Clothier

The Clothiers of Britannia are responsible for creating the clothes that people can buy on the market.

Description
The creation of clothes is a rather lengthy process. The clothier first has to purchase the cloth from the weaver, who had woven it from the wool of sheep in order to turn it into the final product. The cloth then has to be cut into the right forms and then stitched together correctly, before as a last step adding things like buttons and decoration. Dyeing cloth - a rather dirty process - also comes with the trade. Many clothiers have different styles and they are in constant competition with each other. Also, some clothiers have managed to eliminate the weaver from their production chain by being able to do both jobs, thus reducing their costs.

The best clothes in Britannia can be bought in Britain, the city with the highest income per-head and therefore also the best clothiers.

Age of Enlightenment
Clothiers as an independent shop only appeared from Ultima VI onwards. During that time they worked individually from weavers, as shown by the Avatar's trouble to get a silk bag for a balloon done. Also, working with silk was considered a real art - one that only Marissa in Paws was capable of in order to create the balloon hull for the Avatar.

Age of Armageddon
By the time of the Age of Armageddon in Ultima VII, the job of the weaver seemed to have died out, as clothiers now did both jobs - creating the cloth and working with it. The relative wealth of Britannia during that time had caused many clothier shops to appear - a stark contrast to the later time of Ultima IX, where all of these shops seemed to have vanished after the ravages of the Great Cataclysm.

Other Worlds
On the Serpent Isle, pure clothiers seemed to be a rarity and a job mostly done by provisioners by the side. The one notable exception seemed to be Cellia in Monitor, who was a furrier, creating fur clothes. On Pagan in turn, there actually was one real clothier available, run by the widow Rhian.

Notable Examples

 * Marissa of Paws in Ultima VI. The only clothier capable of working with silk to make the balloon hull.
 * Meek Lenard of Yew in Ultima VI.
 * Gaye of Britain in Ultima VII, who is part of a strange love triangle.
 * Carlyn of Moonglow in Ultima VII.
 * The furrier Cellia in Ultima VII Part Two.
 * The clothier Rhian of Tenebrae in Ultima VIII.