142-468: Seersucker , hickory stripe or railroad stripe is a thin, puckered, usually cotton fabric , commonly but not necessarily striped or chequered, used to make clothing for hot weather. The word originates from the Persian words شیر shîr and شکر shakar , literally meaning "milk and sugar", from the gritty texture ("sugar") on the otherwise smooth ("milk") cloth. Seersucker is woven in such
284-415: A lounge suit , business suit , dress suit , or formal suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles generally worn with a collared dress shirt , necktie , and dress shoes . A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of trousers. It is currently considered semi-formal wear or business wear in contemporary Western dress codes , however when
426-584: A 75-to-90 degree "notch" at the point where the lapel meets the collar. Peaked lapels have sharp edges that point upward towards the shoulders. Double-breasted jackets usually have peaked lapels, although peaked lapels are sometimes found on single breasted jackets as well. Shawl lapels are a style derived from the Victorian informal evening wear, and as such are not normally seen on suit jackets except for tuxedos or dinner suits. For black tie events , only jackets with pointed and shawl lapels should be worn. In
568-529: A French traveler of the 17th century who visited Safavid Persia , spoke approvingly of the vast cotton farms of Persia. Cotton ( Gossypium herbaceum Linnaeus) may have been domesticated 5000 BC in eastern Sudan near the Middle Nile Basin region, where cotton cloth was being produced. Around the 4th century BC, the cultivation of cotton and the knowledge of its spinning and weaving in Meroë reached
710-583: A belt may allow the trouser waist to slip down on the hips or below a protruding midsection, and requires constant repositioning; also, they allow, indeed work best with, a slightly looser waist which gives room for natural expansion when seated. Suit trousers, also known as dress pants in the US, are a style of trousers intended as formal , semi-formal , or informal wear. They are often made of either wool or polyester (although many other synthetic and natural textiles are used) and may be designed to be worn with
852-544: A commercial chain in which raw cotton fibers were (at first) purchased from colonial plantations , processed into cotton cloth in the mills of Lancashire , and then exported on British ships to captive colonial markets in West Africa , India , and China (via Shanghai and Hong Kong). By the 1840s, India was no longer capable of supplying the vast quantities of cotton fibers needed by mechanized British factories, while shipping bulky, low-price cotton from India to Britain
994-734: A deficit spiral that led to the country declaring bankruptcy in 1876, a key factor behind Egypt's occupation by the British Empire in 1882 . During this time, cotton cultivation in the British Empire , especially Australia and India, greatly increased to replace the lost production of the American South. Through tariffs and other restrictions, the British government discouraged the production of cotton cloth in India; rather,
1136-616: A farmer who farmed one of the biggest cotton operations. He produced over sixty thousand bales. Cotton remained a key crop in the Southern economy after slavery ended in 1865. Across the South, sharecropping evolved, in which landless farmers worked land owned by others in return for a share of the profits. Some farmers rented the land and bore the production costs themselves. Until mechanical cotton pickers were developed, cotton farmers needed additional labor to hand-pick cotton. Picking cotton
1278-444: A flower just on the left), while single-breasted suits have just one on the left. Most jackets have a variety of inner pockets and two main outer pockets, which are generally either patch pockets, flap pockets, or jetted ("besom") pockets. The patch pocket is, with its single extra piece of cloth sewn directly onto the front of the jacket, a sporting option, sometimes seen on summer linen suits or other informal styles. The flap pocket
1420-487: A great deal of resources would have been required, likely restricting its cultivation to the elite. In the first to third centuries CE, recovered cotton fragments all began to mirror the same style and production method, as seen from the direction of spun cotton and technique of weaving. Cotton textiles also appear in places of high regard, such as on funerary stelae and statues. During the Han dynasty (207 BC - 220 AD), cotton
1562-432: A hidden button holds the underlap in place. The jacket's lapels can be notched (also called "stepped"), peaked ("pointed"), shawl, or "trick" (Mandarin and other unconventional styles). Each lapel style carries different connotations and is worn with different cuts of suit. Notched lapels, the most common of the three, are usually only found on single-breasted jackets and are the most informal style. They are distinguished by
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#17327797275131704-592: A high level. The export of textiles was one of the sources of wealth for Meroë. Ancient Nubia had a "culture of cotton" of sorts, evidenced by physical evidence of cotton processing tools and the presence of cattle in certain areas. Some researchers propose that cotton was important to the Nubian economy for its use in contact with the neighboring Egyptians. Aksumite King Ezana boasted in his inscription that he destroyed large cotton plantations in Meroë during his conquest of
1846-453: A low gorge (the point on the jacket that forms the "notch" or "peak" between the collar and front lapel). Current (mid-2000s) trends are towards a narrower lapel and higher gorge. Necktie width usually follows the width of the jacket lapel. Lapels also have a buttonhole , intended to hold a boutonnière , a decorative flower. These are now only commonly seen at more formal events. Usually, double-breasted suits have one hole on each lapel (with
1988-516: A matching suit jacket. Suit trousers often have a crease in the front of each pant leg, and may have one or more pleats. Suit trousers can be worn at many formal and semi-formal occasions combined with a shirt that has no tie and a more relaxed fashion, which can be considered smart casual dress. As an alternative to trousers, breeches (or knickers in variations of English where this does not refer to underwear) may be worn with informal suits, such as tweed. These are shorter, descending to just below
2130-422: A new market for British goods, while the capital amassed from Bengal after its 1757 conquest was used to invest in British industries such as textile manufacturing and greatly increase British wealth. British colonization also forced open the large Indian market to British goods, which could be sold in India without tariffs or duties , compared to local Indian producers who were heavily taxed , while raw cotton
2272-501: A new revenue system that was biased in favour of higher value cash crops such as cotton and indigo , providing state incentives to grow cash crops, in addition to rising market demand. The largest manufacturing industry in the Mughal Empire was cotton textile manufacturing , which included the production of piece goods , calicos , and muslins , available unbleached and in a variety of colours. The cotton textile industry
2414-757: A number of other cotton seed companies selling GM cotton around the world. About 62% of the GM cotton grown from 1996 to 2011 was insect resistant, 24% stacked product and 14% herbicide resistant. Cotton has gossypol , a toxin that makes it inedible. However, scientists have silenced the gene that produces the toxin, making it a potential food crop. On 17 October 2018, the USDA deregulated GE low-gossypol cotton. Suit (clothing) [REDACTED] = Day (before 6 p.m.) [REDACTED] = Evening (after 6 p.m.) = Bow tie colour [REDACTED] = Ladies [REDACTED] = Gentlemen A suit , also called
