衣 sketches a traditional robe: the top stroke the collar, the sides its crossed lapels, the bottom sweeping hems. Three thousand years ago it looked like a shirt laid flat; squint and it still does.
衣 dresses the language: 衣服 (clothes — the everyday word), 毛衣 (sweater — 'fur clothes'), 大衣 (overcoat). Confucian etiquette ranked proper 衣 next to proper speech; the idiom 衣食住行 (clothing, food, shelter, transport) lists life's four necessities with 衣 first. As a radical (衤) it threads through 裤 (pants), 裙 (skirt), 被 (quilt) — the whole wardrobe hangs off this one character.
Collar on top, lapels crossed, hems below — a ROBE: CLOTHES.
衣食住行 — clothing, food, housing, transport — is the standard Chinese phrase for 'the basics of life', and clothes come first.