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Gabardine

Burberry advertisement for waterproof gabardine suit, 1908

Gabardine is a tough, tightly woven fabric used to make suits, overcoats, trousers, uniforms, windbreakers and other garments.

History

The word gaberdine or gabardine has been used to refer to a particular item of clothing, a sort of long cassock but often open at the front, since at least the 15th century, in the 16th becoming used for outer garments of the poor, and later signifying a rain cloak or protective smock-frock.^[1][2]

The modern use of the term for a fabric rather than a garment dates to Thomas Burberry, founder of the Burberry fashion house in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England, who invented the fabric and revived the name in 1879, and patented it in 1888. Gabardine made its public appearance in 1879 when it was introduced by Burberry Clothing.^[A]

Production

The original fabric was worsted wool, sometimes in combination with cotton, and was waterproofed using lanolin before weaving.^[4] The fiber may also be pure cotton, texturised polyester, or a blend.^{[citation needed]}

Gabardine is woven as a warp-faced steep or regular twill, with a prominent diagonal rib on the face and smooth surface on the back. Gabardine always has many more warp than weft yarns.^[5][6][1]

Gabardine is tightly woven and water-repellent but more comfortable and breathable than rubberised fabrics.^[6]

Applications

Burberry clothing of gabardine was worn by polar explorers, including Roald Amundsen, the first man to reach the South Pole, in 1911 and Ernest Shackleton, who led a 1914 expedition to cross Antarctica. A jacket made of this material was worn by George Mallory on his ill-fated attempt on Mount Everest in 1924.^[7]

Gabardine was also used widely in the 1950s to produce colourful patterned casual jackets, trousers and suits. Companies like J. C. Penney, Sport Chief, Campus, Four Star and California Trends were all producing short-waisted jackets, sometimes reversible, commonly known as weekender jackets.

Cotton gabardine is often used by bespoke tailors to make pocket linings for suits, where the pockets' contents would quickly wear holes in flimsy pocket lining material.^[8]

Clothing made from gabardine is generally labelled as being suitable for dry cleaning only, as is typical for wool textiles.

See also

• Cambric
• Denim
• Performance (textiles)

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

• Cumming, Valerie; Cunnington, C. W.; Cunnington, P. E. (2010). The Dictionary of Fashion History. Berg. ISBN 978-1-84788-533-3..
• Kadolph, Sara J., ed. (2007). Textiles (10th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-118769-6..
• Picken, Mary Brooks (1973) . The Fashion Dictionary. Funk & Wagnalls. ISBN 0-308-10052-2..