38 TEKSTILNA INDUSTRIJA · Broj 4 · 2020 APPEARANCE OF PROTECTIVE CLOTHING OVER THE CENTURIES Sanja Risteski 1* , Vineta Srebrenkoska 1 1 University “Goce Delčev”, Štip, Faculty of Тechnology, Republic of North Macedonia * e-mail: sanja.risteski@ugd.edu.mk Abstract: In the history of the costume, protective military clothing has a special place. The origins of military clothing go deep into history. Protective clothing defned as protective “cover” clothes is used to protect the body from physical attack. In the in many of the ancient civilization is noticed similarity in the appearance of military clothing, which means that Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek and Roman soldiers are dressed and armed in a similar way. In this paper the protective military clothes over the centuries, starting from Egypt, Babylon and Assyria, Crete and Mycenae, Ancient Greece and Rome, reaching the protective clothing characteristic of the medieval period slowly approaching the contemporary look of protective clothing is being analyzed. Keywords: Military clothing, vest, cover clothing. IZGLED ZAŠTITNE ODEĆE KROZ VEKOVE Apstrakt: U istoriji nošnje zaštitna vojna odeća ima posebno mesto. Poreklo vojne odeće seže duboko u istoriju. Zaštitna odeća defnisana kao zaštitna “pokrivna” odeća koristi se za zaštitu tela od fzičkog napada. U mnogim drevnim civilizacijama primećena je sličnost u izgledu vojne odeće, što znači da su egipatski, asirski, grčki i rimski vojnici obučeni i naoružani na sličan način. U ovom radu analizirana je zaštitna vojna odeća kroz vekove, počev od Egipta, Vavilona i Asirije, Krita i Mikene, drevne Grčke i Rima, sve do zaštitne odeće karakteristične za srednjovekov- ni period koji se polako približava savremenom izgledu zaštitne odeće. Ključne reči: Vojna odeća, prsluk, pokrivna odeća. Professional paper UDC: 687.052(091) doi: 10.5937/tekstind2004038R 1. INTRODUCTION In the past, various nations and cultures around the world used protective clothing made from natural raw materials. Initially, protective clothing and shields were made from animal skins. In order to protect themselves, humans used mimicry to “escape” from visual detection by combining a mixture of colors in order to achieve a blurred silhouette that would be less visible to enemy forces. People do not have natu- ral masked features, but some forms of protection of the human body date back thousands of years. Prehis- toric people protected their bodies with piles of grass, which they put on their bodies in order to hide and protect themselves from aggressive animals. The oldest data about protective clothing show that the frst type of protective clothing was made of leather, and the frst protective clothing was found in Europe and West Asia. Until the industrial revolution in the 19th centu- ry, clothing was generally used to protect against the weather. The industrial revolution has seen a signif- cant increase in the use of protective clothing against industrial hazards such as heat, fre, explosion, impact, chemicals etc. The beginning of the 21st century is a period of innovation in the science of textiles and new materials. A period of transformation of the al- ready known functions of clothing into advanced and new textile production technologies is already taking place [1]. With the advancement of civilization, wooden shields and later metal shields were used as protec- tion. The metal was used as a protective clothing for knights in the middle Ages. During the middle Ages