About

Many colonial men in the early 1700s did not own more than about 2-4 outfits. Their clothing was usually made of wool or linen and wad all handsewn, either by a woman they knew, or, if they lived in or near a city and had some money, by a tailor. Standards of cleanliness were very different from today as germs had not been discovered yet and the links between dirt, infection, and disease had not been made. This meant that clothing was not washed often and some items that did not touch the skin, such as a waistcoat, might never be washed!