Garot or galjungi is a variety of hanbok

Hanbok

Hanbok or Chosŏn-ot is the traditional Korean dress. It is often characterized by vibrant colors and simple lines without pockets. Although the term literally means "Korean clothing", hanbok today often refers specifically to hanbok of Joseon Dynasty and is worn as semi-formal or formal wear...

, Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

n traditional clothing

Clothing

Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...

, which has been worn by locals of Jeju Island in Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

 as a working clothes and everyday dress. Although there is no historical record on its origin, it is known that Jeju farmers and fishermen have worn it for a long time. According to a research on Jeju traditional tools, about 700 years ago Jeju people used fishing lines which were dyed by unripe persimmons., because it was much stronger than undyed one. They might have come up with the idea that persimmon dying could make cotton stronger, so they might have started to dye it. Gal (갈) comes from gam (감) which means persimmon

Persimmon

A persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros in the ebony wood family . The word Diospyros means "the fire of Zeus" in ancient Greek. As a tree, it is a perennial plant...

 in Korean, and ot (옷) means clothes in Korean

Korean language

Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...

. Therefore, garot refers to clothes dyed by persimmons, especially unripe persimmons.

Making garot

According to Natural coloring that we have to know, various tones of black or brown colors can be obtained from dye made by unripe persimmon. To make high-quality garot, much time and effort is required. First, hard unripe persimmons should be cleaned and smashed using a wooden mortar. Next, fabric should be soaked evenly in unripe persimmon pulp, and it is then massaged in the juice of unripe persimmons. Then, after removing down small fragments of persimmon, the fabric should be laid on the grass and dried under the sunshine without wrinkles, otherwise you'll get an uneven color. It is turned over to allow the opposite side to dry. After that, it should be soaked in water and be dried again under the sunshine. It needs to be dried and soaked in water twice a day for 7 to 10 days. The longer it stays in the sun, the deeper the color it has. In this procedure, you will get dark brown color basically. If the color should be lighter than brown, it is better to add some water in persimmon juice and soak the fabric in it at first time. If the color should be dark and thick brown, it can be soaked in a light solution of persimmon at second time instead of water. Or it can get black color if it is soaked in iron oxide solution at second time. So the color of garot depends on the catalyzer—limewater, iron oxide solution, vinegar—, water, and the amount of sunshine.

Advantages of garot

Garot has come into the spotlight as healthful and convenient clothing. It has moth proof, waterproof, antimicrobial properties. Also Gal-ot prevents putrefaction, so it doesn't rot if stored in damp conditions. The thick, dense wave can help protect against sharp environmental hazards, such as splinters or thorns. Furthermore, it has been regarded as the best work clothing by residents of Jeju. In addition, even though Jeju's weather in summer is very humid, hot, and rainy, garot doesn't cling to the body when wet. Therefore, approximately 85% of the islanders wear garot in summer work conditions. Due to antimicrobial properties, detergent is not needed when washing. In addition, it doesn't wrinkle easily, so it is regarded as "wash and wear" clothing.