Clothes

Clothes are garments that players can wear and are classified as a subset of equipment. Most clothes are worn for aesthetic reasons only, although some items that may be considered clothes do offer defensive and other bonuses (see below).

Players must define a default outfit for their character after creating their accounts, ensuring that avatars never appear naked or in their underwear. Players can change their default outfit at any stage of the game by visiting Thessalia's Fine Clothes in Varrock. After completing The Fremennik Trials, members can change their shoes by visiting Yrsa's shoe store in Rellekka. Players can also change their clothing, wrist accessories, and shoes for free using a wardrobe in the bedroom of a player-owned house. Players can obtain other clothing in the form of items that they can equip. These may replace the default outfit, or may be worn over the top. For example, a player's bare legs are visible when wearing shorts, even if the default outfit includes long trousers. However, a stripy pirate shirt is a sleeveless garment that allows the sleeves of the default top to show.

Most non-player characters (NPCs) also wear clothes. All human NPCs do, but some other species may not, such as the penguins: Ping and Pong wear no clothing at all, whilst KGP Agents only wear a necktie. Most NPCs never change their clothes, with exceptions including Molly, Sigmund, and Zanik.

Some players may consider armour to be a subset of clothes, whilst others may contend that clothes and armour are two distinct groups.

If clothes and armour are separate classifications, then it may be sensible to define armour as garments that offer a Defence bonus, whereas clothes could be defined as any garment that provides no Defence bonus.

This distinction would classify different parts of an outfit into separate categories. For example, a Ham shirt would be classified as armour, whereas a Ham logo would be classified as clothing.

Certain clothes are required to enter specific places. For example, players must wear a chef's hat to enter the Cooks' Guild and a brown apron to enter the Crafting Guild.

Some quests require the player to wear particular clothes, often as a disguise. For instance, players must wear H.A.M. robes during parts of Death to the Dorgeshuun, and they must wear a desert disguise (made of a Kharidian headpiece and a fake beard) during The Feud.

Players may also need to provide clothing as a disguise for non-player characters in quests. For example, in Death to the Dorgeshuun, players must provide H.A.M. robes for Zanik, and in Prince Ali Rescue, they must provide a pink skirt for Prince Ali.

Novelty clothes may be given as rewards from random events (such as mime clothing), from holiday events (such as bunny ears), or minigames such as Fishing Trawler with the Angler's outfit. These items are often non-tradeable, especially those from recent holiday events. In addition, players can change the appearance of many of these novelty clothes; players can purchase and use dark dye to customise their graceful outfit to be a recoloured black and red variant.

Many skills, activities, and minigames are easier to train whilst wearing skilling equipment either individually or as a set. Many cosmetic-only outfit sets are rewards from minigames and other activities as described below:

Clan members may prefer all to wear the same clothes or at least one common item of clothing. Team capes are particularly popular, as they make any other player wearing the same type of team cape appear as a blue marker on the minimap. This can be useful for keeping track of allies in player killing minigames, as well as providing a clan with a kind of uniform.

Clothes are also symbolic in riots. Players may wear a pink skirt to show support for rioters, a blue skirt to show support for Jagex, or a green or black skirt to show neutrality. Players wear these regardless of their gender.

It is also worth noting the difference in how clothes appear on male versus female players and NPCs. On female characters, clothes typically reveal more of the player's body compared to male characters. This is likely intentional, reflecting how female fashion tends to be more revealing than male fashion in the real world.

H.A.M. members wear distinctive clothes to show their allegiance to the organisation. Other NPCs wear clothes to signify their status; for example, monarchs are typically depicted wearing crowns. Whilst entering the God Wars Dungeon, certain NPCs may or may not attack the player if wearing god-related protection related to any of the three gods.