Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
Gaiters are a type of clothing worn over the shoe and lower pants leg, primarily as personal protective equipment for the lower leg and ankle. They strap over the hiking boot and around the leg to protect against branches and thorns and to keep mud, snow and debris out of the top of the boot. Originally gaiters were made of leather; today gaiters for walking are commonly plasticized synthetic cloth such as polyester, while gaiters for horseback remain leather. This page explains their uses, from snow and snake protection to military dress.
Gaiters have nothing to do with alligators. However, technically they can be worn over your shoes & lower section of your pant let as you walk thru a swamp looking for gators. They will NOT protect your foot or leg from alligator bites.
Gaiters are a type of clothing worn over the shoe and lower pants leg. This type of garment is worn primarily as personal protective equipment for the lower part of the wearers leg. Similar garments used primarily for display are spats. Originally, gaiters were made of leather. Today, gaiters for walking are commonly made of plasticized synthetic cloth such as polyester. Gaiters for use on horseback continue to be made of leather.
Gaiters fill the same function as puttees, a part of numerous military uniforms. Gaiters known as jambieres (derived from the French word jambe for legs, hence leggings) were part of the uniform of Zouave infantry regiments.
Gaiters are a type of protective clothing for a person's ankles and legs below the knee. Gaiters are worn when walking, hiking or running outdoors amongst dense underbrush or in snow. In snow conditions they can be worn with or without snowshoes.
Gaiters strap over the hiking boot and around the person's leg to provide protection from branches and thorns and to prevent mud, snow, etc. from entering the top of the boot.
Gaiters may also be worn as protection against snake bites.
During the 19th century gaiters for riding horses typically were known as riding gaiters.
The gaiter guards the weakest point of outdoor clothing: the gap where trouser leg meets boot. Whatever the ground throws up — snow, mud, scree, brush, thorns — enters there, and a gaiter closes it with a shaped cover strapped under the boot and fastened up the leg. In snow, worn with or without snowshoes, gaiters keep snow out and trousers dry; in brush they are armour against branches and thorns; in snake country they are worn as protection against bites. The design is therefore judged on closure and fit — a gaiter that sags or gaps at the ankle does none of its jobs.
The military history runs in parallel. Gaiters and their wrapped equivalent, puttees, were standard infantry equipment — protection and a smart, uniform lower leg in one — and the French jambieres of the Zouave regiments made them part of a famous silhouette. Riding gaiters kept the leather version alive in the saddle, where the lower leg works against the horse and the stirrup leather. The dress relative is the spat: same position, same general shape, but made for display over a shoe rather than protection over a boot — the difference between equipment and ornament that runs through this whole family of garments.
Gaiters are a type of protective clothing for a person's ankles and legs below the knee, worn over the shoe and lower pants leg, strapped over the boot to prevent mud, snow and debris entering the top of the boot.
Originally gaiters were made of leather. Today gaiters for walking are commonly made of plasticized synthetic cloth such as polyester, while gaiters for use on horseback continue to be made of leather.
Similar garments used primarily for display are spats. Gaiters fill the same function as puttees, a part of numerous military uniforms; gaiters known as jambieres were part of the uniform of Zouave infantry regiments.