection.
2. Durability:
Everyone desires to buy durable clothes. Durability also includes the grace and colour appeal of the cloth. If the cloth has not fast colour, it will fade away very soon and no one would like to wear it despite of its durability.
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Cloth should have resistance to wear and tear, cleaning and washing. The weave should be thick and closely knitted. Clothes made of fiber with more twist are more durable. Plain and twill weaves are stronger than basket and satin weaves. Durable clothes give more value for your money. Cotton and synthetic clothes are more durable than woollen and silk.
3. Finishing:
Different finishes are given to clothes to provide good quality. We should select clothes with permanent finishes. Sometimes the finishes are not long lasting due to which the clothes become shapeless.
Label of the finishes must be checked before the purchasing of the clothes. Some finishes are selected according to the use like crease and crush resistant, waterproof, water-repellent, fire-proof, mercerized, etc. Fastness of colour should also be considered.
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4. Easy maintenance:
Clothes tend to get spoiled because of its repetitive use. Often, clothes are stained and chemicals are used for their removal. Hence, such clothes are to be purchased which are easily washable and not affected by chemicals and washing. Clothes which retain their look even after washing are more in demand.
Cotton clothes are comparatively easy to wash. Heat and friction do not have any adverse effect on them.
Special precautions are to be taken in the washing of clothes with brocade work, silken, and woolen clothes. Heat, alkalis and friction have adverse effect on these clothes. Hence, expensive clothes should be dry cleaned only. This type of washing is costly. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that how it will be washed and ironed.
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5. Comfort. Comfort is of two types:
(i) Psychological comfort. A person feels more at ease and confident when he is dressed according to his likes, fashion and its latest trends.
(ii) Physical comfort.
• Fabric should be soft and smooth for the skin.
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• Fabric should let the air passes through it to make the person cool and comfortable.
• Fabric should absorb perspiration.
• Fabric should be according to the season, e.g., cotton clothes are good in summers.
• Light weight fabrics are more comfortable.
• Fabric should not cause any allergic reaction to the skin.
Cost
Money is the deciding factor in the purchasing of clothes. While purchasing, priority should be on the requirement and the income.
There are several factors which influence the cost of clothes such as type of fabric, the finishes given, type of weave, exclusive designing, handwork, etc. A comparative study should be made at various shops before purchasing clothes. Whether the price of the cloth is according to the printed price or not, is also important.
Purposeless shopping leads to wastage of time and energy. Shopping in haste may lead to overspending and without serving the required purpose because in these situations, such clothes are purchased which you have already possessed or may use occasionally.
Mostly people have the feeling that expensive clothes are the best. This may be true to some extent, because expensive clothes are durable, retain their grace for a pretty long time. But judicious purchase of less expensive clothes may serve the same purpose. Stitching charges may go waste in case of very cheap clothes. Therefore, we can say that money is an important factor in the selection of clothes.
Season
Main purpose of clothes is to protect the body from heat and cold and to maintain body temperature in adverse circumstances. Therefore, clothes should be according to the sea- son. In summers, cotton clothes should be used because they absorb sweat.
White and light colour clothes give relief in summers because they do not absorb heat from the sun. Khadi clothes are the most comfortable in summers because these are cool and good sweat absorbers. In severe summers, very fine clothes like muslin cloth should not be used for the fear of heat stroke because they do not absorb sweat properly.
Woolen clothes should be purchased in winter to keep body warm because these are bad conductors of heat and prevent the loss of body heat. Only warm and dark colours like red, yellow, orange, black, etc. should be used in winters. Warm colours readily absorb heat from the sun. Silken clothes like woolen are also bad conductor of heat and hence used in winter.
In rainy season, only synthetic clothes should be used. These clothes absorb less water and hence dry easily.
From Where to Shop
Reliable shops: For shopping, there are different shops and stores. Various services are offered by shopkeepers. Shop that is convenient, caters your purpose, and under your budget should be selected. It is desirable to make a market survey according to your list of purchases and then decide how and from where to buy. Don’t shop in haste and without any planning.
