Longcloth
Encyclopedia
Longcloth refers to a plain cotton
cloth originally made in comparatively long pieces.
The name was applied particularly to cloth made in India
. Longcloth, which is now commonly bleached, comprehends a number of various qualities. It is heavier than cambric
, and finer than medium or Mexican. In the early 1900s, as it was used principally for underclothing and shirts, most of the longcloth sold in Great Britain
passed through the hands of the shirt and underclothing manufacturers, who sold it to the shopkeepers, though there was still a considerable if decreasing retail trade in piece-goods. In the UK in the early 1900s the lower kinds of longcloth, which were made from American cotton, corresponded in quality to the better kinds of shirting made for the East, but the best longcloths were made from Egyptian cotton, and were fine and fairly costly goods.
Nowadays, longcloth (or long cloth) designates a cotton fabric which is of high quality, very soft, coarsely woven, and very often used to make underwear and infants' clothing.
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
cloth originally made in comparatively long pieces.
The name was applied particularly to cloth made in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Longcloth, which is now commonly bleached, comprehends a number of various qualities. It is heavier than cambric
Cambric
Cambric, pronounced , "one of the finest and most dense species of the cloth manufacture", is a lightweight plain weave cloth, originally from Cambrai, woven in greige, then bleached and piece-dyed, often glazed or calendered. Initially made from flax, then cotton in the 19th century, it is also...
, and finer than medium or Mexican. In the early 1900s, as it was used principally for underclothing and shirts, most of the longcloth sold in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
passed through the hands of the shirt and underclothing manufacturers, who sold it to the shopkeepers, though there was still a considerable if decreasing retail trade in piece-goods. In the UK in the early 1900s the lower kinds of longcloth, which were made from American cotton, corresponded in quality to the better kinds of shirting made for the East, but the best longcloths were made from Egyptian cotton, and were fine and fairly costly goods.
Nowadays, longcloth (or long cloth) designates a cotton fabric which is of high quality, very soft, coarsely woven, and very often used to make underwear and infants' clothing.