How to craft and equip clothing in Ark Survival Evolved

Ark Survival Evolved clothing
(Image credit: Studio Wildcard)

Knowing how to craft and equip clothing in Ark Survival Evolved means you can wrap up against the cold or wet elements and give yourself some injury protection, rather than spending the whole time running around in the basic loin cloth you start with. Crafting a basic outfit to cover your modesty and boost your stats is one of the essential survival skills, along with building an Ark Survival Evolved shelter and finding Ark Survival Evolved food and water, but how you go about doing this isn't intuitive for fresh visitors to the island. If you want to deal with your state of undress quickly, then here's the process to follow so you can get outfitted in your own Ark Survival Evolved clothing and reduce your exposure to the threats surrounding you.

How to unlock Ark Survival Evolved clothing crafting

Ark Survival Evolved clothing

(Image credit: Studio Wildcard)

You can begin crafting Ark Survival Evolved clothing as early as Engram Tier 3, when the blueprints for Cloth gear becomes available to unlock. This first clothing set is made up of five individual items, with those being Cloth Pants, Cloth Shirt, Cloth Gloves, Cloth Boots, and a Cloth Hat. As you progress through the Engram Tiers you'll unlock more gear options in Hide, Fur, and other materials, but initially your focus should be on getting that first set of Cloth clothing crafted and equipped to cover up your nakedness.

How to gather materials to craft Ark Survival Evolved clothing

Ark Survival Evolved clothing

(Image credit: Studio Wildcard)

Each piece of Ark Survival Evolved clothing in the Cloth gear set needs to be crafted individually from the following materials:

  • Cloth Pants: 50 Fiber
  • Cloth Shirt: 40 Fiber
  • Cloth Gloves: 20 Fiber, 4 Hide
  • Cloth Boots: 25 Fiber, 6 Hide
  • Cloth Hat: 10 Fiber

Fiber is a simple material to round up, as you just need to press the Use button (Triangle/Y) when low-growing plants are close by. Hide is slightly trickier, as you have to kill an animal then hit it with a tool to harvest materials from it – ideally you should use a Hatchet, as that prioritises skin. When you've collected the necessary resources, head to the Crafting section of the Inventory, highlight the required Engram, then use the Craft prompt to put it together.

How to equip Ark Survival Evolved clothing

(Image: © Studio Wildcard)

Once you've crafted your Ark Survival Evolved clothing, you then need to physically put it on so you can start receiving the benefits of wearing it. To equip an individual clothing item, select it in your Inventory which will highlight the body part slot in the middle section it can be applied to, then move over and select that highlighted slot to wear the gear. By hovering over each clothing item you can see how much Armor it provides, as well as the protection against Hypothermic (cold) and Hyperthermic (hot) conditions.

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Iain Wilson
Guides Editor

Iain originally joined Future in 2012 to write guides for CVG, PSM3, and Xbox World, before moving on to join GamesRadar in 2013 as Guides Editor. His words have also appeared in OPM, OXM, PC Gamer, GamesMaster, and SFX. He is better known to many as ‘Mr Trophy’, due to his slightly unhealthy obsession with amassing intangible PlayStation silverware, and he now has over 500 Platinum pots weighing down the shelves of his virtual award cabinet. He does not care for Xbox Achievements.