North American Clothing for kids - from 1500 AD to now - Why did people stop wearing deerskin? Why did people start changing their clothes so much more often? When did girls start to wear pants?

North American Clothing- 1600s

In the 1600s, most people still dressed the same as they had before, in deerskins. But in the south-west, the Pueblo and Navajo people began to buy wool clothing from the Spanish settlers, and the wool clothes were cheaper than deerskin, so more people were able to wear more clothes more of the time. People who lived on the East Coast, like the Iroquois and the Cherokee, also began to get wool clothes and blankets by trading with English, French, and Dutch traders. But women still wore shirts and skirts, or dresses, and the men still wore shirts and pants.

Just as many Native American people got new wool clothes from the settlers, many European hunters and settlers learned to wear deerskin from the Native Americans. Deerskin lasted better than wool clothes, and you could get right where you were, even if you were nowhere near a store. And you didn't have to sew hems on it, either.

Click here for the styles of the 1700s

Click here to find out more about fabrics and weaving and spinning clothes

North American clothing before 1500 AD
North American Economy
Main clothing page
Main North America page (after 1500)
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