Kerseys were cheaper, coarser, twill woven woollen fabrics used for poorer people’s clothes, sailors’ clothes, cloaks and overcoats, working clothes and so on. The twill weave meant that they could be more closely woven in the loom and made the milling easier, both factors reducing the time of milling required to produce a weather resistant fabric. These didn’t have the same stoutness as a proper Broadcloth, but were a serviceable alternative for those who couldn’t afford the superior product or for additional over garments not worn everyday.
Common Kersey. Typical product used for Sailors’ jackets, soldiers’ undress waistcoats, cavalry cloaks and other such purposes.
Regulation Mixture Greatcoat Kersey. Specific quality and colour used for British Infantry Greatcoats form their introduction until the improvement of the cloth in the light of the failings of the Crimean War.
Tait Blue-Gray Kersey. A quality exported from Britain to the Confederate States during the American Civil War for the iconic Southern soldiers’ uniforms.
Sky Blue Pant Kersey. Quality used by the Federal States for soldier’s trousers during the American Civil War.
French Royal Blue Pant Kersey. Many of the pants supplied to the Confederate Government by contractors such as Isaac Campbell & Co were made from a material virtually identical to that produced for the Federal Governmet. However, they were dyed using the Prussiate dye system which had become viable in the 1850s.
