Clothing is considered one of the most essential things we need for basic survival, up there with food, water, housing, and healthcare. Those all make sense. But I’ve been naked for hours on end, many times before, and I’m just fine.
It honestly seems more like a social thing (e.g. public nudity is a social taboo) than anything that is scientifically linked to survival.
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Clothing provides protection against colder temperatures (by keeping the heat in), against warmer temperatures (by keeping the direct sunlight out), against accidental scratches (by being the first layer) and against serious damage (gloves, footwear).
As such, clothing saves the body from using energy, which then can be used for something else and the community overall will gain from it.
The taboo of the absence of clothing, or the social pressure to wear a certain set of garments (pants, shoes, socks, shirt), that has nothing to do with the basic survival part.
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