Paisley shawls were a fashionable item of women's clothing in Europe during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many were made of intricately woven and delicate wool, as well as examples being printed onto silks, wools, and cotton. These pieces were highly decorative. Although now known as the

Paisley pattern Paisley or paisley pattern is an ornamental textile design using the '' boteh'' () or ''buta'', a teardrop-shaped motif with a curved upper end. Of Persian origin, paisley designs became popular in the West in the 18th and 19th centuries, follo ...

, the teardrop motif originated in Persia and India, becoming popular in Europe—and synonymous with

Paisley, Renfrewshire Paisley ( ; ; ) is a large town situated in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Located north of the Gleniffer Braes, the town borders the city of Glasgow to the east, and straddles the banks of the White Cart Water, a tributary of the River ...

, therefore earning name-association with the town—in the nineteenth century.

History

The Paisley shawl has its antecedents in the

Kashmir shawl The Kashmir shawl, the predecessor of the contemporary ''cashmere shawl'', is a type of shawl identified by its distinctive Kashmiri weave and for being made of fine '' shahtoosh'' or '' pashmina'' wool. Contemporary variants include the ''pashm ...

, produced in

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

, since the eleventh century, and more intensively in central Asia in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In the eighteenth century, travel, trade, and colonisation, namely by the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

, saw examples of Kashmir shawls brought back to Europe. Around 1805, the first shawls in imitation of Kashmir originals were produced in Paisley, Scotland, following manufacture in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, and

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

in the latter decades of the eighteenth century. This began a 70-year period during which the town of Paisley, which had long been an important weaving and textile working town, became the most important centre of production for these kinds of shawls in Europe. By 1850, there were over 7,000 weavers working in the town. Shawls were also produced in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, France, and

, but Paisley's innovations in production methods (particularly, their subdivision of labour), as well as the reduced prices of Paisley-produced shawls, meant that by 1850 Edinburgh halted production, no longer able to compete. Paisley's overtaking of other centres in production of imitation shawls earned the town an association with the product, therefore altering the European name of the shawl and pattern from 'pine pattern' to 'Paisley'. Following an extreme downturn in the trade in shawls between 1841 and 1843, Queen Victoria purchased 17 Paisley-made shawls, in order to revive the trade in 1842. Similar patronage of declining textile industries had been shown by the Queen with other British products, like the

Honiton lace Honiton lace is a type of bobbin lace made in Honiton, Devon, in the United Kingdom. Historical Honiton lace designs focused on scrollwork and depictions of natural objects such as flowers and leaves. Characteristics Honiton lace is a part l ...

she wore on her wedding dress in 1840. The popularity of the shawl declined in the 1870s, due in part to a reduction in price and increase in availability, and also a change in women's fashion, transforming

crinoline A crinoline is a stiff or structured petticoat designed to hold out a skirt, popular at various times since the mid-19th century. Originally, crinoline described a stiff fabric made of horsehair ("crin") and cotton or linen which was used to ...

skirts into the

bustle A bustle is a padded undergarment or wire frame used to add fullness, or support the drapery, at the back of women's dresses in the mid-to-late 19th century. Bustles are worn under the skirt in the back, just below the waist, to keep the skir ...

. A decorative bustle was meant to be seen and a shawl would cover it. Additionally, a shawl worn with a bustle skirt would no longer drape in the same manner as when worn with a crinoline, therefore deeming it unsuitable. Shawls gave way to differently designed wraps, including mantles,

cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used th ...

s, and

dolman A dolman is either a military shirt, or a jacket decorated with braiding, first worn by Hungarian hussars. The word is of Turkish origin, and after being adopted into Hungarian, has propagated to other languages. The garment was worn by peasants ...

s. Another reason for their reduced popularity was due to their limited availability: the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

(1870-1871) prevented the export of fine goat-hair shawls from Kashmir.

Production methods

In 1812, weavers in Paisley were responsible for innovations in the hand-loom process, adding an attachment which increased the number of wool colours from two to five. Up until the 1820s, weaving was a cottage industry, but the introduction of the

Jacquard loom The Jacquard machine () is a device fitted to a loom that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with such complex patterns as brocade, damask and matelassé. The resulting ensemble of the loom and Jacquard machine is then called a Jac ...

in 1820 meant that weaving moved into the manufactory setting, housing six to eight weavers in a loom shop, working alongside one another. Between 1820 and 1850, the shawls would be woven by individual weavers. However, increases in demand meant that changes in production methods became necessary to cater to the expanding market. The increasing commercialisation of production meant that highly skilled weavers worked with managers and subsidiary trades in order to increase output. For example, where the weaver originally created their own designs, now patterns would be supplied to them. This caused a reduction of wages, autonomy, and prestige, altering the social standing of the Paisley weaver as well as their independence as a practitioner.

The Paisley Museum shawl collection

Paisley Museum and Art Galleries - geograph

A collection of Paisley shawls is on display at the

Paisley Museum and Art Galleries Paisley Museum and Art Galleries is a museum in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, Scotland. It is currently closed for refurbishment and is due to reopen in 2026 with the title of Paisley Museum. It is located in the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, ...

in Scotland, along with examples of original hand looms. The collection is a Recognised Collection of National Significance to Scotland.

Sma' Shot Cottages

Also located in Paisley town centre are the Sma' Shot Cottages. Owned and run by the Old Paisley Society, a volunteer organisation, the Sma' Shot Cottages are made up of an original Paisley weaver's cottage, dating to the 1750s, and also a mill-worker's cottage, from the early nineteenth century. Both spaces house period objects which show how weavers and mill-workers lived during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries respectively. The weaver's cottage houses two original hand looms from the period. Within their collections, the Sma' Shot Cottages also hold many examples of surviving Paisley shawls.

References

{{Commons category Paisley, Renfrewshire">nline">Choudhury, S. ''Paisley Shawls in Literature'', V&A [online
#

References

{{Commons category Paisley, Renfrewshire Scottish clothing Scottish design Shawls and wraps Textiles

History

Production methods

The Paisley Museum shawl collection

Sma' Shot Cottages

Further reading

References

References