Fur clothing is clothing made from the preserved skins of mammals. Fur is one of the oldest forms of clothing, and is thought to have been widely used by people for at least 120,000 years. The term 'fur' is often used to refer to a specific item of clothing such as a coat, wrap, or shawl made from the fur of animals. Humans wear fur garments to protect them from cold climates and wind chill, but documented evidence of fur as a marker of social status as far back as 2,000-years ago with ancient Egyptian emperors and high priests wearing the skins of leopards. Historically in European and Middle Eastern cultures fur garments often had the fur facing inwards with cloth on the exterior of the jacket, but in the 19th century a trend for wearing seal fur coats with the fur facing outwards became the trend. World wide both styles are popular, with fur linings offering more thermal benefits and exterior furs serving more of a fashionable purpose. History Fur is generally thought to have been among the first materials used for clothing. The period when fur was first used as clothing is debated. It is known that several species of hominoids including Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis used fur clothing. Clothing was made from the hides of animals such as bison, muskox, bear, ground sloth, woolly rhinoceros, mammoth or Irish elk. Fur clothing predates written history and has been recovered from various archaeological sites worldwide. Crown proclamations known as "sumptuary legislation" were issued in England limiting the wearing of certain furs to higher social statuses, thereby establishing a cachet based on exclusivity. Furs such as marten, leopard, snow leopard and cheetah (all three of them known as 'panther' at the time), red squirrel and ermine were reserved for the aristocracy, while fox, hare and beaver clothed the middle, and goat, wolf and sheepskin the lower. Fur was primarily used for visible linings, with species varied by season within social classes. Populations of fur-bearing animals decreased in West Europe and began to be imported from the Middle East and Russia. As new kinds of fur, such as jaguar and chinchilla, entered Europe, other uses were found for fur other than clothing. Beaver was most desired and used to make hats which became popular headpieces, especially during wartime. Swedish soldiers wore broad-brimmed hats made exclusively from beaver felt. Due to