Broadcloth

Broadcloth began as the great export wool of medieval England: woven oversized on a broad loom worked by two weavers, then fulled, pounded in water until it shrank and felted into a dense, weatherproof cloth whose weave barely shows. That wool trade financed towns and made the word a synonym for fine cloth. The modern shirting called broadcloth in America is a different animal, a smooth, tightly woven cotton essentially equivalent to poplin, keeping only the name's sense of quality.

Illustration: a medieval English wool town by a river, a watermill driving fulling hammers, bolts of madder red cloth stretched on tenter frames in a green field, church tower beyond — A medieval English wool town by a river, a watermill driving fulling hammers, bolts of madder red cloth stretched on tenter frames in a green field, church tower beyond.

Named for

Named for the broad loom it required: the cloth was woven wider than two ells so it could be heavily shrunk in finishing.

Common questions

What is Broadcloth made of?: Broadcloth began as the great export wool of medieval England: woven oversized on a broad loom worked by two weavers, then fulled, pounded in water until it shrank and felted into a dense, weatherproof cloth whose weave barely shows.
What is Broadcloth named after?: Named for the broad loom it required: the cloth was woven wider than two ells so it could be heavily shrunk in finishing.