សំពត់

Sampot is the Khmer word for a rectangular piece of cloth wrapped around the lower body. It is the national garment of Cambodia. The word is old Khmer, predating significant Thai or Vietnamese linguistic influence. The garment appears in Angkor-era stone carvings: the apsaras on the walls of Angkor Wat wear intricately draped sampots, with the fabric pulled between the legs and tucked at the back to create a trouser-like effect. This style — sampot chong kben — is still worn today.

The sampot has several variations. The sampot chong kben is the formal version, a three-meter cloth wound around the waist and pulled between the legs. The sampot phamuong is woven silk, used for ceremonies. The sampot hol is a tie-dyed silk unique to Cambodia, made using an ikat technique that pre-dates the Angkor period. Each version marks a different social context: daily wear, ceremony, mourning, court appearance.

French colonial rule (1863–1953) introduced Western clothing to Cambodia's urban elite, but the sampot never disappeared from rural life or from ceremony. King Norodom Sihanouk wore sampot chong kben at state occasions, pointedly choosing the Khmer garment over Western suits. During the Khmer Rouge period (1975–1979), the regime imposed black uniforms and banned traditional sampots. After liberation, the sampot's return was itself a political act.

Modern Cambodian fashion designers are reinterpreting the sampot for contemporary wear. Silk sampot hol, which takes weeks to weave, is among the most expensive textiles produced in Southeast Asia. The garment that appears on ninth-century temple walls is still being designed, woven, and worn in the twenty-first century.