衣 - The Folds in Your CLOTHES

Readings & Meanings:

イ

ころも

clothes, garments

Common Usage:

衣替え(の日)

衣料品

Examples:

春は衣替えの季節。
衣替えの日を境に女子学生は黒い長袖のセーラー服から白いセーラー服に着替える。

今期は衣料品の売り上げが良くなかった。

Translations:

Spring is the season when you change your clothing.
After the clothes-changing day, female students change to sailor-suits instead of black, long-sleeved sailor-suits.

This season, the proceeds from clothing goods have not been good.

Bonus:

Careful readers may recognize 衣 from our post on 浴. Put them together, and you get 浴衣, using an unusual pronunciation for both kanji.

To remember this kanji, think of the folds of a kimono. Because 衣 alone gives Japanese people the connotation of old clothing, kimonos, etc. So think of the kanji's lines as folds in a kimono.

References:

http://www.thejapanesepage.com/kanji/kanji/i.htm