Puttoo was the coarse
woolen
Woolen (American English) or woollen (Commonwealth English) is a type of yarn made from carded wool. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good knitting yarn. Woolen yarn is in contrast t ...
cloth used in and before the 19th century in the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
. It was made of
camel's hair or
yak.
Quality
Puttoo was a less expensive woolen material used by locals of hilly areas for their daily garments like
shawl
A shawl (from ''shāl'') is a simple item of clothing, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, and sometimes also over the head. It is usually a rectangular piece of Textile, cloth, but can also be Square (geometry), square or tr ...
s and chogas (long coats), often decorated with silk threads. Puttoo was softer than few contemporary varieties such as Sulung or Kerseymere. Although these woolen varieties were from the same animals, the difference was the wool's quality, maybe because it was classified or picked from specific body parts. Puttoo was a smaller width cloth, one piece (of 8-10 yards) was priced at Rupees three to seven only.
Use
Puttoo was used for various winter clothing types, but it was primarily used for cheaper shawls and long coats, also called chogas. Sometimes the products were decorated with silk
braid
A braid (also referred to as a plait; ) is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing three or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair.
The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-strand ...
and
lacework.
See also
*
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...
*
Thibet cloth
References
Woolen clothing
Wool
Camel products
Animal hair products
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