Clothes and Footwear

Clothes and footwear occupy  a very important place in our lives. Some devote more time, attention and money to these than to food, health or education. It is not in the scope of this section to go into an exhaustive discussion of either of these important accessories of our lives. We will talk about them strictly from the view 

point of health and comfort of the body. 

Clothing

The main objectives of wearing clothes are: (a) to protect  the body against wind, cold, heat, rain and snow; (b) to maintain the body temperature; and (c) to cover the body and enhance one's appearance. 

The materials used to make clothes are derived from both animal as well as vegetable sources. Wool, fur, leather, feathers and silk are derived from animal, and cotton,  linen, artificial silk, jute  and rubber are derived from the vegetable kingdom. Today, the materials most commonly used for making clothes are wool, cotton, linen, silk, artificial silk and leather. Synthetic yarns are a comparatively recent introduction to clothing. It is important lo understand the nature and qualities of the different fabrics used to make clothing in order to make an intelligent choice from the point of view of utility, comfort, maintenance as well as expenditure. Out of the three functions of clothing, while a lot of attention is given to covering the body and enhancing its appearance, the other two objectives i.e., protection from the elements and maintenance of body temperature, get relegated to the background. This is so mostly because of ignorance rather than design. Although this is not the place to go into details of different yarns and material, a very brief discussion would be of help to make the point and hopefully to excite you curiosity to find out more about it. 

All of us know that wool keeps you warm because it is a bad conductor of heat. It is a bad conductor of heat because of the structure of the fibre and not because it is thick or fluffy.You may have seen people at the height of winter carrying a baby all wrapped up in a turkish bath towel. Because the towel is thick and fluffy they assume it is keeping their baby warm while the poor creature must be freezing inside the cotton wrap. These towels are cotton, and cotton, no matter how thick, is a good conductor of heat. This is why, while woolen garments are required when it is cold outside, cottons are the choice for the heat of the summer when you want your body to shed as much heat as possible, and also want to get as much air in as possible to be able to loose heat. Cotton fabric ventilates well. It allows air to pass through. Silk is a poor conductor of heat and does not ventilate as well as cotton, hence silk clothing is best suited for cold climates. 

Even silk sarees are uncomfortable during summer. Next time you are in a train in summer, look around yourself and see how many people travel in silk shirts, kurtas, and salwar-kameezes and that too long sleeved ones and then complain of heat, as well as look uncomfortable and wet with perspiration, while you sit there, perhaps looking, a bit rumpled, but comfortable and cool in cotton clothes. Synthetic fibres are also poor conductors of heat and do not ventilate well, hence are not comfortable in hot climate. If comfort is your priority you should dress keeping the weather in mind. A cotton saree on a rainy day would be a disaster. 

Take the case of small children. They should be dressed basically for comfort and ease of movement, and not for show. In the summer loose fitting cotton clothes with the least amount of accessories like frills or laces and ribom around the neck and arms is required to keep them comfortable and happy. Instead you find the poor dears dressed up in nylons, silks and satins with stiff laces, frills and ribbons drowning their faces and constricting their arms in the heat of the summer. Instead of leaving them barefeet or with open sandals without socks in the summer, we put them in knee-socks and laced shoes. The emphasis is on the least important function of clothing at the cost of that which is more important from the physiological and health point of view. A little understanding of the nature of different fabrics will help us to combine protection, comfort and beauty in selecting our clothing. Clothes should also be loose fitting and comfortable. They should allow you to breathe properly, move about comfortably and do your work with ease and in safety. 

A little bit about cleanliness in clothing. We do not need to emphasise the importance of clean clothes but we would like to emphasise that clean and fresh underclothes are of the utmost importance -much  more so than clean outer clothes because they are close Lo  your skin and can cause bad odour and even infection. It is very important to change underwear like underpants, vests, brasseries and petticoats every day throughout the year. In the summer if you perspire a lot you might need to change twice a day: It is much less unhygienic to wear a used shirt, kurta or saree than it is to wear an unwashed underwear after a bath. Arrangements should be made to wash underwear daily so that you can always have a clean one -even  though unironed - available every day if  you have a limited supply. Get your children into the habit of clean underwear right from the beginning. It does become a habit if you instill it right from childhood. 

