Corduroy

Corduroy - Kor-do-roy - Corduroy is a ribbed cotton velvet which forms distinctive cord like shapes in the fabric . The word comes from “Corde du Roi” which is roughly translated, from the French, as the “cloth/cord of the king”. It is had to imagine a French king wearing anything as hard wearing and outdoorsy as corduroy, but it is said that his servants wore it while out hunting. It is believed to have been first produced in Manchester. Some Germans still call it ‘Manchester’. The width of the cord is commonly referred to as the size of the "wale". The lower the "wale" number, the thicker the width of the cord.