Elysian Duffle Coat Fabric - a heavenly finish – Joshua Ellis

The duffle coat fabric is known as Elysian which means blissful and delightful, and it was named as such as it was considered to be the most heavenly finish you can achieve on wool. First, the choice of the raw material is extremely important. The wool must be coarse enough to create the pile finish, yet soft enough to give a luxurious handle. The weaving is extremely complex. It is essentially a triple cloth, with two layers of plain weave that stitch together, covered by a third layer created by weft floats, that alternatively float on the face, creating the weave structure that you see in the finished product. The fabric is from the same family as Corduroy and Velvet, with the only difference being that the pile is created by breaking the weft floats rather than cutting them. The fabric is first washed and milled, and then goes onto a brushing machine that is specially designed to break the floats. After the floats are broken the fabric is brushed on the teasel gig, and then cross-brushed to emphasise the peaks and troughs, while at the same time standing the pile on end. In total, this material experiences 15 different finishing processes, which makes it one of the most labour intensive products that we produce.

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