Gabardine is a tough, tightly woven fabric used to make suits, overcoats, trousers, uniforms, windbreakers, and other garments. Etymology The word gabardine has been used to refer to a "dress, covering" since the 1590s. It has been used to mean "closely woven cloth" since 1904. Fabric The fibre used to make the fabric is traditionally worsted wool, but may also be cotton, texturized polyester, or a blend. 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. Garbardine always has many more warp than weft yarns. Cotton gabardine is sometimes used by bespoke tailors to make pocket linings for business suits, where the pocket's contents would quickly wear holes in the usual flimsy pocket lining material. Clothing made from gabardine is generally labeled as being suitable for dry cleaning only, as is typical for wool textiles. Gabardine may also refer to the twill-weave used for gabardine fabric, or to a raincoat made of this fabric. History Gabardine was invented in 1879 by Thomas Burberry, founder of the Burberry fashion house in Basingstoke, and patented in 1888. The original fabric was water-proofed before weaving and was worsted or worsted/cotton, tightly woven and water-repellant but more comfortable than rubberized fabrics. The fabric takes its name from the word "gaberdine", originally a long, loose cloak or gown worn in the Middle Ages, but later signifying a rain cloak or protective smock-frock. 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. 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. These jackets, depending on pattern and rarity, are highly sought after in the "rockabilly" subcultures around the world. Image source and licensing details: http://wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Burberry_advertisement_angling_suite_of_gabardine_fabric_1908.jpgThis is a synthesized speech reading of the Wikipedia article "Gabardine" and is intended primarily for blind and visually impaired individuals who can not view Wikipedia. This video can also be used for mobile users who wish to listen to Wikipedia articles on the go, or by those who wish to learn a second language by reading the captions in that language while listening in English. Original article available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabardine All text from Wikipedia is licensed under CC-BY-SA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reusing_Wikipedia_content "You are free ... to make commercial use of the work": http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Text-to-speech synthesized from FestVox, which permits commercial use: "no restrictions on its use (commercial or otherwise)" http://festvox.org/festival/downloads.html Original article available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabardine Note: all these licenses permit commercial use, and therefore we are permitted to monetize videos derived from these contents.

• published: 24 Aug 2013
• views: 1