Mad Over Madras Checks: How A Humble Indian Weave Became A Luxury Favourite

With the rise of people wearing muted shades, touting it as "quiet luxury" yet repeatedly mentioning it, every Instagram feed and Pinterest board became densely populated with prints and cashmeres deemed appropriate by the fashion experts of social media.

And while most of the outfits were quite impractical for the warmer parts of India (layering a woollen sweater and trying to hail a kaali peeli in 28-degree weather doesn’t seem to be the perfect marriage), one increasingly popular design’s origins & conceptualisation actually lie in India. That is, of course, the Madras Check.

Origin

The traditional design of the Madras Check was a handwoven, irregular pattern of a grid which consisted of at least two colours. It was dyed using vegetable or natural dyes (ie, indigo and turmeric) - gifting it a recognisable scent - on handwoven cloth that was pure cotton. 

Since the dyes were natural, the colours would ‘bleed’ into each other with each wash, giving form to new patterns and the name ‘Bleeding Madras.’

Its origins may lie in the 12th century, way before designers like Stella McCartney’s adoption of sustainable practice. However, the Madras Check was made to be practical as well as eco-friendly. Its fabric was designed to be breathable- perfect for the humid weather- while consisting of an identical pattern on both sides.

Its key weaving centres were spread across the modern-day states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Nevertheless, its influence expanded rapidly to the Middle East and Africa. 

It converted from the lungis worn by fishermen and farmers in Tamil Nadu to the headscarves and turbans worn by men in the Middle East and the Kalabari group of Nigeria.

Trade and beyond

One of the principal reasons responsible for its modern-day expanse was through the East India Company. During the mid-17th century, Francis Day found the fabric to be lucrative and incentivised the weavers to produce the check for export. The cloth was then exported to West Africa and parts of America.

Soon, due to its immense popularity, it was exported under the name Real Madras Handkerchief. The employment of the adjective ‘Real’ was to clearly differentiate it from the machine-made alternatives being made in other colonial factories.

The Madras Check also travelled to the Caribbean Islands when employers sent Indian indentured servants from present-day Chennai to the islands during the 19th century.

It soon became a form of expression for those who were enslaved.

This was because while restrictions and limitations increased on those of African descent in the Caribbean, as well as those born into slavery, the Madras Check became a kind of luxury and a way for them to style themselves, creating a sense of empowerment and freedom. Today, it remains important in the culture of many Caribbean countries. 

Preppy fashion staple

The Madras Check's spread to the United States and has become one of the most significant impacts. This was due to multiple factors. While one was, of course, the British and their trade of the check to the United States, another important factor was Elihu Yale’s donations.

In Madras, he served as the Governor of Fort St. George. During his tenure, he donated several goods, including the Madras Check, to present-day Yale University. As a result of this, the fabric gained association with prep and Ivy League style, possibly serving as a huge factor in creating its image as one that is linked to quiet luxury.

Years later, in the mid-20th century, students from similar circles would also travel to islands in the Caribbean and once again pick up the fabric in the form of Bermuda shorts, further associating it with the Ivy League as well as clothes to be worn on vacation as a result of its breathability and light quality. 

Additionally, in 1958, a deal was struck between the Leela founder, Captain C P Krishnan Nair (who at the time ran Leela Lace), and a textile exporter named William Jacobson, who then went on to sell it to Brooks Brothers. A line of clothing was then launched by Brooks Brothers surrounding the Madras Check, once again reinforcing its status as the uniform of the uber elite or the ‘gentleman’. 

However, the textile exporter forgot to inform Brooks Brothers of the bleeding quality of the fabric. So when the product was sold, consumers were enraged when the fabric washed onto other clothes in the wash! This led to quick damage control with a marketing campaign by adman  David Ogilvy that sold the product with the tagline ‘Guaranteed to bleed.’

Of course, the setback was only temporary. It soon landed up in magazines and catalogues of labels.  Seventeen magazine even had an eight-page coverage on the fabric that even included an interview with Captain Nair!

Even today, you can find the Madras check in the blazers and shirts of many reputed labels, including the likes of Ralph Lauren. However, since the 1980s, the production has changed to primarily power looms and more technology-intensive methods rather than hand-woven methods, resulting in the loss of the natural ‘bleed.’

In the present era, I think it’s even more important to remember that Madras check is not just a printed pattern found on a synthetic blazer at a fast fashion hotspot that meshes well with the quiet luxury aesthetic, rather it is the handwoven and pure cotton fabric with a ‘bleeding’ and a unique print that is rich in history & culture which is curated and honestly worked on by artisans.

Article by Jai Shah, Freelance fashion writer, for SheThePeople Sartorial Series | Views expressed by the author are their own.