How can clothing affect self-esteem?

Even if you have the coolest outfit in school, the next day someone else could come in with an even cooler outfit. If your self-esteem is tied to the fact that you have the coolest outfit, then your self-esteem is thrashed. If you’re talking about true self-esteem, then I would say that clothing has no impact. It is that false sense of self-esteem that is tied to how you look in the world, and how you appear to others. Whether or not you appear to be successful, your self-esteem that is constantly under threat. That’s why I think there is unlimited value in telling kids that you should have self-esteem, because you can do anything; you can have anything, or be anything that you want. At the end of the day, whatever you do, be, or have will end. Somebody else will do, be, or have it better, no matter how good you do it. What’s really, really important is to keep bringing attention to those intrinsic qualities. Your inner self has nothing to do with what you have. One of the side effects of true self-esteem is kindness, consideration, and compassion.