I'd have to assume you live in a climate that affords you that luxury. Not all do.

Anyone that's ever faced the 60 mph frozen winds of Lake Michigan would probably take a different stance on what is considered essential clothing than someone on the dry arid planes of Texas.

[removed]

Clothes are considered only essential for survival in areas where you would else freeze to death.

Clothing provides protection against colder temperatures (by keeping the heat in), against warmer temperatures (by keeping the direct sunlight out), against accidental scratches (by being the first layer) and against serious damage (gloves, footwear).

As such, clothing saves the body from using energy, which then can be used for something else and the community overall will gain from it.

The taboo of the absence of clothing, or the social pressure to wear a certain set of garments (pants, shoes, socks, shirt), that has nothing to do with the basic survival part.

I've been naked so many times in my shower and I'm still alive, why would anyone ever need clothes?

Have you been naked outside in the wilderness trying to travel, find food, avoid predators? Being naked is easy when you remove every environmental pressure, but when exposed to the elements its very different

Yeah, try and go naked outside in the middle of the night. Or better, try sleeping naked outdoors. You will slowly but surely get cold and even if you survive a couple of nights, you’ll definitely get sick and this will start your path to your demise.

[removed]

[removed]

I go to the beach with no shoes all the time. It's never been a problem.

I don't need steel capped boots while using a chainsaw.

Saves calories through easier homeostasis(staying warm), protects you from sunburns, protects you from random scratches.

[removed]

I've gone without food so many times between meals. How is food important?

People also need clothes to protect from harmful solar rays.

Preventing minor cuts and scrapes reduces the chance of infection which might lead to gangrene, for example.

Clothes are shelter, just like housing is shelter. The human body developed to survive in a very specific environment, but 99% of people don't live in that environment today.

Some of the native peoples in the Amazon and the Congo don't regularly wear much clothes. But they also never get cold weather, and have 24/7 shelter from the sun and rain because they live in dense forests.

Every other society on Earth developed customs of wearing clothes because the sun would burn their skin, the rain would give them hypothermia, and winter would freeze them to death.

You cab survive now without clothes because society has built an environment around you to let you do that. You live in a box that protects you from the weather and sun, and you travel to other boxes that protect you from the weather and sun. In between, you travel in various boxes that protect you from the weather and sun.

Or die of heat exposure in the sun.

Or die from infected scratches in forests.

Or insect bites.

Etc. Clothes are the first layer of protection from so many things.

Please read this entire message

Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):

Straightforward or factual queries are not allowed on ELI5. ELI5 is meant for simplifying complex concepts.

If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the detailed rules first. If you believe this submission was removed erroneously, please use this form and we will review your submission.

That's a fair assessment, and essential survival can certainly be applied to different scales.

The difference seems to be one of immediacy. You could survive a long time assuming your other needs are met, without protection from the sun.

You cannot survive for long regardless of ulterior needs without protection from the cold.

[removed]

You don't even need to go that far, 10 degrees with any wind and you're fucked, you might not die but you wouldn't be fine

Extremes tend to prove the point in a way that most can understand. It could be argued that lesser variations could be survived by particular individuals. Not many can argue that a naked human would make it on the streets of a cold Chicago winter for long.