Broadcloth is a cotton or soft woolen fabric used for making coats, suits, shirts, and dresses. Cotton broadcloth is often mercerized (treated with a chemical substance that gives the material a silky sheen). Wool broadcloth is woven in a twill (diagonal weave). It is given a heavy finish (nap) pressed lengthwise in the cloth. A process called fulling (shrinking) makes the wool cloth firm and close.
The term broadcloth was first used in England in the 1400’s for cloth 54 inches (140 centimeters) or more in width. Material that measured less than this in width was known as strait cloth.
