Figure 1.--Sears offered two styles of cape overcoats done in dark mixed cassimere and blue beaver cloth. We are not sure just what was meant by beaver cloth. We are Only one is illustrated. We are not sure the styling is identical. both were done fof boys' age 4 to 12 years. The cape was detachable, presumably on boy styles. We are not sure just how popular these cape overcoats were.

Beaver cloth sounds like a material made from beaver pelts. It was not. It was infact a wool fabric, although cotton was sometimes used. It was a fabric developed in Britain and woven so as to reesselble beaver pelts. It was double faced, napped on both sides. The nap is the long fuzzy end of fibers on the surface of cloth. The weave was a twill and heavily napped, although the length of the nap varied, depending on the grade of cloth and uses. Beaver cloth has the longest nap of all the different napped fabrics. Beaver cloth had a luxurious, almost silky look. Light colored fibers were sometimes added to the nap which increased the shine derived from this weave. Beaver cloth was very effective cold weather fabric. It was thus primarily worn for making heavy winter coats. Beaver cloth or cotton beaver was less expensive and employed in a variety of garments. The cotton weave might be used caps and even shoe linings. It was the coiton weave that was used for work garments and maritime garments where warmth was especially important. An example of a child's garment is a beaver cloth cape overcoat offered by Sears in 1902. Presumably this is wool beaver.

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Created: 10:57 PM 8/29/2004
Last updated: 10:57 PM 8/29/2004