Seersucker

Seersucker or railroad stripe is a thin, puckered, usually cotton fabric, commonly but not necessarily striped or chequered, used to make clothing for hot weather. The word originates from the Persian words شیر and شکر , literally meaning "milk and sugar", from the gritty texture ("sugar") on the otherwise smooth ("milk") cloth. Seersucker is woven in such a way that some threads bunch together, giving the fabric a wrinkled or puckered appearance. This effect is often achieved during weaving by warp threads for the puckered bands being fed at a greater rate than the warp threads of the smooth stripes. (These are often of different colors but do not need to be.) The unevenness causes the fabric to be mostly held away from the skin rather than being plastered on it when wet with sweat, facilitating heat dissipation and air circulation. It also means that ironing is not necessary. Common items made from seersucker include suits, shorts, shirts, dresses, and robes. In the United States, it is often made in white and blue stripes; however, it is produced in a wide variety of colors, usually with narrow plain and puckered stripes in different colors. During the British colonial period, seersucker was a popular material in Britain's hot-weather colonies such as British India. When seersucker was introduced in the United States it was used for many garments. For suits, the material was considered a mainstay of the summer wardrobe of gentlemen, especially in the hot and humid South before air conditioning. During the American Civil War, this cheap but durable material was used to make haversacks and even the famous baggy pants of Confederate Zouaves such as the Louisiana Tigers. From the mid-Victorian era until the early 20th century, seersucker was also known as bed ticking due to its widespread use in mattresses, pillow cases and nightshirts during the hot summers in the Southern US and Britain's overseas colonies. The fabric was originally worn by the poor in the U.S. until preppy undergraduate students began wearing it in the 1920s in an air of reverse snobbery.