When 11 November rolls around, you'll need to get out those trusty corduroy pants -- or a sport coat with patches at the elbows -- so you'll look good on Corduroy Appreciation Day, the holiday founded by New York-based corduroy aficionado Miles Rohan in 2005. It's been said that 11/11 was chosen because of its resemblance to the fabric's distinctive wale pattern.
Casual, yet more presentable than a pair of jeans or sweat pants, the woven cotton fabric's special day reached a crescendo when it was celebrated around the world on 11/11/11.
Warm feelings about wearing corduroy:
- Corduroy evolved from the ancient cotton weave known as "fustian." This manufactured textile existed for thousands of years before it acquired the name "corduroy."
- Corduroy’s wale count per inch can vary from 1.5 to 21, although the standard falls between 10 and 12. The lower the wale number, the thicker the width of the wale -- for example, 4-wale is much thicker than 11-wale.
- Corduroy sounds like it should be linked to the French phrase corde du roi ("cloth of the king"), but the word and the fabric are actually both English in origin.