First made from wool in Avignon, France, for the Pope, we now know it as a plain weave cotton with a slight ribbing across the width created by densely weaving a fine weft with an even finer warp; the best quality is woven from the long Egyptian staple fibre. This produces a strong fine, light fabric that is used in its own right for nightwear and shirts, summer dresses and as a base for printing.