2556-544: A pocket or sitting down, to improve the hang of the jacket, so are now used on most jackets. Ventless jackets are associated with Italian tailoring, while the double-vented style is typically British. Dinner jackets traditionally have no vents. Waistcoats (called vests in American English) were almost always worn with suits prior to the 1940s. Due to rationing during World War II , their prevalence declined, but their popularity has gone in and out of fashion from
2698-687: A reference to "tree cotton", Gossypium arboreum , which is native to the Indian subcontinent. According to the Columbia Encyclopedia : Cotton has been spun, woven, and dyed since prehistoric times. It clothed the people of ancient India, Egypt, and China. Hundreds of years before the Christian era, cotton textiles were woven in India with matchless skill, and their use spread to the Mediterranean countries. In Iran ( Persia ),
2840-416: A single seersucker garment such as a blazer paired with khaki chino trousers . Menswear brands famous for manufacturing seersucker at this time included Brooks Brothers , Macy's , Sears , and Joseph Haspel of New Orleans. In the 1970s, seersucker trousers were popular among young urban African Americans seeking to connect to their rural American heritage. The fabric made a comeback among teenage girls in
2982-547: A soft, breathable , and durable textile . The use of cotton for fabric is known to date to prehistoric times; fragments of cotton fabric dated to the fifth millennium BC have been found in the Indus Valley civilization , as well as fabric remnants dated back to 4200 BC in Peru . Although cultivated since antiquity, it was the invention of the cotton gin that lowered the cost of production that led to its widespread use, and it
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#17327797275133124-432: A suit with more than four buttons, although zoot suits can have as many as six or more due to their longer length. There is also variation in the placement and style of buttons, since the button placement is critical to the overall impression of height conveyed by the jacket. The centre or top button will typically line up quite closely with the natural waistline. The bottom button is usually not meant to be buttoned and so
3266-424: A waistcoat or cardigan, but now it is more frequent to button on the inside of the trouser. Trousers taking braces are rather different in cut at the waist, employing extra girth and also height at the back. The split in the waistband at the back is in the fishtail shape. Those who prefer braces assert that, because they hang from the shoulders, they always make the trousers fit and hang exactly as they should, while
3408-521: A way that some threads bunch together, giving the fabric a wrinkled or puckered appearance. This effect is often achieved during weaving by feeding the warp threads for the puckered bands at a greater rate than the warp threads of the smooth stripes. (These are often of different colors but do not need to be.) The unevenness causes the fabric to be mostly held away from the skin rather than being plastered on it when wet with sweat, facilitating heat dissipation and air circulation. It also means that ironing
3550-617: Is also used, and in the Southern United States, cotton seersucker is worn. The main four colours for suits worn in business are black, light grey, dark grey, and navy, either with or without patterns. In particular, grey flannel suiting has been worn very widely since the 1930s. In non-business settings or less-formal business contexts, brown is another important colour; olive also occurs. In summer, lighter shades such as tan or cream are popular. For non-business use, tweed has been popular since Victorian times and still
3692-501: Is called a surgeon's cuff and "working button holes" (U.S.). Some wearers leave these buttons undone to reveal that they can afford a bespoke suit, although it is proper to leave these buttons done up. Modern bespoke styles and high-end off-the-rack suits equipped with surgeon's cuffs have the last two buttons stitched off-centre, so that the sleeve hangs more cleanly should the buttons ever be undone. Certainty in fitting sleeve length must be achieved, as once working button holes are cut,
3834-421: Is commonly worn. A wide range of colour is available, including muted shades of green, brown, red, and grey. Tweeds are usually checked, or plain with a herringbone weave , and are most associated with the country. While full tweed suits are not worn by many now, the jackets are often worn as sports jackets with odd trousers (trousers of different cloth). The most conventional suit has two or three buttons and
3976-484: Is denominated by the weight of a one-square yard piece; thus, the heavier wools, suitable for winter only, are 12–14 oz.; the medium, "three-season" (i.e., excluding summer) are 10–11 oz.; and summer wools are 7–8 oz. (In the days before central heating, heavier wools such as 16 oz. were used in suits; now they are used mainly in overcoats and topcoats.) Other materials are used sometimes, either alone or blended with wool, such as cashmere . Silk alone or blended with wool
4118-412: Is either medium-to-dark grey or navy. Other conservative colours are grey, black, and olive. White and light blues are acceptable at some events, especially in the warm season. Red and the brighter greens are usually considered "unconventional" and "garish". Tradition calls for a gentleman's suit to be of decidedly plain colour, with splashes of bright colour reserved for shirts, neckties or kerchiefs. In
4260-622: Is ineffective against many cotton pests, such as plant bugs , stink bugs , and aphids ; depending on circumstances it may still be desirable to use insecticides against these. A 2006 study done by Cornell researchers, the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy and the Chinese Academy of Science on Bt cotton farming in China found that after seven years these secondary pests that were normally controlled by pesticide had increased, necessitating
4402-622: Is not necessary. Common items made from seersucker include suits , shorts , shirts , dresses , and robes . In the United States, it is often made in white and blue stripes; however, it is produced in a wide variety of colors, usually with narrow plain and puckered stripes in different colors. Worn from the 19th Century by the Spanish Army in the Philippines and later Morocco , it was known to them as rayadillo . During
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4544-402: Is one of the most challenging tailoring tasks, even for very experienced tailors. The width of the lapel is a varying aspect of suits and has changed over the years. The 1930s and 1970s featured exceptionally wide lapels, whereas during the late 1950s and most of the 1960s suits with very narrow lapels—often only about 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide—were in fashion. The 1980s saw mid-size lapels with
4686-501: Is produced by a limited number of manufacturers. It is a low-profit, high-cost item because of its slow weaving speed. Cotton Cotton (from Arabic al-qutn ) is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll , or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus Gossypium in the mallow family Malvaceae . The fiber is almost pure cellulose , and can contain minor percentages of waxes , fats , pectins , and water . Under natural conditions,
4828-402: Is shaped from the neck to the chest and shoulders to drape without wrinkles from tension. Shape is the essential part of tailoring that often takes hand work from the start. The two main cuts are double-breasted suits, a conservative design with two columns of buttons, spanned by a large overlap of the left and right sides; and single-breasted suits, in which the sides meet in the centre of
