A well-known summer fabric, seersucker is a cotton weave. The name is a curiosity – it means, in Persian, silk and sugar, referring to the smooth and rough, or mottled alternating weaves in the weave. Often in blue and white stripe, seersucker does not have to be striped, but it always has the alternating smooth and rough weaves.
The Persian name came into use in the English speaking world because the fabric was used in India, where Persian was a common spoken language. The fabric, and the name, were adopted by the East India Company. Seersucker was used for bags, mattress covers and other utilitarian uses long before people started making clothes out of it. When they did, the clothes were overalls and workwear, until, in the early 20th century, it became popular for suits, particularly in the very hot and humid south, before air conditioning.
Seersucker has some properties that make it great for summer clothes: it breathes well, being cooler than other types of cotton; it does not wrinkle easily, because of the weave, and it does not actually have to be striped, though that is the most common pattern. Single-colour seersucker was traditionally called “hickory stripe”, used for railway workers’ overalls.
So the idea of seersucker suits was fairly radical – rather like using curtain fabric or upholstery fabric for suits today. But it stuck. Popular for weddings and smart casual events in the summer, seersucker suits and jackets can be made in single or double breasted styles, commonly with mid blue or light brown stripes. Every man should have at least one seersucker suit in his wardrobe.