Buy clothes from those stores only which offer satisfying services, preferably buy from only reputed and reliable shops. Government outlets are also reliable.
Discount stores are also very popular for the purchase of clothes. At the end of the season, discount is offered or clothes are bought in bulk from factories and sold at factory rates in such stores. Sometimes, consumers become victim of misleading advertisements and information and select undesirable clothes in the lure of schemes.
In such advertisements, quasi-truth and prevalent qualities are exaggerated. Cheap quality clothes are sold in attractive pickings. In this way, the shopkeeper tries to lure the customer in all possible ways. Only wise and experienced consumers can escape these deceits.
Sometimes there is a great variety of clothes available in department stores. Such stores have tasteful interiors. Hence, a number of facilities are provided like air-conditioning, toilets, lifts, marble and granite flooring, etc. In some stores, clothes from different mills are available.
Time and energy is saved in such stores, where so much variety is available under one roof. But goods are expensive on account of these facilities. Therefore, shopping should be made from such stores according to the priorities.
Quantity
Often we buy less or more quantity of cloth than required because of wrong estimation. Therefore, the exact measurement of cloth should be ensured to avoid wastage.
This surplus cloth is of no use except increasing the cost of dress. If the cloth is less, it too, serves no purpose. The following points should be kept in mind before deciding the quantity of cloth required for the garment.
1. What is the width of the cloth? Often cloth with more width, in spite of being a bit more expensive, turns out to be cheaper than the one with lesser width. By making an exact estimate of required cloth for a garment, some better quality cloth can be afforded in the same budget by avoiding wastage of cloth.
2. It is important to know about the margins and ease in the garments in case of growing children.
3. Additional cloth should be purchased in case of cloth with a tendency of developing holes around the stitching or slipping seams or seams getting torn.
4. The shrinkage of the cloth should also be kept in mind.
5. Cloth should be purchased in accordance to the design. Cloth with large prints should be stitched in such a way that the outfit gives a balanced look. In such cases, some cloth is wasted in cutting. More cloth may be required for the design of the garment, for example, in a full sleeves blouse, more cloth is required as compared to short sleeves blouse. Additional cloth should be purchased for gathers, pleats, pockets, collars and other trimmings. Therefore, a thorough knowledge of design is essential before purchase of cloth.
In case of standard width of fabric, its exact measurement is calculated in the following way:
For upper garments such as shirt, kurta, etc. the length of two dresses and one arm length is required along with IV2 inch for hemline. Since blouses are front open, the material required is one and half times the length along with one arm length and IV2 inch for hemline. For full sleeve blouse more cloth is required as compared to short sleeve blouses. In case of pants, knickers and salwar, the length of two dresses along with material for hem is required.
For simple pleated skirt thrice the length of the dress and for box pleated skirt four times the length of the dress is required. More material is required for flared skirts, frocks and frills as they need to be cut on bias. Extra material is also required in case of vertical prints, double-breast garments, frills, collars, pockets and other trimmings.
While shopping, look for these points
Weave should be firm. You can test this by scratching or stretching the cloth. If the threads shift easily, the garment seams may slip or develop hole around the stitching. Weave should be uniform. Hold it against the light and check for any uneven weave. The light test also shows weak spots or imperfections.
Weft yarn should meet selvedges at right angles. Yarn at oblique angle means fabric is off grain.
Dye colour should be even. The print colour should be even with no misprints and black areas.
Geometrical or symmetrical prints should meet the selvedge yarn at right angles. An irregular print will be difficult to match.
No powdery dust should appear when fabric is rubbed between fingers. It is an indication of too much starch. Manufacturers use high degree of sizing to conceal poor quality of fabric.
Fabric should not shed wrinkles after momentary crushing. If it does, the garment made out of it will get crumpled easily.