4970-410: Is sometimes used. Synthetic materials, e.g., polyester , while cheaper, are very rarely recommended by experts. At most, a blend of predominantly wool may be acceptable to obtain the main benefit of synthetics, namely resistance to wrinkling, particularly in garments used for travel; however, any synthetic, blended or otherwise, will always be warmer and clammier than wool alone. For hot weather, linen
5112-426: Is standard for side pockets, and has an extra lined flap of matching fabric covering the top of the pocket. A jetted pocket is most formal, with a small strip of fabric taping the top and bottom of the slit for the pocket. This style is most often on seen on formalwear , such as a dinner jacket. A breast pocket is usually found at the left side, where a pocket square or handkerchief can be displayed. In addition to
5254-504: Is the most widely used natural fiber cloth in clothing today. Current estimates for world production are about 25 million tonnes or 110 million bales annually, accounting for 2.5% of the world's arable land . India is the world's largest producer of cotton. The United States has been the largest exporter for many years. There are four commercially grown species of cotton, all domesticated in antiquity: Hybrid varieties are also cultivated. The two New World cotton species account for
5396-409: The 1920s fashion showcased in the 2013 film version of The Great Gatsby . Although pale blue and dark blue stripes remained the most popular choice, alternative colors included green, red, black, grey, beige, yellow, orange, purple, pink, and brown. The traditional two-button blazer was updated with a slimmer cut and Edwardian-inspired lapel piping, and double-breasted jackets became available during
5538-590: The 1990s , and again in the 2010s . Beginning in 1996, the US Senate held a Seersucker Thursday in June, where the participants dress in traditionally Southern clothing, but the tradition was discontinued in June 2012. It was revived by members of the US Senate in 2014. From 2012 onwards, seersucker blazers and trousers made a comeback among American men due to a resurgence of interest in preppy clothing and
5680-609: The British colonial period , seersucker was also a popular material in Britain's hot-weather colonies such as British India . When seersucker was introduced in the United States it was used for many garments. For suits, the material was considered a mainstay of the summer wardrobe of gentlemen , especially in the hot and humid South before air conditioning. During the American Civil War , this cheap but durable material
5822-591: The Bronze Age Indus Valley civilization , and cotton may have been an important export from it. Cotton bolls discovered in a cave near Tehuacán , Mexico, have been dated to as early as 5500 BC, but this date has been challenged. More securely dated is the domestication of Gossypium hirsutum in Mexico between around 3400 and 2300 BC. During this time, people between the Río Santiago and
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5964-649: The Deep South . To acknowledge cotton's place in the history and heritage of Texas, the Texas Legislature designated cotton the official "State Fiber and Fabric of Texas" in 1997. China's Chang'e 4 spacecraft took cotton seeds to the Moon's far side . On 15 January 2019, China announced that a cotton seed sprouted, the first "truly otherworldly plant in history". Inside the Von Kármán Crater ,
6106-473: The Delhi Sultanate . During the late medieval period, cotton became known as an imported fiber in northern Europe, without any knowledge of how it was derived, other than that it was a plant. Because Herodotus had written in his Histories , Book III, 106, that in India trees grew in the wild producing wool, it was assumed that the plant was a tree, rather than a shrub. This aspect is retained in
6248-517: The French suite , meaning "following," from some Late Latin derivative form of the Latin verb sequor = "I follow," because the component garments (jacket and trousers and waistcoat ) follow each other and have the same cloth and colour and are worn together. As a suit (in this sense) covers all or most of the wearer's body, the term "suit" was extended to a single garment that covers all or most of
6390-477: The Industrial Revolution in Britain provided a great boost to cotton manufacture, as textiles emerged as Britain's leading export. In 1738, Lewis Paul and John Wyatt , of Birmingham , England, patented the roller spinning machine, as well as the flyer-and-bobbin system for drawing cotton to a more even thickness using two sets of rollers that traveled at different speeds. Later, the invention of
6532-469: The James Hargreaves ' spinning jenny in 1764, Richard Arkwright 's spinning frame in 1769 and Samuel Crompton 's spinning mule in 1775 enabled British spinners to produce cotton yarn at much higher rates. From the late 18th century on, the British city of Manchester acquired the nickname " Cottonopolis " due to the cotton industry's omnipresence within the city, and Manchester's role as
6674-730: The Norte Chico , Moche , and Nazca . Cotton was grown upriver, made into nets, and traded with fishing villages along the coast for large supplies of fish. The Spanish who came to Mexico and Peru in the early 16th century found the people growing cotton and wearing clothing made of it. The Greeks and the Arabs were not familiar with cotton until the Wars of Alexander the Great , as his contemporary Megasthenes told Seleucus I Nicator of "there being trees on which wool grows" in "Indica." This may be
6816-507: The counterculture of the 1960s in Western culture . Informal suits have been traditionally worn with a fedora , a trilby , or a flat cap . Other accessories include handkerchief, suspenders or belt, watch, and jewelry. Other notable types of suits are for what would now be considered formal occasions—the tuxedo or dinner suit (black tie) and the black lounge suit (stroller)—both which originally arose as less formal alternatives for
6958-440: The sack suit , a loose American style. There are three ways to buy suits: The acid test of authentic tailoring standards is the wrinkle that comes from poor tailoring. Rumples can be pressed out. For interim fittings, "Rock Of Eye" (which means trained freehand based on an experienced artistic eye to match the item to the wearer, trusting the eye over unyielding scripted approach), drawing and cutting inaccuracies are overcome by
7100-511: The 1840s. Indian cotton textiles, particularly those from Bengal , continued to maintain a competitive advantage up until the 19th century. In order to compete with India, Britain invested in labour-saving technical progress, while implementing protectionist policies such as bans and tariffs to restrict Indian imports. At the same time, the East India Company's rule in India contributed to its deindustrialization , opening up
7242-409: The 1910s to 1920s, before the invention of sports jackets specifically to be worn with odd trousers, wearing a suit jacket with odd trousers was seen as an alternative to a full suit. However, with the modern advent of sports jackets, suit jackets are always worn with matching trousers, and the trousers are worn with no jacket or the appropriate jacket. Trouser width has varied considerably throughout
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#17327797275137384-417: The 1920s to the 1940s, that would be unusual today (one point of a double-breasted jacket being, it may be supposed, to eliminate the waistcoat). Traditionally, the bottom button of a waistcoat is left undone; like the vents in the rear of a jacket, this helps the body bend when sitting. Some waistcoats can have lapels; others do not. Suit trousers are always made of the same material as the jacket. Even from
7526-468: The 1940s onwards, nurses and US hospital volunteers also wore uniforms made from a type of red and white seersucker known as candy stripe. In the days of the Old West , a type of heavyweight indigo or navy blue seersucker known as hickory stripe was used to make the overalls , work jackets and peaked caps of train engineers and railroad workers such as George "Stormy" Kromer and Casey Jones . It
