Plate No. 029fabric
- First documented
- 1400s
- Fiber
- cotton
- Weave
- plain weave, fine crosswise rib
- Family
- plain
Plate No. 029 · fabric
Poplin
Poplin is a tightly woven plain-weave cloth with many more warp ends than weft picks, so the fine warp bends around a heavier weft and raises a barely visible crosswise rib. Originally a silk-and-wool cloth associated with papal Avignon, it settled into all-cotton form as the crisp, smooth standard for dress shirts. The high thread density is what gives poplin its clean face, its slight sheen, and its tendency to show wrinkles more honestly than oxford.
Named for
From the French papeline, by tradition a cloth of papal Avignon, seat of the popes in the fourteenth century.
Also known as
papeline
