May 4, 2019 James Gibbons

The In’s and Out’s of Plaid

When I started selling fabrics in 1995, plaids were hot. But in five short years, they were beginning to wane in popularity. Plaids have never gone away completely, but as a major trend in fashion, they are back with a vengeance. A couple of years ago, they returned as a flood of menswear in department stores, which almost always means the furniture will wear them in a year or two. Then just as predicted, plaids made their way back in high-end, wool form.

In much the same way as every good fiction story, the protagonist leaves home on some mission, be it going to war or rescuing a princess or destroying an evil ring, his desire is always to return home. He fights his way back, but he when he arrives, home is no longer the same. Things have changed in some way or maybe it was just the hero who had changed from his journey. The return of the plaid is the same. It is different this time. It still crosses welt over warp, that is what makes it a plaid, but style and color and construction have adjusted to fit our home as we return to this trend.

The same is true of color. Plaids that sold really well were usually jewel tones, the colors of jewels, like ruby, sapphire, and emerald (reds, blues, and greens) together in one pattern. These tones were as hot as plaids in those days. Today, blues are very strong, reds are back in and green is even beginning to surface, but they are not the same old “jewel” tones of the late 1990s.

You can find many beautiful plaids in our line today, from imported wool to our new Revolution performance plaids.