7668-402: The 1960s and 70s, as many as eight were seen. Six buttons are typical, with two to button; the last pair floats above the overlap. The three buttons down each side may in this case be in a straight line (the 'keystone' layout) or more commonly, the top pair is half as far apart again as each pair in the bottom square. A four-button double-breasted jacket usually buttons in a square. The layout of
7810-416: The 1970s onwards. A pocket watch on a chain, one end of which is inserted through a middle buttonhole, is often worn with a waistcoat; otherwise, since World War I , when they came to prominence of military necessity, men have worn wristwatches, which may be worn with any suit except the full evening dress ( white tie ). Although many examples of waistcoats worn with a double-breasted jacket can be found from
7952-472: The 1980s, double-breasted suits with notched lapels were popular with power suits and the New Wave style. In the late 1920s and 1930s, a design considered very stylish was the single-breasted peaked-lapel jacket. This has gone in and out of vogue periodically, being popular once again during the 1970s, and is still a recognised alternative. The ability to properly cut peaked lapels on a single-breasted suit
8094-430: The 1980s, these styles disappeared in favor of tapered, slim-legged trousers. One variation in the design of trousers is the use or not of pleats. The most classic style of trouser is to have two pleats, usually forward, since this gives more comfort sitting and better hang standing. This is still a common style, and for these reasons of utility has been worn throughout the 20th century. The style originally descended from
8236-504: The 19th century. India's cotton-processing sector changed during EIC expansion in India in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. From focusing on supplying the British market to supplying East Asia with raw cotton. As the Artisan produced textiles were no longer competitive with those produced Industrially, and Europe preferring the cheaper slave produced, long staple American, and Egyptian cottons, for its own materials. The advent of
8378-733: The Arabic-speaking lands in the later medieval era at transformatively lowered prices. The earliest evidence of the use of cotton in the Old World , dated to 5500 BC and preserved in copper beads, has been found at the Neolithic site of Mehrgarh , at the foot of the Bolan Pass in ancient India , today in Balochistan Pakistan. Fragments of cotton textiles have been found at Mohenjo-daro and other sites of
8520-668: The British to cheap calico and chintz cloth on the restoration of the monarchy in the 1660s. Initially imported as a novelty side line, from its spice trading posts in Asia, the cheap colourful cloth proved popular and overtook the EIC's spice trade by value in the late 17th century. The EIC embraced the demand, particularly for calico , by expanding its factories in Asia and producing and importing cloth in bulk, creating competition for domestic woollen and linen textile producers. The impacted weavers, spinners, dyers, shepherds and farmers objected and
8662-633: The Egyptian cotton industry. By the time of the American Civil war annual exports had reached $ 16 million (120,000 bales), which rose to $ 56 million by 1864, primarily due to the loss of the Confederate supply on the world market. Exports continued to grow even after the reintroduction of US cotton, produced now by a paid workforce, and Egyptian exports reached 1.2 million bales a year by 1903. The English East India Company (EIC) introduced
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#17327797275138804-495: The Mughal era. It was reported that, with an Indian cotton gin, which is half machine and half tool, one man and one woman could clean 28 pounds (13 kg) of cotton per day. With a modified Forbes version, one man and a boy could produce 250 pounds (110 kg) per day. If oxen were used to power 16 of these machines, and a few people's labour was used to feed them, they could produce as much work as 750 people did formerly. In
8946-468: The Northern and Southern hemispheres, but a large proportion of the cotton grown today is cultivated in areas with less rainfall that obtain the water from irrigation. Production of the crop for a given year usually starts soon after harvesting the preceding autumn. Cotton is naturally a perennial but is grown as an annual to help control pests. Planting time in spring in the Northern hemisphere varies from
9088-530: The Río Balsas grew, spun, wove, dyed, and sewed cotton. What they did not use themselves, they sent to their Aztec rulers as tribute, on the scale of ~116 million pounds (53,000 tonnes) annually. In Peru , cultivation of the indigenous cotton species Gossypium barbadense has been dated, from a find in Ancon, to c. 4200 BC , and was the backbone of the development of coastal cultures such as
9230-505: The United States and the United Kingdom, around the start of the 20th century, lounge suits were never traditionally worn in plain black, this colour instead being reserved for formal wear (including dinner jackets or strollers ) and for undertakers . However, the decline of formal wear since the 1950s and the rise of casual wear in 1960s allowed the black suit to return to fashion, as many designers began wanting to move away from
9372-477: The United States, even with the use of humans as slave labor. The gin that Whitney manufactured (the Holmes design) reduced the hours down to just a dozen or so per bale. Although Whitney patented his own design for a cotton gin, he manufactured a prior design from Henry Odgen Holmes, for which Holmes filed a patent in 1796. Improving technology and increasing control of world markets allowed British traders to develop
9514-530: The backbone of the southern American economy. In the United States, cultivating and harvesting cotton became the leading occupation of slaves . During the American Civil War , American cotton exports slumped due to a Union blockade on Southern ports , and because of a strategic decision by the Confederate government to cut exports, hoping to force Britain to recognize the Confederacy or enter
9656-424: The basis of a new indigenous industry, initially producing Fustian for the domestic market, though more importantly triggering the development of a series of mechanised spinning and weaving technologies, to process the material. This mechanised production was concentrated in new cotton mills , which slowly expanded until by the beginning of the 1770s seven thousand bales of cotton were imported annually, and pressure
9798-645: The beginning of February to the beginning of June. The area of the United States known as the South Plains is the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world. While dryland (non-irrigated) cotton is successfully grown in this region, consistent yields are only produced with heavy reliance on irrigation water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer . Since cotton is somewhat salt and drought tolerant, this makes it an attractive crop for arid and semiarid regions. As water resources get tighter around
9940-474: The black frock coat in the early 20th century as regular daywear, a sober one-coloured suit became known as a lounge suit. Suits are offered in different designs and constructions. Cut and cloth, whether two- or three-piece, single- or double-breasted, vary, in addition to various accessories . A two-piece suit has a jacket and trousers; a three-piece suit adds a waistcoat. Hats were almost always worn outdoors (and sometimes indoors) with all men's clothes until
10082-534: The body, such as boilersuits , diving suits , and spacesuits . The suit's origins trace the simplified, sartorial standard established by the English king Charles II in the 17th century, following the example of his one-time host King Louis XIV 's court at Versailles , who decreed that in the English Court men would wear a long coat, a waistcoat (then called a " petticoat "), a cravat (a precursor of
