# "Their clothes looked like they had slept in them." How can you tell? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 5, 2025, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922 "2025-05-05T20:19:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Plutonium\_Chef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/plutonium_chef/32/11211_2.png) [@Plutonium\_Chef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plutonium_Chef)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/1 "2025-05-05T20:19:15Z")
Sometimes, a story will tell us a character “looked like they had slept in their clothes”, as opposed to pajamas, nightshirt, nightgown, or other _proper_ sleepwear. This bugs me, because when I sleep in my daytime pants and shirt, they don’t look ‘slept-in’ – that I can tell. So, what’s the deal? I can think of several possibilities: 1. The signs really are there, and I just can’t see them. In this case, what are the signs that I’m missing? 2. The trope is a relic: the signs used to be common, or more obvious, but not so much anymore. In this case, what _were_ the signs, and why did they go away? 3. It’s _just_ a trope or literary device: there are no signs, and the narrator is telling the reader that the character got a bad night’s sleep, or was ready to hop out of bed and into action. 4. It’s a combination of all these. I checked [TV Tropes: Sleep and Wakefulness Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SleepAndWakefulnessTropes), to no avail. Can the Dopers do any better? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/2 "2025-05-05T20:22:03Z")
> [@Plutonium\_Chef](#): > > The trope is a relic: the signs used to be common, or more obvious, but not so much anymore. In this case, what _were_ the signs, and why did they go away? Wrinkles and permanent press. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/3 "2025-05-05T20:29:29Z")
I regularly walk the Camino, and many pilgrims sleep in the next day’s clothes. Even with technical gear, you can often see wrinkles, softening of creases (in clothes with creases), rumpling or bagginess (especially if they haven’t showered and re-dressed–pilgrims don’t usually shower before walking for the day), and bits of feathers, fluff, or lint from the bedding. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/4 "2025-05-05T21:14:03Z")
Pilgrims? Are you walking in the year 1620? ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/5 "2025-05-05T21:43:05Z")
There are plenty of modern pilgrims, both Christian and Muslim. It’s not an idea which has gone away. ETA: Whether it’s easy to tell whether clothes have been slept in depends a great deal on the clothes, and probably somewhat on how neatly you sleep. Some things wrinkle, some things twist around. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/6 "2025-05-05T21:45:38Z")
> **[Camino de Santiago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago)** > > The Camino de Santiago (Latin: Peregrinatio Compostellana, lit. 'Pilgrimage of Compostela'; Galician: O Camiño de Santiago), or the Way of St. James in English, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition holds that the remains of the apostle are buried. Pilgrims follow its routes as a form of spiritual path or retreat for their spiritual growth. It is also ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/7 "2025-05-05T21:50:11Z")
Yeah, I would mostly think wrinkles. Would apply to some types of clothing but not others: you probably wouldn’t notice sweats or a t-shirt, but would obviously notice a dress shirt. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/8 "2025-05-05T22:11:42Z")
Right. The phrase presupposes the kind of clothes that normally should be pressed, or hanged overnight, and look neat when worn, but that now look excessively crumpled on you. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/9 "2025-05-05T22:12:30Z")
Never heard of the Hajj? > **[Hajj](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj)** > > This is an accepted version of this page > > > Hajj (/hɑːdʒ/; Arabic: حَجّ, romanized: Ḥajj; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey, and of supporting their family during their absence from home. > In Islamic terminology, ... ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/10 "2025-05-05T22:15:57Z")
The phrase also implies that you may have drank a bit and/or had sex/and or slept not-in-a-bed… There’s a certain look to the face and posture that says “slept in yesterday’s clothes.” ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/11 "2025-05-05T22:17:39Z")
Ummm…the Walk of Shame, applies. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/12 "2025-05-05T22:38:09Z")
Even a t-shirt looks wrinkled if you sleep in it, although with a t-shirt, the wrinkles will come out fairly quickly. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/13 "2025-05-05T22:46:35Z")
Camino de Santiago. 500,000 people completed at least 100 km _and_ bothered to get the certificate in 2024. Many, many more walked sections or the whole thing. Plus other pilgrimage routes in Japan, to Lourdes, Rome, Jerusalem, Mecca, in the US, and in other countries. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/14 "2025-05-05T22:46:49Z")
I think regular bodily fluids, sweat and such anything would get rumpled. I don’t care. I often get up and go to dialysis in what I slept in. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/15 "2025-05-05T23:06:08Z")
I used to work with a guy whose clothes were the most wrinkled I have ever seen. His family was in one of those “quiverfull” religious sects and he had five kids under six years old. I assume all clothes got washed together and he just pulled his stuff out of the dryer. Of maybe he did sleep in them. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/16 "2025-05-06T01:26:46Z")
I saw a line in a novel once, in the midst of some stressful situation: “His clothes looked like they had been slept in for the past week, which was odd, given that the man himself looked as though he had not slept in that same time.” ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/17 "2025-05-06T01:31:58Z")
I had university students who would roll out of bed in their jammies and stagger to class. They were rumpled, uncombed, and stank like, well, stank. Plus they didn’t brush their teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/18 "2025-05-06T02:24:24Z")
That’s really neat. I never heard of that until today. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/19 "2025-05-06T02:25:22Z")
You bet! The first time I heard about it, I thought, “huh.” The second time, it inspired an insatiable craving to walk 500 miles across Spain. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922/20 "2025-05-06T13:35:31Z")
Not only disheveled and wrinkled but it makes me think of specific wrinkles. Like a long crease that implies you were laying in your rumpled shirt for a long while. Agreed that modern fabrics probably mitigate this to some degree. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Ummm…the Walk of Shame, applies. If it’s a Walk of Shame worth mentioning, you didn’t sleep in your clothes 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/their-clothes-looked-like-they-had-slept-in-them-how-can-you-tell/1017922.md?page=2)