Silesia (cloth)

This article is about the woven cloth. For other uses, see Silesia (disambiguation).

Silesia (Sleazy, Slesia) was a thin twilled woven cloth made of linen^[1] or cotton.^[2] The term denoted a wide range of fabric grades from greige goods to dyed and finished cloth. Silesia was used for various linens, for lining clothes, and in window blinds.^[1] Cotton Silesia was calendered to obtain a gloss finish.^[2]

History

The fabric was originally manufactured in Silesia, a province of Prussia.^[3] Poor-grade Silesia was used to make cheap clothing in 18th-Century Britain and America, where the name was corrupted into “sleazy”. George Washington described the uniform of the Continental Army as “a suit made of thin, sleazy cloth without lining.” ^{[4] [5]}