Western Clothing

The purpose of western clothing

Many people don't know this, but every piece of western clothing, from head to toe, originally all had a specific purpose. Many people aren't aware that the stylish jeans, cowboy hats, and bandanas worn by people today all originally served an important purpose to cowboys.

For example on the head, the ten gallon hat in western clothing was originally meant to protect the cowboys from rain and to keep them cool and out of the blistering sun. The bandanas were worn on the bottom half of the face to cover their mouths and shield them from dust. Bandanas in western clothing were also supposed to keep cowboys from getting sunburned on their necks.

On the upper body, gloves were worn to protect cowboys from rope burn and long sleeve shirts were worn to protect the cowboys' arms from twigs and brush as well as from getting sunburned.

For the lower body, jeans and chaps were worn in order to protect the legs from insects, thorns, and brush. The boots and spurs that a cowboy wore were to protect his feet and to make the horse run faster. As you can see, all western clothing originally served a purpose other than looking good.

So next time you're wearing western clothing, remember that what you're wearing wasn't originally just to look good, it had a practical application in the everyday lives of real cowboys. For more information concerning western clothing, please visit the links below.

So be sure to check out our pages about Western Stores, Western Belts, Western Belt Buckles, Western Hats, and Western Boots elsewhere on this site.