From Old English 'clath' — its dual sense of fabric and garment survives in the split between 'cloths' and 'clothes.'
Woven or felted fabric made from wool, cotton, or a similar fibre.
From Old English 'clāþ' (cloth, garment, covering), from Proto-Germanic *klaiþą (cloth, garment). The deeper etymology is uncertain, but it may be related to PIE *glei- (to stick, to smear, to cling), referring to the way fibres cling together in felting or the application of sticky substances in early textile processing. The original meaning encompassed any piece of fabric, including
English 'cloth' and German 'Kleid' (dress) are cognates from the same Proto-Germanic root. In English the word narrowed to mean the material itself, while in German it shifted to mean the finished garment. The English plural 'clothes' preserves the older meaning of 'garments' — explaining why