Was medieval clothes expensive

Answer 1

Clothing was fairly expensive in medieval times, as was any other items made out of textiles. After food production textiles were likely the second largest part of the medieval economy, and it took a great deal of labor by many people to deliver a finished tunic. The fiber was raised by a farmer (wool or linen), had to be harvested, washed, carded (a process sort of like combing with metal hand tools), and spun into thread. The threads were dyed by a dyer, and then went to a weaver to be made into cloth. The cloth then went to a fuller's mill for cleaning and finishing, and then a tailor who turned the cloth into a garment.

Clothing and other cloth goods like bedding and towels were prized, were used as long as possible, repaired when possible, and traded on a second hand clothing market if they were at all serviceable when the owner got a new one. Medieval wills often specify a beneficiary for things like bedding or bed curtains, as such things were prized and expensive items.

If you want to put some specific numbers to it, using English money from the High and Late medieval period, shoes might be between 6 and 8 pennies, a quality tunic might be 3 shillings, a rough tunic of a poor peasant might be 6 pennies. A nice hat for the gentry might be over a shilling.

Income for wage earners varied considerably with profession and exact date, but for those who worked for a salary income was in pennies per day, typically a single digit figure. A shilling is 12 pennies, so a three shilling tunic could be a week or two of wages for an artisan or laborer.

Answer 2

It was very expensive and took many armourers and blacksmiths along time to make. Knights would often keep their armour for life.

Answer 3

The armour was very expensive. In today's standards a suit would cost the knight the price of a 5 bedroom house.