Okay, let's see. The problem is about figuring out how many different outfits can be made from 5 shirts, 6 pairs of pants, and 8 hats. Each outfit consists of one shirt, one pair of pants, and one hat. Hmm. So, I need to calculate the total number of possible combinations. 

First, I remember that when dealing with combinations where you have multiple choices for different items, you can use the multiplication principle. That is, if there are 'a' ways to do something, 'b' ways to do another, and 'c' ways to do a third, the total number of ways to do all three is a multiplied by b multiplied by c. 

Let me apply that here. There are 5 shirts, so that's 5 choices. For each shirt, there are 6 different pairs of pants. So, for each of the 5 shirts, I can pair it with any of the 6 pants. That would be 5 * 6 = 30 combinations of shirts and pants. Then, for each of those 30 combinations, there are 8 hats to choose from. So, for each shirt-pants combination, 8 different hats can be paired with it. 

So, following the multiplication principle, the total number of outfits would be 5 (shirts) * 6 (pants) * 8 (hats). Let me calculate that. 5 times 6 is 30, and then 30 times 8 is 240. So, the total number of outfits should be 240. 

Wait, let me double-check that. Maybe I should break it down step by step to make sure I didn't skip anything. 

First, shirts: 5 options. Pants: 6 options. Hats: 8 options. Each choice is independent of the others. So, for each shirt, you can pair it with any of the 6 pants. That gives 5*6=30 shirt-pants combinations. Then, for each of those 30, you have 8 different hats. So, 30*8=240. Yeah, that seems right. 

Alternatively, if I think of it as permutations, but since each item is chosen once and the order doesn't matter (it's just one shirt, one pair of pants, one hat), multiplication principle is the right approach. 

Another way to visualize: imagine arranging the shirts, pants, and hats in three separate groups. The number of ways to choose one from each group is the product of the sizes of each group. So, 5 * 6 * 8 = 240. 

I don't think there's any overlap or restrictions mentioned in the problem. It's just a straightforward combination of three independent choices. So, the answer should be 240. 

Wait, let me confirm with a smaller example. Suppose there are 2 shirts, 3 pants, and 4 hats. Then, the number of outfits would be 2*3*4=24. Let me count manually. For each shirt, 3 pants, so 2*3=6 shirt-pants. Then 4 hats per shirt-pants, so 6*4=24. Yep, that works. So, scaling up to 5,6,8 gives 5*6*8=240. 

Therefore, I'm confident the answer is 240.
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