Pre-Synthetic Waterproof fabrics ?
January 18, 2011 1:39 AM   Subscribe

Waterproof fabrics used before there were synthetic materials ?

I'm interested to hear about waterproof fabrics used before there were synthetic materials.

I'm particularly interested where wool or cotton was the basis for the waterproofed garment

In particular I recall reading of a material used in 1950's mountaineering garments which was basically cotton but the warp and weft were different cottons and expanded in some way when wet which meant the garment was waterproof(ish) when wet and breathable otherwise. Anyone know what that was called or anymore about it ?

Also interested in other treatment/preparation of cotton and anything else you can think of !
posted by southof40 to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (19 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Waxed Cotton.
posted by Etaoin Shrdlu at 1:46 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


waxed leather too...
posted by gen at 1:55 AM on January 18, 2011


Mackintosh raincoats were originally a thin layer of rubber between two layers of cotton.
posted by atrazine at 2:03 AM on January 18, 2011


Best answer: The mountaineering fabric you're thinking of might be Ventile.
posted by SyntacticSugar at 2:14 AM on January 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


Oilcloth - cotton coated with linseed oil. Water resistant, rather than waterproof.
posted by zippy at 2:15 AM on January 18, 2011


Oilskin is similar to waxed cotton. My dad had a proper (non-synthetic) oilskin raincoat that he used to wear in the '80s. I remember it being heavy, much thicker and stiffer than a synthetic raincoat, and generally awkward to wear. I think it also smelled bad when it got wet, which is not a great property for a raincoat.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 2:16 AM on January 18, 2011


Apparently they're still being made by companies like Driza-Bone. Maybe it's an Australian thing. The attraction over synthetic raincoats seems to be the extreme durability.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 2:23 AM on January 18, 2011


oilskins aren't exactly museum pieces, nor completely non-functional by mdern standards. Yeah a drizabone is somewhat (but not ridiculously) heavy, but it's durable and you're dry and warm.

Mostly in the old days animal skins were used for extreme climates weren't they?
posted by wilful at 3:59 AM on January 18, 2011


Heavy tweed or Hunting tweed is another heavyweight material that's been used for outerwear.
posted by arcticseal at 4:44 AM on January 18, 2011


Seal skin was/is used for all sorts of things here in AK. It's even used to make kayaks. I've seen parkas made from the stretched intestines that look pretty darn waterproof.
posted by madred at 4:52 AM on January 18, 2011


Wool-rayon gabardine was somewhat waterproof and used by explorers in the first half of the 20th century.
posted by drlith at 5:03 AM on January 18, 2011


Salmon skin and other fish skins can also be made into beautiful, lightweight garments.
posted by pickypicky at 5:15 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Heavy wool is very water resistant - the outer fibers absorb insane amounts of water and then swell up, making it impossible for more to be absorbed, all without transmitting much dampness to the interior. Some varieties of canvas (Ventrile) and linen (the stuff Ventrile was invented to imitate) do this too.

Filson still makes weatherproof outerwear, in oilcloth, waxed canvas and heavy wool varieties.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:18 AM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Not exactly an academic source, but fwiw there is this lovely little bit from Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Farmer Boy":

"The cold nipped Almanzo's eyelids and numbed his nose, but inside his good woolen clothes he was warm. They were all made from the wool of his father's sheep. His underwear was creamy white, but Mother had dyed the wool for his outside clothes.

"Butternut hulls had dyed the thread for his coat and his long trousers. Then Mother had woven it, and she had soaked and shrunk the cloth into heavy, thick fullcloth. Not wind nor cold nor even a drenching rain could go through the good fullcloth that Mother made."
posted by torticat at 11:15 AM on January 18, 2011


Tightly knitted wool mittens are very waterproof.

Also, as I'm sure someone upthread has already mentioned, wool will continue to keep you warm even when wet.

Felt, as torticat mentions, is also very warm, waterproof, and protective from the elements.

I remember a lot of mentions of oilcloth in my Laura Ingalls Wilder books, as a child. As a kid I pictured a sort of canvas fabric permeated with oil (more like what I know today as waxed canvas). However I've since seen "oilcloth" in real life and it feels to me like it's a synthetic or coated with a plastic-ish material. This confuses me.
posted by Sara C. at 11:29 AM on January 18, 2011


Response by poster: What an amazing set of answers - thanks to everyone. I've bested syntacticsugar because they managed to answer that sub-question about the mountaineering fabric (which has been bugging me for years !) but all the answers were great. Interested to see any more that come along !
posted by southof40 at 1:47 PM on January 18, 2011


Oh, one small thing: eponysterical, if you translate your name as south of 40 degrees latitude, which was my first thought. Then I guessed you were probably talking about age.
posted by wilful at 4:12 PM on January 18, 2011


Nthing the oilskin citation. They're used extensively in equestrian circles. You can't go into any tack store and not come across it. I love my Duster; I can wear it riding my motorcycle in the rain, and I do not get wet. I paid $129 for it 6 years ago, it's still as good as new, and here in B.C. we get heavy rain for 6 months of the year. This coat gets a ton of use.

Now, couple that with a Cowichan Indian sweater, and you can tackle anything the wet coast throws at you. My grandparents settled in Cowichan Bay after emigrating to Canada, and my grandmother was the one of the first European woman to be shown how to knit them. I had the sweater she made me for over 20 years, until it was destroyed in a fire.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 4:14 PM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I see those sweaters in thrift stores and flea markets all the time and wonder why anyone ever knit sweaters so heavy and tight. Now I know! Thanks, ParidoliaticBoy!
posted by Sara C. at 4:43 PM on January 18, 2011


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