10224-424: The business suit toward more fashion suits. Traditional business suits are generally in solid colours or with pinstripes ; windowpane checks are also acceptable. Outside business, the range of acceptable patterns widens, with plaids such as the traditional glen plaid and herringbone, though apart from some very traditional environments such as London banking, these are worn for business now, as well. The colour of
10366-411: The buttons and the shape of the lapel are co-ordinated in order to direct the eyes of an observer. For example, if the buttons are too low, or the lapel roll too pronounced, the eyes are drawn down from the face, and the waist appears larger. There seems to be no clear rule as to on which side the overlap should lie. It usually crosses naturally with the left side to the fore but not invariably. Generally,
10508-465: The buttons are in relation to the natural waist. In some (now unusual) styles where the buttons are placed high, the tailor would have intended the suit to be buttoned differently from the more common lower stance. Nevertheless, some general guidelines are given here. Double-breasted suit coats are almost always kept buttoned. When there is more than one functional buttonhole (as in a traditional six-on-two arrangement), only one button need be fastened;
10650-434: The calico question became one of the major issues of National politics between the 1680s and the 1730s. Parliament began to see a decline in domestic textile sales, and an increase in imported textiles from places like China and India . Seeing the East India Company and their textile importation as a threat to domestic textile businesses, Parliament passed the 1700 Calico Act, blocking the importation of cotton cloth. As there
10792-479: The capsule and seeds sit inside the Chang'e 4 lander. Successful cultivation of cotton requires a long frost -free period, plenty of sunshine, and a moderate rainfall, usually from 50 to 100 cm (19.5 to 39.5 in). Soils usually need to be fairly heavy , although the level of nutrients does not need to be exceptional. In general, these conditions are met within the seasonally dry tropics and subtropics in
10934-412: The concept of suit separates in the U.S., which are widely found in the marketplace today. There are many possible variations in the choice of the style, the garments, and the details of a suit. The silhouette of a suit is its outline. Tailored balance created from a canvas fitting allows a balanced silhouette so a jacket need not be buttoned and a garment is not too tight or too loose. A proper garment
11076-537: The cotton bolls will increase the dispersal of the seeds. The plant is a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, Africa, Egypt and India. The greatest diversity of wild cotton species is found in Mexico, followed by Australia and Africa. Cotton was independently domesticated in the Old and New Worlds. The fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make
11218-492: The decades. In the 1920s, trousers were straight-legged and wide-legged, with a standard width at the cuff of 23 inches (58 cm). After 1935, trousers began to be tapered in at the bottom half of the leg. Trousers remained wide at the top of the leg throughout the 1940s. By the 1950s and 1960s, a more slim look had become popular. In the 1970s, suit makers offered a variety of styles of trousers, including flared, bell bottomed, wide-legged, and more traditional tapered trousers. In
11360-497: The dual-roller gin was prevalent throughout the Mediterranean cotton trade by the 16th century. This mechanical device was, in some areas, driven by water power. The earliest clear illustrations of the spinning wheel come from the Islamic world in the eleventh century. The earliest unambiguous reference to a spinning wheel in India is dated to 1350, suggesting that the spinning wheel was likely introduced from Iran to India during
11502-521: The early 19th century had the fifth most productive cotton industry in the world, in terms of the number of spindles per capita. The industry was initially driven by machinery that relied on traditional energy sources, such as animal power , water wheels , and windmills , which were also the principal energy sources in Western Europe up until around 1870. It was under Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century that steam engines were introduced to
11644-650: The early 19th century, a Frenchman named M. Jumel proposed to the great ruler of Egypt, Mohamed Ali Pasha , that he could earn a substantial income by growing an extra-long staple Maho ( Gossypium barbadense ) cotton, in Lower Egypt , for the French market. Mohamed Ali Pasha accepted the proposition and granted himself the monopoly on the sale and export of cotton in Egypt ; and later dictated cotton should be grown in preference to other crops. Egypt under Muhammad Ali in
11786-596: The endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungry." (See Vegetable Lamb of Tartary .) Cotton manufacture was introduced to Europe during the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily . The knowledge of cotton weaving was spread to northern Italy in the 12th century, when Sicily was conquered by the Normans , and consequently to
11928-452: The exaggeratedly widened Oxford bags worn in the 1930s in Oxford, which, though themselves short-lived, began a trend for fuller fronts. The style is still seen as the smartest, featuring on dress trousers with black and white tie. However, at various periods throughout the last century, flat-fronted trousers with no pleats have been worn, and the swing in fashions has been marked enough that
12070-446: The fineness of the fibres measured by average fibre diameter, e.g., Super 120; the finer the fabric, the more delicate and thus less likely to be long-wearing it will be. Although wool has traditionally been associated with warm, bulky clothing meant for warding off cold weather, advances in making finer and finer fibre have made wool suits acceptable for warmer weather, as fabrics have accordingly become lighter and more supple. Wool fabric
12212-540: The fitting. Suits are made in a variety of fabrics, but most commonly from wool, silk or cotton. The two main yarns produce worsteds (where the fibres are combed before spinning to produce a smooth, hard wearing cloth) and woollens (where they are not combed, thus remaining comparatively fluffy in texture). These can be woven in a number of ways, producing flannel , tweed , gabardine , and fresco among others. These fabrics all have different weights and feels, and some fabrics have an S (or Super S) number describing
12354-544: The fourth largest GM cotton crop area of 2.6 million hectares in 2011. The initial introduction of GM cotton proved to be a success in Australia ;– the yields were equivalent to the non-transgenic varieties and the crop used much less pesticide to produce (85% reduction). The subsequent introduction of a second variety of GM cotton led to increases in GM cotton production until 95% of the Australian cotton crop
12496-568: The heart of the global cotton trade. Production capacity in Britain and the United States was improved by the invention of the modern cotton gin by the American Eli Whitney in 1793. Before the development of cotton gins, the cotton fibers had to be pulled from the seeds tediously by hand. By the late 1700s, a number of crude ginning machines had been developed. However, to produce a bale of cotton required over 600 hours of human labor, making large-scale production uneconomical in
12638-412: The hips. Other changing aspects of the cut include the length, which determines the break, the bunching of fabric just above the shoe when the front seam is marginally longer than height to the shoe's top. Some parts of the world, such as Europe, traditionally opt for shorter trousers with little or no break, while Americans often choose to wear a slight break. A final major distinction is made in whether
