BRADFORD LUSTRE FABRICS

Fabrics chiefly used for linings and dress purposes. The most commonly used are distinguished under the following terms: - Alpaca, Brilliantine, Florentine, Glace, Lorraine Lustre, Lustre Linings, Melange Lustre, Pekin Stripes, Sicilians and Grenada. Each fabric is described under its name.

The hair obtained from the Angora goat, and is grown chiefly in Turkey, South Africa, the U.S.A. and Australia. It is lustrous white, fine, wavy and long. The length varies from 4-in. to 10-in. and spins from 28's to 50's quality. It has no felting properties. That from the U.S.A. is much lower in quality than the others, having about 15 per cent more kempy fibre. Mohair is chiefly used in braids, felt hats, linings, plushes, etc., and the coarser kinds for carpets and low-grade woollen fabrics. ———————— The hair or wool of the goat of that name. More generally known as mohair. The animal originally had its home in Asia Minor. About 1858 it was introduced into Cape Colony, from which country we now get a large supply. The natives of Asia Minor made shawls from the wool, which resembled Cashmere shawls. In colour it is white, average length of hair is 6 to 8 inches, and- has a curly structure. It is a very useful fibre, and largely used by the manufacturers of Astrakhan, wool crepons, plushes and cashmeres; also used in many silk cloths. The French use the fibre in a cloth named "poil de chevre", which has a fine spun silk coloured warp and angora weft. Bradford -imitates this cloth with a fine cotton warp. It has more lustre than wool, but is not so warm. Sir Titus Salt, by introducing the manufacture of goods made from mohair into Saltaire, raised Saltaire into a town from a village.