Explore Key Topics - Cultural Practices - Clothing

Ethnic groups have maintained their traditional clothing. Some wear it only for special occasions, such as holidays and weddings, while others, particularly the elderly, opt to wear it daily.

In Cambodian and Vietnamese ethnic communities, numerous textile fabric stores import cloth from the homeland and tailor shops make traditional clothing.

Iu-Mien and Hmong clothing such as pants, shirts, turbans, sashes, and caps are painstaking detailed with delicate embroidery, tassels, and silver adornments. They can be very time-consuming to make and, as a result, this skill is being lost, since many young women are disinterested in learning this handicraft (referred to as paj ntaub in Hmong). Some, however, have adapted these handicrafts and clothing according to the available materials and created new patterns and styles to accommodate fashion changes and more commercial audiences.