12780-535: The history of cotton dates back to the Achaemenid era (5th century BC); however, there are few sources about the planting of cotton in pre-Islamic Iran. Cotton cultivation was common in Merv , Ray and Pars . In Persian poems, especially Ferdowsi 's Shahname , there are references to cotton ("panbe" in Persian ). Marco Polo (13th century) refers to the major products of Persia, including cotton. John Chardin ,
12922-552: The hot and humid southern climate. During the 1950s, cheap railroad stripe overalls were worn by many young boys until they were old enough to wear jeans. This coincided with the popularity of train sets , and films such as The Great Locomotive Chase . At the same time, seersucker formal wear continued to be worn by many professional adults in the Southern and Southwestern US. College professors were known to favor full suits with red bow ties, although 1950s Ivy League and 21st century preppy students usually restricted themselves to
13064-435: The jacket is cut such that buttoning the bottom button would ruin the lines and drape of the jacket. It is customary to keep the jacket buttoned while standing and to unbutton the jacket while seated. Double-breasted jackets have only half their outer buttons functional, as the second row is for display only, forcing them to come in pairs. Some rare jackets can have as few as two buttons, and during various periods, for instance
13206-408: The jacket's edges after some use or a few dry cleanings. However, some selling this type of jacket claim that the difference in quality is very small. A few London tailors state that all bespoke suits should use a floating canvas. Most single-breasted suits have two or three buttons, and four or more buttons are unusual. Dinner jackets ("black tie") usually have only one button. It is rare to find
13348-412: The jacket. Originally, vents were a sporting option, designed to make riding easier, so are traditional on hacking jackets, formal coats such as a morning coat , and, for practicality, overcoats. Today there are three styles of venting: the single-vented style (with one vent at the centre), the ventless style, and the double-vented style (one vent on each side). Vents are convenient, particularly when using
13490-420: The knee, but riding breeches, worn with long boots such as top boots , are long enough to meet the boot and display no sock. Accessories for suits include neckties , shoes , wristwatches and pocket watches , pocket squares , cufflinks , tie clips , tie tacks, tie bars, bow ties , lapel pins , and hats . The buttoning of the jacket is primarily determined by the button stance , a measure of how high
13632-407: The knees, fastened closely at the top of the calf by a tab or button cuff. While once common, they are now typically only worn when engaged in traditional outdoor sports, such as shooting or golf . The length and design is closely related to the plus-fours (and plus-sixes etc.) worn for sport, but differ in having no bagginess. They are usually designed to be worn with long socks meeting just below
13774-477: The main pests in commercial cotton are lepidopteran larvae, which are killed by the Bt protein in the transgenic cotton they eat. This eliminates the need to use large amounts of broad-spectrum insecticides to kill lepidopteran pests (some of which have developed pyrethroid resistance). This spares natural insect predators in the farm ecology and further contributes to noninsecticide pest management. However, Bt cotton
13916-490: The mid- 2010s . Since 2010, "Seersucker Social" events have been held in major cities across the United States, where participants wear vintage clothes and ride vintage bicycles. Such events are the summer equivalent of a Tweed Run , which is traditionally held in the fall. In the 2016 Olympics hosted by Brazil, the Australian Olympic team received green and white seersucker blazers and Toms Shoes rather than
14058-410: The more fashion-oriented ready-to-wear brands have not produced both types continuously. Turn-ups on the bottom of trousers, or cuffs, were initially popularised in the 1890s by Edward VII , and were popular with suits throughout the 1920s and 1930s. They have always been an informal option, being inappropriate on all formalwear. Other variations in trouser style include the rise of the trouser. This
14200-405: The name for cotton in several Germanic languages, such as German Baumwolle , which translates as "tree wool" ( Baum means "tree"; Wolle means "wool"). Noting its similarities to wool, people in the region could only imagine that cotton must be produced by plant-borne sheep. John Mandeville , writing in 1350, stated as fact that "There grew there [India] a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on
14342-673: The necktie), a wig , knee breeches (trousers), and a hat. The paintings of Jan Steen , Pieter Bruegel the Elder , and other painters of the Dutch Golden Era reveal that such an arrangement was already used in Holland, if not Western Europe as a whole. The current styles, founded in the Great Male Renunciation of the late 18th century, sharply changed the elaborately embroidered and jewelled formal clothing into
14484-480: The new textile industries of the Northeastern United States and northwestern Europe. In 1860 the slogan " Cotton is king " characterized the attitude of Southern leaders toward this monocrop in that Europe would support an independent Confederate States of America in 1861 in order to protect the supply of cotton it needed for its very large textile industry. Russell Griffin of California was
14626-435: The patterned element (stripes, plaids , and checks ) varies by gender and location. For example, bold checks, particularly with tweeds, have fallen out of use in the US, while they continue to be worn as traditional in Britain. Some unusual old patterns such as diamonds are now rare everywhere. Inside the jacket of a suit, between the outer fabric and the inner lining, there is a layer of sturdy interfacing fabric to prevent
14768-600: The poor in the U.S. until preppy undergraduate students began wearing it in the 1920s in an air of reverse snobbery . Seersucker's comfort and easy laundering made it the choice of Captain Anne A. Lentz for the summer service uniforms of the first female United States Marines . Lentz was one of the first female officers selected to run the Marine Corps Women's Reserve during the Second World War . From
14910-543: The prior formal wear standards known as white tie , which incorporated items such as the dress coat , and of morning dress , which incorporated items such as the morning coat with formal trousers . Originally, suits were always tailor-made from the client's selected cloth. These are now known as bespoke suits, custom-made to measurements, taste, and style preferences. Since the 1960s, most suits have been mass-produced ready-to-wear garments. Currently, suits are offered in roughly four ways: The word suit derives from
15052-410: The raw fiber was sent to England for processing. The Indian Mahatma Gandhi described the process: In the United States, growing Southern cotton generated significant wealth and capital for the antebellum South, as well as raw material for Northern textile industries. Before 1865 the cotton was largely produced through the labor of enslaved African Americans. It enriched both the Southern landowners and
15194-616: The region. In the Meroitic Period (beginning 3rd century BCE), many cotton textiles have been recovered, preserved due to favorable arid conditions. Most of these fabric fragments come from Lower Nubia, and the cotton textiles account for 85% of the archaeological textiles from Classic/Late Meroitic sites. Due to these arid conditions, cotton, a plant that usually thrives moderate rainfall and richer soils, requires extra irrigation and labor in Sudanese climate conditions. Therefore,
