Dear Rabbi,
I heard there's a concept not to wear clothing of someone who has passed
away. Does this always apply, and to what types of clothing?

Dear Leah L. and
Faigie R.,
Jews are allowed to wear the clothing of a deceased person, but there has
arisen a widespread custom - based on the writings of Rabbi Yehuda Hachasid
- to avoid wearing his shoes.

Some apply this custom
only to shoes worn at the time of death, while others apply it to any of the
deceased's shoes which he wore. If he never wore them, they may be worn by
others.

Your question reminds
me of a story:

A few years ago Rabbi
Aharon Leib Steinman visited the United States. His travels brought him to
the home of Rabbi Malkiel Kotler in Lakewood, New Jersey, where his attention
was drawn to a tattered pair of shoes on display. "What are these,"
he asked?

Rabbi Kotler answered
with the following story: "As you know, my great grandfather, Rabbi Isser
Zalman Meltzer, was Dean of the great Yeshiva in Slutzk. When the war (WW1)
threatened, all the students were sent home."

One student upon
arriving home was told by his mother: 'I didn't send you all the way to Slutsk
just so you should come home!' Not able get a train because of poverty and
war, the young man walked the 400 kilometers back to the yeshiva. When he
arrived, my great grandfather Rabbi Meltzer was so impressed with this young
man for having walked so far, he kept his shoes as a symbol of self-sacrifice
for the study of Torah."

Rabbi Steinman listened,
then spoke: "But surely," he said, "the young man from WWI
days is no longer living. Isn't it time to dispose of his shoes?"

"Not living?"
said Rabbi Kotler. "He is living. That young man was none other than
Rabbi Elazar Menachem Shach!" (Rabbi Shach, zatzal, has since passed
away at the age of 107, just a month ago from the time of this writing.)