There weren't man made fibres, so cotton or wool, silk if wealthy, was used for underwear. Trousers, jackets, dresses, and the rest were mostly wool. Many peopl

There weren't man made fibres, so cotton or wool, silk if wealthy, was used for underwear. Trousers, jackets, dresses, and the rest were mostly wool. Many people only had two sets of outerwear - one of which was kept for outside work and for church: their "Sunday best". Dyes were often non-colour fast. Wool and silk doesn't like being boiled or wrung, or even heavily agitated. Underwear didn't need to stay in shape, outerwear did. Cotton is far more tolerant of violent washing. India's climate would, no doubt, see far less use of wool and multiple layers, far more of lighter weight cottons than Europe. Southern Europe probably somewhere in between. :)