Changing clothes in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet sounds like it should be as simple as opening a closet, choosing a jacket, and walking away looking like the Champion of Paldea’s most fashionable hallway. And technically, it is simple. The tricky part is understanding what the game actually lets you change, where the clothing menu is hiding, why your school uniform refuses to leave you alone, and how to buy more accessories without accidentally spending your entire sandwich budget.
The short answer is this: press Left on the D-pad to open the Outfit menu. From there, you can change uniforms, socks, shoes, gloves, bags, hats, eyewear, and your Rotom Phone case. You can also remove certain accessories, preview your look, and confirm your outfit before returning to your adventure. However, unlike some earlier Pokémon games with broad outfit freedom, Scarlet and Violet keep your character tied to the academy theme, meaning your base outfit is usually a school uniform.
This guide explains how to change clothes in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, how to remove hats, where to buy new clothing items, how hairstyles and facial features work, and what the DLC adds for players who want more fashion options. Grab your Poké Dollars, because Paldea has boutiques, backpacks, beanies, and at least one pair of glasses that will make your trainer look like they are about to solve both a math problem and a Tera Raid.
Quick Guide: How to Change Clothes in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
To change your clothes, press Left on the D-pad while exploring. This opens the Outfit menu. Use the directional buttons to move through clothing categories, choose the item you want, and press A to try it on. When you are satisfied, press B to leave the menu and confirm the changes.
Step-by-step instructions
- Press Left on the D-pad to open the Outfit menu.
- Use Left and Right on the D-pad to switch between clothing categories.
- Use Up and Down to browse items in the selected category.
- Press A to equip or try on an item.
- Press X on some accessory categories to remove the currently equipped item.
- Press B when finished, then confirm whether you want to keep the new outfit.
The Outfit menu can be opened in many normal gameplay situations, whether you are in a city, standing on a route, or taking a break from catching every Lechonk that looks at you funny. You do not need to visit your dorm room to change most clothing items.
What Clothing Categories Can You Change?
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet split trainer customization into several categories. The most important category is the academy uniform, but you can also customize accessories that dramatically change the overall look of your trainer.
Main clothing categories
- Uniforms: Seasonal academy outfits such as spring, summer, autumn, and winter styles.
- Legwear: Socks, tights, and other lower-leg accessories.
- Footwear: Sneakers, boots, sandals, loafers, and more.
- Gloves: Casual gloves, riding gloves, fingerless gloves, and other handwear.
- Bags: Backpacks and other bag styles.
- Headwear: Hats, caps, helmets, beanies, and similar items.
- Eyewear: Glasses and sunglasses.
- Rotom Phone cases: Cosmetic phone case designs for your Rotom Phone.
The biggest thing to remember is that you are not building an outfit from fully separate shirts, jackets, skirts, and pants. Scarlet and Violet use the school uniform as the foundation. That means accessories do a lot of heavy lifting. Shoes, socks, gloves, glasses, hats, and bags become your main tools for creating a personal style.
Can You Remove the School Uniform?
In the base game, you cannot fully remove the academy uniform. Your trainer is a student, and the game commits to that theme with the confidence of a principal standing beside the dress-code poster. You can switch between seasonal uniform styles, but you cannot freely mix separate tops and bottoms from different uniforms.
Pokémon Scarlet uses the orange-toned Naranja Academy style, while Pokémon Violet uses the purple-toned Uva Academy style. The seasonal uniforms give you different silhouettes: lighter summer clothing, warmer winter clothing, and in-between looks for spring and autumn. These options are useful, but they are still uniforms.
The DLC improves the situation by adding more outfit variety, including new uniform sets and Kitakami clothing options, but the base-game system remains more restricted than the fashion systems in some previous Pokémon titles.
How to Remove Your Hat, Glasses, Gloves, or Socks
If your trainer starts the game wearing a school hat and you instantly think, “This is not my destiny,” good news: you can remove it. Open the Outfit menu with Left on the D-pad, move to the hat category, highlight the equipped hat, and press X to remove it.
The same removal method works for certain accessory categories, including gloves, socks, and eyewear. This is helpful when you want a cleaner look or when a new hairstyle clashes with a hat. Some hairstyles are not compatible with certain hats, so if a hat refuses to appear, the hairstyle is usually the culprit. Your hair is not bugged; it is simply too powerful for headwear.
Where to Buy New Clothes in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
You can buy new clothing and accessories in major cities across Paldea. The main shopping cities are Mesagoza, Levincia, and Cascarrafa. Open your map while in or near these cities and look for shop icons. Clothing stores are often grouped into fashion streets, making it easier to hop from one boutique to another while your wallet quietly panics.
Important clothing stores
- Bagin’s: Sells bags and backpacks.
