Karen cloth is cotton and hand dyed using natural dyes. It is very beautiful and simple, with many shades in natural, muted tones and basic striped designs. There are also more complicated, bright designs often using red cloth as a base. 

The art of dyeing cloth is a Karen tradition that all Karen used to know and would pass on to their children. This art, however, is gradually being lost as the youth go to study in Thai schools and spend less time in the villages. 

Unmarried women wear long white cotton dresses with a red band around the waist and a stripe down the front forming a cross, indicators of their purity. Married women wear black or red shirts with red skirts in complicated, colorful designs. 

The shirts worn by unmarried and married men are very hard to distinguish. Unmarried men tend to wear more natural colors, while married men wear brighter reds. Unmarried men also used to wear a band around their forehead.  However, nowadays fewer men wear the band and the colors of the shirts are becoming an unreliable indicator of marital status.