15336-662: The rest of Europe. The spinning wheel , introduced to Europe circa 1350, improved the speed of cotton spinning. By the 15th century, Venice , Antwerp , and Haarlem were important ports for cotton trade, and the sale and transportation of cotton fabrics had become very profitable. Under the Mughal Empire , which ruled in the Indian subcontinent from the early 16th century to the early 18th century, Indian cotton production increased, in terms of both raw cotton and cotton textiles. The Mughals introduced agrarian reforms such as
15478-577: The simpler clothing of the British Regency period, which gradually evolved to the stark formality of the Victorian era . In the late 19th century, it was in the search for more comfort that the loosening of rules gave rise to the modern lounge suit. Brooks Brothers is generally credited with first offering the "ready-to-wear" suit, a suit that was sold already manufactured and sized, ready to be tailored, while Haggar Clothing first introduced
15620-462: The sleeve length essentially cannot be altered further. A cuffed sleeve has an extra length of fabric folded back over the arm, or just some piping or stitching above the buttons to allude to the edge of a cuff. This was popular in the Edwardian era, as a feature of formalwear such as frock coats carried over to informalwear, but is now rare. A vent is a slit in the bottom rear (the "tail") of
15762-447: The standard two outer pockets and breast pocket, some suits have a fourth, the ticket pocket, usually located just above the right pocket and roughly half as wide. While this was originally exclusively a feature of country suits, used for conveniently storing a train ticket, it is now seen on some town suits. Another country feature also worn sometimes in cities is a pair of hacking pockets, which are similar to normal ones, but slanted; this
15904-449: The suit was originally developed it was considered an informal or more casual option compared to the prevailing clothing standards of aristocrats and businessmen. The lounge suit originated in 19th-century Britain as sportswear and British country clothing , which is why it was seen as more casual than citywear at that time, with the roots of the suit coming from early modern Western Europe formal court or military clothes. After replacing
16046-480: The suit; a very casual summer sports jacket might traditionally (1930s) have had only one button, while tweed suits typically have three and city suits four. In the 1970s, two buttons were seen on some city suits. Today, four buttons are common on most business suits and even casual suits. Although the sleeve buttons usually cannot be undone, the stitching is such that it appears they could. Functional cuff buttons may be found on high-end or bespoke suits; this feature
16188-440: The torso with a single column of buttons, overlapping only enough for one, two or three buttons to close, with by convention the jacket front cut so that the lowest button is not designed to close. Good tailoring anywhere in the world is characterised by strongly tapered sides and minimal shoulder, whereas rack suits are often padded to reduce labour . More casual suits are characterised by less construction and tailoring, much like
16330-470: The traditional dark green with gold trim. At the same time, seersucker pants, skirts, espadrilles, blouses, and even bikinis were worn as casual attire by many fashion conscious young women in America. Seersucker is made by slack-tension weave. The threads are wound onto the two warp beams in groups of 10 to 16 for a narrow stripe. The stripes are always in the warp direction and on grain. Today, seersucker
16472-445: The trousers take a belt or braces (suspenders). While a belt was originally never worn with a suit, the forced wearing of belts during wartime years (caused by restrictions on use of elastic caused by wartime shortages) contributed to their rise in popularity, with braces now much less popular than belts. When braces were common, the buttons for attaching them were placed on the outside of the waistband, because they would be covered by
16614-471: The use of pesticides at similar levels to non-Bt cotton and causing less profit for farmers because of the extra expense of GM seeds. However, a 2009 study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Stanford University and Rutgers University refuted this. They concluded that the GM cotton effectively controlled bollworm. The secondary pests were mostly miridae (plant bugs) whose increase was related to local temperature and rainfall and only continued to increase in half
16756-493: The vast majority of modern cotton production, but the two Old World species were widely used before the 1900s. While cotton fibers occur naturally in colors of white, brown, pink and green, fears of contaminating the genetics of white cotton have led many cotton-growing locations to ban the growing of colored cotton varieties. The word "cotton" has Arabic origins , derived from the Arabic word قطن ( qutn or qutun ). This
16898-442: The villages and then taken to towns in the form of yarn to be woven into cloth textiles, was advanced by the diffusion of the spinning wheel across India shortly before the Mughal era, lowering the costs of yarn and helping to increase demand for cotton. The diffusion of the spinning wheel, and the incorporation of the worm gear and crank handle into the roller cotton gin, led to greatly expanded Indian cotton textile production during
17040-506: The villages studied. Moreover, the increase in insecticide use for the control of these secondary insects was far smaller than the reduction in total insecticide use due to Bt cotton adoption. A 2012 Chinese study concluded that Bt cotton halved the use of pesticides and doubled the level of ladybirds, lacewings and spiders. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) said that, worldwide, GM cotton
17182-543: The war. The Lancashire Cotton Famine prompted the main purchasers of cotton, Britain and France , to turn to Egyptian cotton. British and French traders invested heavily in cotton plantations. The Egyptian government of Viceroy Isma'il took out substantial loans from European bankers and stock exchanges. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, British and French traders abandoned Egyptian cotton and returned to cheap American exports, sending Egypt into
17324-412: The wearer may elect to fasten only the bottom button, in order to present a longer line (a style popularised by Prince George, Duke of Kent ). Single-breasted suit coats may be either fastened or unfastened. In two-button suits the bottom button is traditionally left unfastened except with certain unusual cuts of jacket, e.g. the paddock. Legend has it that King Edward VII started the trend of leaving
17466-484: The wool from stretching out of shape; this layer of cloth is called the canvas after the fabric from which it was traditionally made. Expensive jackets have a floating canvas , while cheaply manufactured models have a fused (glued) canvas. A fused canvas is less soft and, if poorly done, damages the suppleness and durability of the jacket, so many tailors are quick to deride fused canvas as being less durable, particularly since they may tend to permanently pucker along
17608-582: The world, economies that rely on it face difficulties and conflict, as well as potential environmental problems. For example, improper cropping and irrigation practices have led to desertification in areas of Uzbekistan , where cotton is a major export. In the days of the Soviet Union , the Aral Sea was tapped for agricultural irrigation, largely of cotton, and now salination is widespread. Cotton can also be cultivated to have colors other than
