The Gemorah in Sotah (14a) says דרש ר' שמלאי תורה תחלתה גמילות חסדים וסופה גמילות חסדים תחילתה גמילות חסדים דכתיב ויעש ה' אלהים לאדם ולאשתו כתנות עור וילבישם וסופה גמילות חסדים דכתיב ויקבר אותו בגיא. The Maharal in Nesiv Hatorah Ch.1 says that the Torah in the seder of the world so it would seem quite apparent from here if the Torah is book-ended about גמילות חסדים that its integral to Torah. Why is this so?
In the intro. to the Nefesh HaChayim, the son of Rav Chayim Volozener says his father said that a person was created in order to help out someone else. If that is the purpose of why a person exists then it is understood that principle is the beginning and end of the Torah. That is the great curse of the snake, ועפר תאכל. What is the curse, he has food everywhere? He doesn't have to rely upon anyone else. It is the need for mankind to help each other that is the biggest blessing. Based upon this idea we can also understand that this is the mussar lesson to be gleaned from the fact that originally man and woman were created in one body with two faces (Rashi 2:21.) Why was mankind created that way if it didn't last? The lesson is that two people are two halves of one coin; one can only be successful to their fullest potential if one individual is helping another.
Why do Chazal need to go to the fact that Hashem made clothes for man to find chesed at the beginning of the Torah, there was chesed beforehand for in fact the very creation of the world is a chesed from Hashem? We say in Shemone Esrai גומל חסדים טובים. Obviously חסד is טוב, what does it mean? Rav Elyah Lopian explains with the principle of נהמא דכיסופא. One can do חסד in a manner that the recipient feels that they aren't deserving of what is being bestowed upon them therefore they will feel bad. However, greater than that is to do חסד for someone else and they feel that they are receiving what they deserve. That is גומל חסדים, its given as a גמול, reward for what the person did and therefore טובים, it is a great form of חסד. Based upon this, says Rav Avrohom Gorvitz, that is why Chazal point to the chesed Hashem did in making clothes for Adam. Beforehand there was עולם חסד יבנה, there was חסד but it wasn't גמילות חסדים. It is only in the making of the clothes that the chesed was done as a reward. What did Adam do to deserve this chesed? He explains based upon a Briskor Rav.
The Briskor Rav asks why did Adam hide from Hashem (after eating from the aitz haddas,) obviously one can't hide from Hashem? He explains that Adam was right for hiding for now after the sin when he recognized his ערוה, then it had to covered in order to stand before Hashem just as we find regarding prayer (Berachos 24.) Rav Gorvitz says as a "reward" for keeping this halacha, Hashem made clothes for Adam.
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