What Does Calico Mean?
Calico is a fabric finished from unbleached, and often not completely processed, cotton. The name Calico is a resultant from the name of the city of Calicut, Kerala, India. It is used a lot in flexible furnishing and has been made by the traditional weavers of the city of Calicut commonly known as ‘chaliyans.’ The fabric is not very coarse and thick than canvas or denim, but due to its unfinished and undyed appearance, it is comparatively very cheap. It might contain unseparated husk parts. In the year 1700, England banned the import of exclusive cotton from India, in an effort to sustain the English textile industry. The ban which was implemented resulted in massive failure but was strengthened in 1720 by the ‘Calico Act’. It was again repealed in 1774 and roughly destroyed the Indian textile industry and ironically, India was enforced to buy British textiles. Rishton, a small town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England was the first location that the Calico was woven on an e
