Moleskin and corduroy are rugged cotton fabrics long used in outdoor wear, as trousers, jackets, vests and shirts. In Britain, with the development of the cotton industry in Lancashire, these fabrics were used particularly in trousers for farmers and laborers, as the trousers were durable, washable, and gave good protection from chilling winds. Moleskin and corduroy were used also by the landowners who found it unusually comfortable when shooting or fishing. While laborers in Britain tend nowadays to wear inexpensive jeans, the landowning class have stayed with the moleskins and corduroys not only for trousers but also for jackets, vests and shirts, providing the market for a few mills to maintain production of high quality cotton moleskin and corduroy fabrics.

Moleskin and corduroy are fustian fabrics, woven with a twilled weave to form a thick dense cloth, and having a cut nap on one side. With the moleskin, the fabric is brushed to form the nap. With the corduroy, the weave is such as to provide separate cords, held in the woven fabric, which are then cut to form the pile of the wales or ridges. The nap or pile is then sheared to form a uniform surface. The best quality fabrics are very tightly woven from fine threads of long staple cotton. The stress on the loom in producing the better cloths is too great for the normal modern loom, which restricts manufacture of these cloths to those few mills with either older high strength looms or specially reinforced looms.

Moleskin, with a brushed nap, is soft. Moleskin is a rugged long lasting material providing great comfort and good protection from wind chill.

List Moleskin Garments

Care of Moleskin
Moleskin may be dry cleaned or washed on a gentle cycle (turned inside out) with line drying. Washing is usually preferred as it helps maintain the tightness of the fabric. As a pure cotton, the fabric will fade in color with wear and washing. You will enjoy your favorite moleskin garment showing its longevity in this fashion.

Care of Corduroy
The corduroy pants we offer are made from a German corduroy that is 95% cotton, 5% Lycra(r) for stretch, making the pants unusually comfortable. The fabric is pre-washed so can be machine washed (gentle cycle) and tumble dried (low).