When I was young, we had madras shirts for a fashion statement. Do you remember madras?

Its just a thin cotton shirt that's usually plaid.

You've seen them on preppy kids lots.of times just didn't realize that is what it was called.

We hippies loved it way back when in the 60's.  

You are so right. I was watching a show on Madras, India and I thought of that question.

History of Madras Fabric

City of Madras

The madras fabric is named after the Indian city of Madras ( now known as Chennai ) from where it first made its way to the west. Madras was originally known as “Madraspatnam” and has a long history stretching back to at least the 2nd century. The first European traders that established a trading post in the area were Dutch, arriving in 1612. They traded mainly in the local calico cloth, which was in high demand.

The English East India Company established themselves in 1626 at a site called Armagon but soon found that the local cloth was of poor quality and not suitable for export. Accordingly, to Francis Day, an officer of the company, they embarked on a voyage of exploration down the coast. In time he found “the only place for paintings ( actually chintz imprinted with colored designs using wooden blocks ), so much desired… and likewise great store of longcloath and morrees” ( a blue cotton cloth ). The place was a fishing village called Madraspatnam and on 22 August 1639, he secured a grant from the local ruler to establish a trading post and thus the modern outpost of Madras was founded.

The Fabric Evolves

To secure a reliable supply of merchandise, the company attracted Indian merchants and weavers by promising them exemptions from duties for a period of thirty years.  and within a year it is said that nearly four hundred families of weavers had permanently settled in Madras.

The original Madras fabric was plain cotton muslin, overprinted or embroidered in elaborate patterns using natural (vegetable) dyes. The weave was simple and loose and rice gruel was used as an adhesive. The predominant colors were shades of blue, black and red checks. It was a lightweight breathable fabric suited to a humid tropical climate. An important ingredient in the process was the quality of water used in dyeing, as water from different regions would affect the colors differently. Another distinguishing feature was that it had the same pattern on both sides. This fabric was popular among the British in India who then took it to their home country. It gained in popularity and its use began to spread to different parts of the British Empire. Interestingly, the Boston Evening Transcript from Jan 17, 1908, claims that the shirtmaker David J. Anderson invented and gave the Madras fabric its name after 1844. Considered that East India Company made Madras before then, it seems implausible, however, back then the streams of information was much more segmented and it was possible to “invent” things in different parts of the world at different times.

Madras Patterns

The modern day Madras fabric has a plaid or checked and sometimes even striped pattern in generally bright colors. These patterns, especially plaid, first made their appearance about a hundred and fifty years ago and were the result of the tartan craze which started with the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822. As was to be expected, this influenced the British in India and tartan started to be incorporated into Madras. The Harris Museum in Preston, Lancashire has two swatches of Madras fabric dating from 1866; one is a tartan and the other very similar to modern day Madras (see pictures below).

Madras Today

Modern day Madras is basically a check – patterned cotton cloth that comes in three varieties.

1. The first or basic type is made by dyeing cotton thread in different colors and then weaving them to make various plaid patterns.
2. The other is a patchwork of pieces of cotton cloth of different patterns stitched together.
3. The third type is called Bleeding Madras and has a unique story of its own.

How Madras became popular in the U.S.

It first made its appearance in America in 1718 as a part of a donation made to the Collegiate School of Connecticut by the then Governor of Madras Elihu Yale. The college was later renamed Yale University in his honor. However, according to the Sears Roebuck & Company catalog, madras shirts were available in 1897, and even the New York Times mentioned a madras shirt shortage in November 1919. The cloth gained some popularity during the 1930s among American tourists who holidayed in the resorts of the Caribbean. As such, it was also featured in Apparel Arts and Esquire. It was worn by returning students at their Ivy League colleges to mark them out as being wealthy enough to have visited these expensive destinations. Thereafter it grew in popularity in America. In 1952, Gentry featured the Madras pattern as well, but the big breakthrough came allegedly in 1958, when the leading textile importer William Jacobson embarked on a trip from the U.S. to Bombay in the hopes to return with this exotic fabric from India.

Upon his arrival, the local textile Commissioner Mr. Swaminathan directed him to Captain C.P.Krishnan Nair the proprietor of Leela Scottish Lace Ltd, a textile exporting company from Chennai ( modern day Madras) who presented Jacobson with a fabric that he fell for right away. It was a Madras plaid fabric with a strong smell of vegetable dyes and sesame oils that was dyed in vivid colors that was originally made for export to South Africa. Mr. Nair was delighted to supply Mr. Jacobson with the Madras fabric at $1 per yard, warning him that the fabric required utmost care when laundering because the color would run out if it wasn’t gently washed in cold water.

The American exporter sold ( 10,000 yards ) of the same fabric to Brooks Brothers who manufactured trousers and jackets (which sold for $50). However, Jacobson failed to fully explain the properties of the fabric and did not issue washing instructions to Brooks Brothers. Customers were furious when they saw the colors run that ruined their expensive summer apparel. Jacobson was likewise furious and summoned Mr. Nair to the United States where his attorneys threatened to sue Mr. Nair and the Leela Scottish Lace Ltd.

Nope.  The Mod look was from England and it was kind of classy hip fashion from England where everthing was worshipped at that time since the Beatles were in Vogue.  It was fashioned after the Beatles and what they wore.  The Beatle suits and shoes and hair.

Madras, was cloth from Madras, India.  That's all. India was cool in the 60's.  

Well, I don't know, but my best friend at North Phx. High was the No. 1 Cool Guy according to the cutest girl in my neighborhood.  His name was Mike and we would dress up like Mods and Rockers and go to Chris Town and parade in front of as many girls as we could wearing either Paisley, "Mod Dress" shirts with white collars and white cuffs, or "Madras" (which sounds the same but won fame anyway, apparently).  Are you prepared to argue with Mike, the coolest guy at North High in 1967?

This is what the cool nerds wore.  The rabid intellectuals who even know what Madras is.  We thought that it was cool that it was guaranteed to bleed.  Like cheap dye was in back then because it was from Madras, India. 


When washed with mild soap in warm water, they are guaranteed to bleed and blend together into distinctively muted and subdued colorings. In the United States, the plaid cotton madras shirt became popular in the 1960s among the post-World War II generation of preppy baby boomers. This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at January 4, 2020 10:29 PM MST

Well, in the 60's, that would have made you hot.  You were hot and you didn't even know it.  

  India. 

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