17750-529: The world. A long-term study on the economic impacts of Bt cotton in India, published in the Journal PNAS in 2012, showed that Bt cotton has increased yields, profits, and living standards of smallholder farmers. The U.S. GM cotton crop was 4.0 million hectares in 2011 the second largest area in the world, the Chinese GM cotton crop was third largest by area with 3.9 million hectares and Pakistan had
17892-523: The yellowish off-white typical of modern commercial cotton fibers. Naturally colored cotton can come in red, green, and several shades of brown. The water footprint of cotton fibers is substantially larger than for most other plant fibers. Cotton is also known as a thirsty crop; on average, globally, cotton requires 8,000–10,000 liters of water for one kilogram of cotton, and in dry areas, it may require even more such as in some areas of India, it may need 22,500 liters. Genetically modified (GM) cotton
18034-426: Was GM in 2009 making Australia the country with the fifth largest GM cotton crop in the world. Other GM cotton growing countries in 2011 were Argentina, Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa and Costa Rica. Cotton has been genetically modified for resistance to glyphosate a broad-spectrum herbicide discovered by Monsanto which also sells some of the Bt cotton seeds to farmers. There are also
18176-559: Was a source of income for families across the South. Rural and small town school systems had split vacations so children could work in the fields during "cotton-picking." During the middle 20th century, employment in cotton farming fell, as machines began to replace laborers and the South's rural labor force dwindled during the World Wars. Cotton remains a major export of the United States, with large farms in California, Arizona and
18318-459: Was developed to reduce the heavy reliance on pesticides. The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) naturally produces a chemical harmful only to a small fraction of insects, most notably the larvae of moths and butterflies , beetles , and flies , and harmless to other forms of life. The gene coding for Bt toxin has been inserted into cotton, causing cotton, called Bt cotton , to produce this natural insecticide in its tissues. In many regions,
18460-401: Was grown by Chinese peoples in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan . Egyptians grew and spun cotton in the first seven centuries of the Christian era. Handheld roller cotton gins had been used in India since the 6th century, and was then introduced to other countries from there. Between the 12th and 14th centuries, dual-roller gins appeared in India and China. The Indian version of
18602-418: Was imported from India without tariffs to British factories which manufactured textiles from Indian cotton, giving Britain a monopoly over India's large market and cotton resources. India served as both a significant supplier of raw goods to British manufacturers and a large captive market for British manufactured goods. Britain eventually surpassed India as the world's leading cotton textile manufacturer in
18744-451: Was invented in India during the early Delhi Sultanate era of the 13th–14th centuries, came into use in the Mughal Empire some time around the 16th century, and is still used in India through to the present day. Another innovation, the incorporation of the crank handle in the cotton gin, first appeared in India some time during the late Delhi Sultanate or the early Mughal Empire. The production of cotton, which may have largely been spun in
18886-574: Was later worn by butchers and employees of the gasoline companies, most notably Standard Oil . This cotton fabric was durable like denim, cheap to produce, and kept the wearer cooler in the hot cab of the steam locomotive . Even today, the uniforms of American Union Pacific train drivers include "railroad stripe" caps based on those from the steam age. About 1909, New Orleans clothier Joseph Haspel, Sr. started making men's suits out of seersucker fabric, which soon became regionally popular as more comfortable and practical than other types of suits for
19028-443: Was no punishment for continuing to sell cotton cloth, smuggling of the popular material became commonplace. In 1721, dissatisfied with the results of the first act, Parliament passed a stricter addition, this time prohibiting the sale of most cottons, imported and domestic (exempting only thread Fustian and raw cotton). The exemption of raw cotton from the prohibition initially saw 2 thousand bales of cotton imported annually, to become
19170-401: Was originally designed to make the pockets easier to open on horseback while hacking . Suit jackets in all styles typically have three or four buttons on each cuff, which are often purely decorative (the sleeve is usually sewn closed and cannot be unbuttoned to open). Five buttons are unusual and are a modern fashion innovation. The number of buttons is primarily a function of the formality of
19312-422: Was planted on an area of 25 million hectares in 2011. This was 69% of the worldwide total area planted in cotton. GM cotton acreage in India grew at a rapid rate, increasing from 50,000 hectares in 2002 to 10.6 million hectares in 2011. The total cotton area in India was 12.1 million hectares in 2011, so GM cotton was grown on 88% of the cotton area. This made India the country with the largest area of GM cotton in
19454-400: Was put on Parliament, by the new mill owners, to remove the prohibition on the production and sale of pure cotton cloth, as they could easily compete with anything the EIC could import. The acts were repealed in 1774, triggering a wave of investment in mill-based cotton spinning and production, doubling the demand for raw cotton within a couple of years, and doubling it again every decade, into
19596-603: Was responsible for a large part of the empire's international trade. India had a 25% share of the global textile trade in the early 18th century. Indian cotton textiles were the most important manufactured goods in world trade in the 18th century, consumed across the world from the Americas to Japan . The most important center of cotton production was the Bengal Subah province, particularly around its capital city of Dhaka . The worm gear roller cotton gin , which
19738-605: Was the usual word for cotton in medieval Arabic . Marco Polo in chapter 2 in his book, describes a province he calls Khotan in Turkestan, today's Xinjiang , where cotton was grown in abundance. The word entered the Romance languages in the mid-12th century, and English a century later. Cotton fabric was known to the ancient Romans as an import, but cotton was rare in the Romance-speaking lands until imports from
19880-461: Was time-consuming and expensive. This, coupled with the emergence of American cotton as a superior type (due to the longer, stronger fibers of the two domesticated native American species, Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense ), encouraged British traders to purchase cotton from plantations in the United States and in the Caribbean . By the mid-19th century, " King Cotton " had become
20022-535: Was used to make haversacks and even the famous baggy pants of Confederate Zouaves such as the Louisiana Tigers . From the mid- Victorian era until the early 20th century, seersucker was also known as bed ticking due to its widespread use in mattresses , pillow cases and nightshirts during the hot summers in the Southern US and Britain's overseas colonies. The fabric was originally worn by
20164-485: Was very high in the early half of the 20th century, particularly with formalwear, with rises above the natural waist, to allow the waistcoat covering the waistband to come down just below the narrowest point of the chest. Though serving less purpose, this high height was duplicated in the daywear of the period. Since then, fashions have changed, and have rarely been that high again, with styles returning more to low-rise trousers, even dropping down to have waistbands resting on
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