Where does Hopsack come from?

Hopsack comes from the United Kingdom, England, first documented in the 1800s.

Plate No. 074fabric

The classic unstructured blazer cloth.

First documented: 1800s
Origin: England, United Kingdom
Fiber: wool, cotton, linen
Weave: basket weave
Family: plain

Plate No. 074 · fabric

Hopsack

Hopsack is the basket weave gone to tailoring: yarns interlaced two-and-two or more, giving an open, breathable cloth with a visible checkerboard grain. The name remembers the sacking that carried hops to the breweries, but the modern cloth is the unstructured summer jacket of menswear, prized because its open weave sheds wrinkles and moves air while still reading as suiting at a distance. The trade-off is snagging: those long floats catch on rough edges, which is why hopsack is a jacket cloth and rarely a trouser.

Illustration: a Kentish hop harvest, bulging sacks loaded on a wagon beside oast houses with tilted cowls, pickers at a distance among the bines — A Kentish hop harvest, bulging sacks loaded on a wagon beside oast houses with tilted cowls, pickers at a distance among the bines.

Named for

Named for the coarse basket-woven sacking used to carry hops; the suiting borrowed the weave and kept the name.

Common questions

What is Hopsack made of?: Hopsack is the basket weave gone to tailoring: yarns interlaced two-and-two or more, giving an open, breathable cloth with a visible checkerboard grain. It is traditionally made of wool, cotton, or linen.
Where does Hopsack come from?: Hopsack comes from the United Kingdom, England, first documented in the 1800s.
What is Hopsack named after?: Named for the coarse basket-woven sacking used to carry hops; the suiting borrowed the weave and kept the name.