- Capbourg: Sells hats and headwear.
- Zapaldea Footwear: Sells shoes and other footwear.
- Sock Quarter: Sells socks, tights, and legwear.
- Spec Shack: Sells glasses and sunglasses.
- Rough & Tough: Offers sporty and casual fashion items.
- Seguro Style: Focuses on riding-style gear such as gloves and helmets.
- Veracidad: Sells high-end fashion items, so bring money and emotional courage.
- Delibird Presents: Offers Rotom Phone cases and other useful items.
Different cities may carry different items, so it is worth checking multiple branches. If one store does not have the color or style you want, another city might. This is especially true once DLC style cards expand shop inventories.
How to Buy and Equip Clothing Items
Buying clothing is straightforward. Enter a boutique, browse the shop inventory, select an item, and purchase it with Poké Dollars or League Points when available. Many items come in several colors, so check variations before buying. A pair of shoes that looks ordinary in black might suddenly become the perfect statement piece in red, blue, yellow, or “I just defeated a Titan Pokémon and deserve attention.”
After buying an item, you can often equip it immediately from the shop or later from the Outfit menu. If you are unsure about an item, preview it first. The game gives you enough visual feedback to decide whether your trainer looks stylish, sporty, academic, or like someone who got dressed during a Tera Raid countdown.
How to Change Your Rotom Phone Case
Your Rotom Phone case is also part of your trainer’s look. To change it, open the Outfit menu and move to the Rotom Phone case category. Select the case you want and equip it like other accessories.
You can get more Rotom Phone cases from Delibird Presents and through certain in-game rewards. Phone cases are small details, but they show up often enough that they are worth customizing. A great outfit with the default phone case is not a disaster, but it is a little like ordering a perfect sandwich and forgetting the pickles. Technically fine. Emotionally incomplete.
How to Change Hair and Facial Features
Clothes are only one part of character customization. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet also let you change your character’s face, eyes, eyebrows, lashes, lips, beauty marks, and other appearance details. From the Outfit menu, you can access the appearance menu and adjust many facial features without visiting a shop.
Hair works differently. To change your hairstyle or hair color, visit a hair salon. Hair salons are found in major cities such as Mesagoza, Levincia, and Cascarrafa. Look for the salon or scissors-style icon on the map. A haircut costs 3,000 Poké Dollars, but if you preview styles and back out without confirming, you do not lose your money.
Hair can make a bigger difference than many clothing items because the uniform system is limited. A bold hairstyle, sharp eyewear, and the right pair of shoes can turn the same school uniform into a completely different vibe.
Are Clothing Options Gender-Locked?
No. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet do not lock clothing and hairstyle options by gender in the same way older games sometimes did. Your trainer can wear available clothing items and hairstyles regardless of the character style selected at the beginning. This makes the system more flexible, even though the uniform structure itself is still restrictive.
In practical terms, this means you can focus on building a look you like instead of worrying about whether the game thinks a hat, haircut, or pair of shoes “belongs” to a specific trainer type. The academy may require uniforms, but at least it is not policing your socks with medieval intensity.
What the DLC Adds to Clothing Customization
The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC adds more fashion options to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Players who purchase the DLC can claim a New Uniform Set, which includes spring, summer, autumn, and winter uniforms. These are separate from the original academy uniforms and differ visually between Scarlet and Violet.
To claim the New Uniform Set, open the X menu and select the Downloadable Content banner at the bottom-right area of the menu. After claiming the items, they appear in your Outfit menu. You do not need Nintendo Switch Online to claim the DLC uniform set.
The Teal Mask also introduces Kitakami-themed clothing, including Festival Jinbei outfits and additional accessories. The Teal Style Card expands clothing and hairstyle options in Paldea’s shops. Later DLC content also adds more style options, meaning players with the expansion have much more room to experiment than base-game-only players.
Best Outfit Ideas for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
Because you cannot freely replace the school uniform in the base game, good outfit design is about building around it. Think of the uniform as the canvas and accessories as the paint. Or, if you prefer a Pokémon metaphor, the uniform is your starter and the accessories are the moveset.
1. The clean academy look
Choose the spring or winter uniform, remove the hat, add simple glasses, and pick clean shoes in a neutral color. This creates a polished student style that works well for story scenes, gym battles, and dramatic moments when your rival appears out of nowhere with alarming enthusiasm.
2. The sporty trainer look
Use the summer uniform with sneakers, sporty socks, fingerless gloves, and a casual backpack. This style fits outdoor exploration and makes your trainer look ready to sprint across Paldea, climb cliffs, and somehow survive eating fifty sandwiches in a row.
