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{{Short description|Variety of heavy cloth}}
{{About||the protagonist of a classic German legend|Faust|the British airborne mission in 1943|Operation Fustian}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
[[File:Textile Samples - Fustian, Linen and Moleskin.jpg|thumb|300px|Textile samples: fustian, [[linen]] and [[moleskin]]]]

'''Fustian''' is a variety of heavy cloth [[woven]] from [[cotton]], chiefly prepared for menswear.

== History and use ==
[[File:Cordsamt 6.jpg|thumb|Corduroy: This modern diagram shows the warp (3) and the long (red-4) and short (green-5) weft threads; traditionally the knife (1) and the guide (2) are attached and the cutting motion is upwards.]]

Known in [[Late Latin]] as ''fustaneum''<ref name=Webster/> or ''fustanum''<ref>{{cite book |author= Abbey, Ramsey |title= Chronicon abbatiæ rameseiensis: a sæc x. usque ad an. circiter 1200 |publisher= Kraus Reprint |year= 1966 |page=424 |oclc= 54878467 |quote=Spelman [...] refers to Erasmus' ''[[Colloquies]]'' for the use of the word ''fustanum'' for ‘fustian cloth’.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I7oRAAAAYAAJ| title=English 18th-Century Dances| volume = 3 |publisher=New York Public Library |year= 1813|page=108 |quote= Fustanum, or fustian, was, what it is at this period, a strong cloth made of cotton; and priests, as well as the lower ranks, wore it in vests, tunics, and [[surtout]]s.}}</ref> and in [[Medieval Latin]] as ''pannus fustāneus'' ('fustian cloth') or ''tela fustānea'' ('fustian mesh'),<ref name=OED/> the cloth is possibly named after the Egyptian city of [[Fustat]] near Cairo that manufactured such a material.<ref name="Webster">{{WD1913|title=Fustian}}</ref><ref name=OED>{{OED|fustian}}</ref>

It embraces plain [[twill]]ed [[cloth]] known as jean, and cut fabrics similar to [[velvet]], known as [[velveteen]], [[moleskin]], [[corduroy]] etc. The original medieval fustian was a stout but respectable cloth with a [[cotton]] [[weft]] and a [[linen]] [[Warp (weaving)|warp]].<ref>Donald King in: Jonathan Alexander & Paul Binski (eds), ''Age of Chivalry, Art in Plantagenet England, 1200–1400'', p. 157, Royal Academy/Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1987</ref> The term seems to have quickly become less precise, and  was applied to a coarse cloth made of [[wool]] and [[linen]], and in the reign of [[Edward III of England]], the name was given to a woollen fabric. By the early 20th century, fustians were usually of cotton [[dye]]d various colours.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In a petition to [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] during the reign of [[Mary I of England|Mary I]], "fustian of [[Naples]]" is mentioned. In the 13th and 14th centuries [[priest]]s' [[robe]]s and women's [[dress]]es were made of fustian, but though dresses are still made from some kinds, the chief use is for labourers' clothes.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} From the mid 1600s to the mid 1700s, fustian was often used for [[bed hangings]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rowe|first=Ann Pollard|date=1973|title=Crewel Embroidered Bed Hangings in Old and New England|journal=Boston Museum Bulletin|volume=71|issue=365–366|pages=102–166}}</ref>{{Rp|105}}

Fustian, by the 1860s, referred to any cut weft cotton fabric, and its manufacture was common in towns of the fringe of the Lancashire cotton region, such as [[Congleton]] in Cheshire, [[Mow Cop]] in Staffordshire and [[Heptonstall]] in [[Calderdale]]. [[Wilmslow]], in Cheshire, was a major centre for the cutting of Fustian. From 1800 to 1850 it was commonly called Baragan Fustian, and much used in Australia.

== Manufacture ==
[[File:TM158 Fustian Loom.png|left|thumb|A loom used to manufacture fustian]]

Fustian cutting was a laborious process using a fustian cutting knife.  This tool was around {{convert|50|cm}} long, and looked like a long spike; about {{convert|10|cm}}  from the tip, the top edge was sharpened into a blade. It was inserted along the fabric alongside two warp threads, and under the raised weft, and as it was guided forward the blade severed the weft. In corduroy, there were seven ridges to the inch, so along a {{convert|31|inch|adj=on}} bolt, there would be about 320 cuts to be done.<ref name=Vimeo>[http://vimeo.com/22230259 Fustian cutting video] Calderdale Museums and Galleries, Heptonstall Museum, 2010</ref>

In the 1860s, the cloth would be stretched over a {{convert|22|yard|m|adj=mid|-long}} table, and the cutters would walk the length of the table as many times as was necessary. In recent times the cloth was tensioned over a {{convert|6|ft|m|adj=on}} table where all the cuts were made, and then the cloth would be released and the next two yards tensioned onto the table. Over a 60-hour week the cutter would be expected to produce {{convert|500|yard}} of 7–8 ridge corduroy. Velveteen was cut the same way but had 32 ridges per inch, so production would be proportionately less.<ref name="Vimeo" />

Cutting was one part of the process. The yarn was sized and the cloth was woven—there would be a high number of weft threads to warp. The ridges were manually cut, and the cloth sent to be finished. It was scoured to remove the size, and brushed to raise the nap. This was then singed over a gas flame, then bleached and or dyed. It was brushed again. It was now [[Tenterhook|stentered]] to pull it out to the standard width. The cloth was woven at about {{convert|31|inch}} and during processing shrank to {{convert|27|inch}}; stentering stabilised the width to {{convert|28|inch}}. The back of the cloth would now be filled to give it stiffness: this could be with a glue-based mixture made from boiled bones, although each manufacturer had its own techniques. The cloth was now ready to be taken to the warehouse to be sold.<ref name="Vimeo" />

==Political significance==
Fustian was worn by workers during the 19th century. Accordingly, radical elements of the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[working class]] chose to wear fustian [[jackets]] as a symbol of their class allegiance. This was especially marked during the [[Chartism|Chartist]] era. The historian Paul Pickering has called the wearing of fustian "a statement of class without words."<ref name="Pickering">{{Cite journal |last=Pickering |first=Paul A. |date=1986-08-01 |title=Class Without Words: Symbolic Communication in the Chartist Movement |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/past/112.1.144 |journal=Past & Present |issue=112 |pages=160 |doi=10.1093/past/112.1.144 |issn=0031-2746|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Fustian also refers to pompous, inflated or pretentious writing or speech, starting from the time of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]. This literary use arose because the cloth type was often used as padding, hence, the purposeless words are ''fustian''. [[Bombast]], plant fibre used directly as padding (and not as fabric), has a similar literary meaning.<ref>C Willett & Phillis Cunnington, with illustrations by Barbara Phillipson and Phillis Cunnington. Faber and Faber Limited, 24 Russell Square, London. mcmlv (1955). page 45, 85</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Barragan (cloth)]], Spanish term describing a variety of medieval textiles
*[[Jeans#Evolution of the garment|Evolution of blue jeans]]
*[[Fustanella]], a skirt-like men's garment

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited references ==
* {{OEtymD|fustian}}
* Pickering, Paul, A., "Class Without Words: Symbolic Communication in the Chartist Movement", ''Past and Present'', cxii, August 1986, 144–162.
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Fustian|volume=11|page=375}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category inline}}
* {{Wiktionary inline}}

{{Fabric}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:British clothing]]
[[Category:Cotton industry]]
[[Category:Linen industry]]
[[Category:Pile fabrics]]
[[Category:Woven fabrics]]