In thehistory of textiles,frieze (French:frisé) is aMiddle English term for a coarsewoollen,plain weave cloth with anap on one side. The nap was raised by scrubbing it to raise curls of fibre,[1] and was not shorn after being raised, leaving an uneven surface.
The term frieze can also be used for the curly nap frieze fabrics have, as well as the action of raising the nap,[2] which differs from standard methods. Today,frieze is also a term applied to a textile technique used in modern machine-loomedcarpeting, as well as the textile produced. Carpets made with this technique are known for their resilience, due to a hightwist rate, outperforming standard cut or looppile carpets.
Panni frisi, "Frisian cloths", appear in medieval inventories and other documents.[2] Frieze was woven in the English Midlands and Wales, and in Ireland from the fourteenth century, and later in Holland as well. A similar textile isbaize. InOld Norse, such cloth was calledvaðmál (wadmal), and lengths of wadmal were amedium of exchange, especially for the poor who had neither cattle nor silver. Wadmal could be used to pay property tax.[3]
In the seventeenth centuryFrize was applied tolinen cloth, apparently as fromFrisia, an unconnected usage.[4]
Coarse frieze was manufactured in England for export to Ireland in the nineteenth century. "Frieze cloth, a mixed and for the most part an unraised fabric, has been manufactured for a series of years, and continues so to be, probably, in increasing quantity", wrote Samuel Jubb in 1860.[5] "This cloth is heavy and sound, rather than fine in quality. It is made... almost entirely for the Irish trade" Frieze was to be seen, Jubb noted impassively, worn so threadbare it was reduced to "the merest expression of threads crossing each other at right angles... on the back of an Irishpig-jobber or that of an Irish reaper." TheUlster, a long loose overcoat as worn inUlster, was made of frieze.[6] Irish frieze found its way to North America: a stock of hooded coats that was brought to Detroit in 1701 included twenty-three made offrise d'Irlande.[7]