3. The serious battle strategist
Pick darker shoes, gloves, square glasses, and a sleek bag. This creates a more competitive look, perfect for late-game battles, Tera Raid preparation, and moments when you want your trainer to look like they understand EV training without needing three browser tabs open.
4. The Kitakami festival style
If you have The Teal Mask DLC, try the Festival Jinbei outfits with sandals or simple footwear. This look stands out from the academy uniforms and gives your trainer a stronger regional identity while exploring Kitakami.
Common Problems When Changing Clothes
The Outfit menu will not open
If the menu does not open, make sure you are pressing Left on the D-pad, not the left analog stick. Also try moving away from cutscenes, conversations, battles, or restricted moments. Some menus are unavailable during story sequences.
My hat disappeared or will not equip
Some hairstyles do not work with certain hats. Change your hairstyle at a salon or try a different hat. The game is not always dramatic about explaining this, so the missing hat can feel mysterious until you realize your hair has become the final boss.
I bought clothing but cannot find it
Check the correct category in the Outfit menu. Shoes are under footwear, glasses are under eyewear, and phone cases are under Rotom Phone cases. If you bought DLC-related clothing, make sure you claimed the DLC items properly or progressed far enough to unlock the related style card.
I cannot buy full shirts and pants
That is normal. Scarlet and Violet do not offer the same full outfit freedom as some previous Pokémon games. In the base game, the uniform remains your foundation, and most customization comes from accessories.
500-Word Player Experience: What Changing Clothes Actually Feels Like
The first time you change clothes in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the system feels both exciting and slightly confusing. You press Left on the D-pad, the Outfit menu pops open, and suddenly you realize Paldea has a lot of accessories. There are shoes, socks, gloves, bags, hats, glasses, and phone cases. For a moment, it feels like the game is about to become a full fashion simulator. Then you notice the uniform limitation, and the excitement slows down just enough for you to say, “Wait, I am still wearing school clothes?”
That limitation is the biggest emotional speed bump. Players who loved the broad clothing freedom in games like Pokémon Sword and Shield may feel boxed in at first. You cannot simply buy a hoodie, swap pants, and build a completely new streetwear outfit from scratch. Instead, Scarlet and Violet ask you to work with a school-uniform base. At first, that can feel restrictive. After a while, though, it becomes a small styling challenge. The fun shifts from “What full outfit do I want?” to “How do I make this uniform look like mine?”
Accessories become surprisingly important. A pair of glasses can make your trainer look scholarly, stylish, mysterious, or like they are about to correct someone’s Pokédex pronunciation. Shoes change the energy of the uniform more than expected. Sneakers make the trainer look ready for exploration, boots add attitude, and sandals can make the whole outfit feel more relaxed. Bags are another major piece because your trainer is usually seen from behind while traveling. A backpack is not just a detail; it is practically your trainer’s billboard.
Removing the hat is often the first big improvement. Many players immediately go into the hat category and press X because the default school hat is not for everyone. Once the hat is gone, hairstyles matter more. A salon visit can make the same uniform feel completely different, especially when paired with glasses or a strong shoe choice. The 3,000 Poké Dollar haircut price is reasonable, but early in the game it can still feel like a major purchase. You may ask yourself, “Do I want a new hairstyle, or do I want more Poké Balls?” This is the true moral dilemma of Paldea.
The DLC makes the customization experience better because it adds more clothing personality. The Festival Jinbei outfits, style cards, and extra uniform sets help break up the academy look. They also make travel feel more connected to place. Wearing Kitakami-inspired clothing in Kitakami simply feels right. It gives the adventure a souvenir quality, as if your trainer is collecting memories, not just badges and TMs.
Overall, changing clothes in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is easy mechanically but more limited creatively than some fans expected. Still, there is fun in mastering the details. Once you understand the Outfit menu, shops, salons, and DLC additions, the system becomes a small but enjoyable part of the journey. Your trainer may always be a student, but with the right shoes, bag, haircut, and glasses, they can be the most stylish student to ever accidentally wander into a cave full of angry Pokémon.
Conclusion
Changing clothes in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is simple once you know where the menu is. Press Left on the D-pad, browse the Outfit menu, equip the items you like, and confirm your changes. The main limitation is the academy uniform system, which prevents full mix-and-match outfit freedom in the base game. However, accessories, hairstyles, Rotom Phone cases, and DLC clothing options give you plenty of ways to personalize your trainer.
If you want the best results, visit clothing shops in Mesagoza, Levincia, and Cascarrafa, experiment with shoes and bags, remove the default hat if it does not match your style, and do not ignore salons. A new haircut can do more for your trainer’s look than ten pairs of socks, although the socks still deserve respect. In Paldea, fashion may not help you catch a shiny Pokémon, but at least you will look excellent while running past one by accident.
