RimWorld Vanilla Apparel Expanded tier list: every item ranked
Every piece of Vanilla Apparel Expanded ranked for RimWorld 1.6 — protection, cold, heat, work and social. Flip the fabric, toggle vanilla clothing in or out. Jumpsuits, gas masks, doctor scrubs and more.
Vanilla Apparel Expanded is the go-to RimWorld clothing mod: 42 new garments that mostly carry a functional bonus, not just armour and warmth — a jumpsuit that speeds every job, a gas mask that shrugs off toxic fallout, doctor scrubs that raise surgery success, a suit that improves trade prices. This tier list ranks all of it. Pick a job, flip the fabric to re-tier the craftable pieces, and toggle the base-game vanilla clothing in or out to compare. Stats are read from the mod's own Defs; numbers are at normal quality.
Patch 1.6 + VE Vanilla Apparel Expanded Scored at normal quality
Short version: most VAE clothing is deliberately light on armour and trades it for a work, medical or social bonus. The standouts are the jumpsuit (+10% global work), overalls, chef's uniform, doctor scrubs and lab coat, the gas mask (toxic protection), and the suit jacket / shirt and tie (social and trade). Pick a job below and flip the fabric.
How the ranking works
Every stuffable garment has a base factor and the material multiplies it, exactly like vanilla clothing — a cloth item is a throwaway in the early game, the same item in devilstrand or hyperweave is end-game. Cold and heat scale the same way. Work, medical and social bonuses are printed on the garment and don't change with the material, so those tabs rank on the effect itself. Two toggles: the fabric selector re-tiers the craftable pieces, and the with-vanilla button drops the 16 base-game garments into the ranking so you can see VAE and vanilla side by side. A few items are fixed-material (gas mask, doctor scrubs, lab coat, hardhat, sunglasses) and hold their value in any fabric view.
Stats are computed from the mod's Defs multipliers and each garment's base factors, at normal quality. Apparel icons are Vanilla Expanded team art, shown for identification with credit.
Pick a job, flip the fabric
Military uniform S
What’s good
- Top of the mod for armour (50% sharp)
- +pain-shock, +hunt stealth on top of the stats
What’s not
- Still clothing, not armour — a flak vest goes over it
// Devilstrand · protection — tap an item for what it does, and the catch
The reason to install VAE
Vanilla's clothing does two things: protection and temperature. VAE adds a third — a job bonus. A jumpsuit gives +10% to every task; overalls speed farming and hauling; a chef's uniform and toque cook faster with fewer food-poisonings; doctor scrubs, a surgical mask and a lab coat raise surgery success, tend quality and research; a builder's jacket and hardhat help construction; and a gas mask cuts toxic sensitivity by 0.8, which is the difference between working through a toxic fallout and hiding from it. Switch to the Work & utility tab to rank these on their bonus, and to Social for the suits, ties and sheriff shirt that lift trade prices and negotiation. The material doesn't change those numbers, so that's where the fabric toggle greys out.
The catch
Read these tiers at normal quality — a good tailor and a strong fabric move a piece more than the mod does. And most VAE clothing is light on armour by design: it trades protection for productivity, so a pawn in a lab coat or chef's uniform still wants a flak vest for a raid. Toggle vanilla clothing on and a devilstrand duster still tops raw protection and a megasloth-wool parka still owns cold — VAE widens the wardrobe, it doesn't power-creep it.
FAQ
What does Vanilla Apparel Expanded add?
42 new pieces of clothing across every tech level, and the point is that most carry a functional bonus, not just armour and warmth. Jumpsuits give +10% global work speed, overalls boost farming and hauling, a chef's uniform speeds cooking, doctor scrubs raise surgery success, a gas mask cuts toxic sensitivity by 0.8, and suits and ties improve social and trade. There are casual, formal, work, military, medical, medieval and neolithic sets.
Does Vanilla Apparel Expanded need other mods?
Only Vanilla Expanded Framework, the shared library every Vanilla Expanded mod uses. It pairs with Vanilla Armour Expanded and Vanilla Weapons Expanded but doesn't require them. A separate companion mod, Vanilla Apparel Expanded - Accessories, adds belt-layer accessories and is optional. It's safe to add to an existing save.
Is Vanilla Apparel Expanded balanced or overpowered?
It's tuned to sit alongside vanilla, not above it. The work bonuses are meaningful, but they come on low-armour clothing, so a pawn in a chef's uniform or lab coat trades protection for productivity. For a fighter you still want a devilstrand-or-better duster over a flak vest.
What are the best Vanilla Apparel Expanded items?
For work: the jumpsuit, overalls for farmers, a chef's uniform in the kitchen, doctor scrubs and a lab coat for medical and research. For utility: the gas mask for toxic fallout. For social pawns: a suit jacket or shirt and tie. Which is best depends on the pawn's job - use the tabs.
Does it work with vanilla clothing?
Yes - VAE apparel uses the same layers and materials, so it stacks and competes on the same terms. Flip the with-vanilla toggle here to rank the VAE items alongside the base-game garments. A devilstrand jumpsuit and a devilstrand duster live on the same shelf.
Is it compatible with 1.6 and Odyssey?
Vanilla Expanded mods are actively maintained for the current RimWorld version, including 1.6 and Odyssey. Run the latest Workshop version and load Vanilla Expanded Framework above it. Check the Workshop version notes if you mix it into a large modlist.
