Why is it that cartoon characters always wear the same clothes?

The animators cba to draw new clothes ALL THE TIME

I agree completely. This total lack of wardrobe thing really rubs me the wrong way! Shouldn’t animators come equipped with a sense of style or something? I’m not sure but I might be taking this whole thing a little too seriously.

why would a duck wear pants
why would a cave man have more than one shirt

why would you spend time and money changing a characters appearance every episode when you can just mass produce the character and produce shows faster creating more revenue

Hahah what’s even more funny is how Donald Duck doesn’t wear pants, but when he gets out of the shower he covers himself with a towel.

Cartoon characters don’t poop, and dirt just disappears, so their clothes are never dirty or have to be changed.

@TheCreative well duh… its not like ducks can dry themselves off or anything….. do you want him to get sick?

Yes, yes I do
I can’t stand him
And duck tastes really good.

Because the one time Homer wore a pink shirt they threw him in an insane asylum.

And how come Donald doesn’t wear pants, but covers up down there when he takes his shirt off.

Goofy does actually change clothes.

For recognition purposes? Maybe kids recognize the characters more easily when they always wear the same clothes.

Homer wore that stunning muumuu at one point, remember? He actually wears different outfits more frequently than some other cartoon characters. Eh, who wants to spend all that time constantly coming up with new outfits? I think even Jem, who was truly outrageous, wore the same pink and teal outfit 75% of the time.

For the same reason that Marge’s hair is always blue.

I’m serious, let’s kill Donald and get some Peking Duck
You can get them in little sandwiches for 75 cents in here. Man, NYC is awesome…

Homer Simpson, Donald Duck, and Barney Rubble have got nothing on He-man’s ensemble. He really needs a wardrobe change.

That definitely registers on gay-dar.

@jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities – and what is with that hair “not” style.

They wear the same clothes so that the animators can more easily re-use previously drawn actions or scenes.

@Bri_L Hey, it worked for the guy in No Country For Old Men!

I would say it’s for saving money and making it easier, in general, to animate.

Try watching Nana. Hachi changes outfit and hairstyle every day.

In cartoon world clothes never smell, don’t need to be washed and thus never changed. Makes sense to me.

this reminds me of a question I’ve always wanted to ask. I’m going to go ask it, right now…

I find it amusing when they’re just naked all the time, or one character needs pants and a shirt, and the other just a shirt.

It’s part of the animated characters union contract: No unwarranted wardrobe changes are allowed without thirty-days advance notice and the payment of a sizable fee to cover expenses of obtaining said new wardrobe and storing the old one.

Sheeesh! Next thing you know, someone will insist that all animated characters have 5 digits on each hand even if they are an animal that by rights shouldn’t have fingers at all.

I draw stick figures. They’re naked, consist of only bones, and somehow grab things without the use of fingers or thumbs. Baffling.
They do change hairstyles a little bit every frame, though.

so you can remember that character just how it is, if you only see it once. :)
But i agree, they ALL need to be sent to “what not to wear”! :)

They are environmentally conscious.

It’s hard to make new clothing designs. For all those episodes.

Because they’re dirty, nasty little penflicks.

What you don’t like my dress?

The serious answer: Cost savings.