It is a good practice to get into clean and loose garments for sleeping at night. Long-sleeved and long-legged terry-cotton, flannel or silk night clothes are acceptable for the cold climate but for the summer short-sleeved and short-legged cotton ones are preferred, particularly for children. Night garments should be loose enough to allow free movement of the body. 

Colours also have an impact on how you feel in your clothes. Dark colours make you feel warm and light colours like white make you feel cool. There is an enormous amount to educate yourselves about as regards clothing and we do hope you can find ways and means of doing so. 

Footwear 

The entire weight and balance of our body rests on our two feet and yet very few of us give enough attention to health and care of our feet until we are confronted with a problem. Next time you are out on a street, look at people's feet and decide for yourself what percentage of us seem to pay due attention to our feet and footwear. Although in most cases our inability to have proper footwear is due to inadequate finances, it is not always so. We are guided more by the dictates of style and fashion than of comfort, ease and utility, even at the cost of harming our feet irreparably. The consequences to the rest of the body, in many cases, are serious. Quite often we are not even aware that the cause of some of our ailments like back aches, pain in the calf muscles, aching feet, poor posture etc., lies in improper footwear. To add to our own disinterest and ignorance about what kind of footwear is good for our feet, the indiscriminate proliferation of footwear cottage industry in our country, which unfortunately seems to have no understanding whatsoever of human anatomy and physiology, and of the basic attributes of proper foot wear, particularly for young children, has compounded the problem. A shoe should fit well. It should be moderately broad across the instep, have a straight inner border, and a moderately low heel. To fit properly, shoes should extend 112 to 314 inch beyond the longest toe. 

Any heel two inches or higher will force the full weight of the body onto the smaller bones in the front of the foot and push the toes into the tip of the shoes where they get squeezed in. This hurts the arch of the foot, cause calluses on the sole of the foot, and can lead to various bone deformities. If you have to wear high heels, do so only for short periods of time - kick them off whenever you can and rest your feet. Wearing very high heels constantly also upsets the body balance. 

Shoes should be bought near the end of the day to get a more realistic and comfortable fit because by the end of the day the feet broaden from standing and walking.

Sandals are more popular in warm climates because they are partly open and keep the feet cooler than shoes. Sandals with a back strap support are easier on the feet for walking. Chappals are the most common footwear in our country. Both chappals and sandals should be such that they hold your feet well and securely while you lift your feet in walking. They should not become something that you have to lift and carry with your feet and toes in the process of walking. It is unfortunately so most o'f the time or else you wouldn't hear the clap-clap and dragging of sandals  and chappals on the floor. Make sure that the construction, fitting and the weight of the footwear is not a drag on your feet instead of a support. Footwear should be so light in weight that your feet do not feel the weight of lifting them while walking. 

Particular care should be taken about children's footwears. Their shoes should be broad in the front, with only a 114 inch heel and with arrangements to buckle or tie the shoe to the feet. They should  be very light in weight. Narrow toes and high heels should be totally prohibited for young growing children. They should also not wear chappals or sandals with no tie-up support. Open sandals with buckles are good for them in the summer.

Some of the problems of the feet created by ill-fitting footwear are : 

Calluses and corns : These are formed on the soles of the feet because of continued pressure and friction in a particular area due to ill-fitting footwear. They cause a lot of pain and it is best to consult a doctor to find relief. 

Bunions : This is a deformation at the base of the big toe towards the instep. The joint becomes swollen and painful, usually due to ill-fitting shoes. They frequently accompany flat feet. You can relieve the pain by hot fomentation. Foot exercises advised by a doctor and correct footwear help relieve the problem. At times surgery has to be resorted to. Bunions cause problems in walking as well as in posture. 

Blisters : Commonly appear on the feet because of friction of a shoe or socks that do not fit properly. It is best to protect them from further friction by using a band- aid. Blisters are very common at the back of the upper part of the heels in case of improperly constructed  Nagras - the Punjabi style of flat shoes that are worn with 

Hammer Toe : This is a clawlike deformity usually caused by cramping toes into very narrow tipped shoes. It can be corrected by surgery.