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hoary  gray or white with or as if with age.

hobble skirt  a skirt constricted at the bottom

holland  a cotton or linen fabric in plain weave usually heavily sized or glazed and used for window shades, bookbinding, and clothing.

homburg  a man's felt hat with a stiff curled brim and a high crown creased lengthwise

homespun  a loosely woven usually woolen or linen fabric originally made from homespun yarn.  Coarse, rugged yarn is used.   Originally an un dyed woolen cloth spun into yarn and woven in the home, by peasants and country folk the world over.  Has substantial appearance and serviceable qualities.  Made with irregular, slightly twisted uneven yarns.  Has a spongy feel with a hand-loomed tweedy appearance.  Genuine homespun is produced in a very limited quantity and much powerloom cloth is sold as genuine homespun.  Many qualities are made, the best is an ideal rough-and-ready type of cloth.

honan   silk, also from man-made synthetics.  Plain weave.  The best grade of wild silk.  Very similar to "pongee" but finer.  Made from wild silkworms raised in the Honan area of China.  The only wild type that gives even dyeing results.  Do not fit too tightly.

honey comb a fabric in which the warp and weft threads float to form a diamond shape with ridges and hollows to produce a cellular cloth. Brighton and Grecian weaves are adaptations of the honeycomb principle.      

Honey comb fabric (Example of honey comb)

hood  a flexible covering for the head and neck; a protective covering for the head and face; an ornamental scarf worn over an academic gown that indicates by its color the wearer's college or university

hoopskirt  a skirt stiffened with as if with hoops

hopsack (hopsacking)     a rough-surfaced loosely woven clothing fabric.  cotton, wool, linen, rayon, silk, hemp, jute.  Basket weave.  Made with coarse yarn. Has a rather rough texture and quite durable.  Often quite bulky but various weights.

horizon a type of light source used in a commercial light box to simulate early morning sunrise, or late afternoon sunset conditions. The correct technical definition for Horizon light is as follows: A simulated horizon sunlight source providing a color temperature of 2300+/-200 K at a minimum illumination of 80 ft/ candles. (K = Kelvin)

Hororata Tartan The Hororata tartan incorporates specially selected colors which represent the area of Hororata villiage in New Zealand, including red to represent the native Rata tree after which Hororata was named and yellow and black to symbolize the local sports teams and school.  Wilton – one of the world's leading tartan designers – offered to design Hororata's very own tartan to help raise money after an earthquake.  The fabric would be woven in Scotland and gifted to the local community.

horsehair cloth made from horsehair.

horsetail lining cloth  the natural horsetail is a kind of materials with high elasticity, softness but sturdiness. So the horsetail lining cloth made of horsetail is the necessary accessories for western suits. It is a kind of plain cloth made of cotton yarn or T/c yarn as warp and whole good spring natural horsetail hair as weft. High elasticity, wrinklefree, softness but sturdiness is their most outstanding feature. It is really the ideal material for the lining cloth.  Core-spun horsetail cloth is a kind of never-ending yarn spun by three-cord cotton thread with the horsetail. The core-spun horsetail lining cloth takes the cotton yarn as warp, and core-spun horsetail cloth as weft. Compared with horsetail lining cloth, it is wider, thicker, more elastic. So it is better to act as material of shoulder pads, wind coats, over coats, full dress, military suits, etc. and it could be used together with horsetail lining cloth. Hair Interlining adopts wool and camel hair as the raw materials and is processed with special finishing. It can also be made with horse hair core-spun yarns and chemical filament fiber. Due to its particular structures and the adoption of sizing and resin finishing of base cloth, the finished interlining boasts anisotropic features. It bears excellent drapability warp-wise and distinguished elasticity weft-wise. Besides, the interlining is characteristic of a soft handle and excellent shape retention. The shrinkage after dry wash and water wash is both unnoticeable, compared to that of pure wool or blended fabrics. The hair interlining can be adopted as the front interlining, bias strip and cuff interlining of top-grade business suits, ceremonial dresses and suits.

hose  a cloth leg covering that sometimes covers the foot; stocking, sock; a close-fitting garment covering the legs and waist that is usually attached to a doublet by points; short breeches reaching to the knee

hosiery hose; knitwear [Chiefly British]

houndstooth   one of the most easily identifiable checks is the houndstooth or dogstooth check. This weave is produced in a pattern of four light and four dark yarns in both warp and weft.  The gun club check is a variation of the houndstooth but using a different color sequence traditionally on a light colored ground. 

houndstooth.gif (4959 bytes)  (Example of houndstooth)

housecoat  a woman's often long-skirted informal garment for wear around the house

housedress  a dress with simple lines that is suitable for housework and is made usually of a washable fabric

huarache a low-heeled sandal having an upper made of interwoven leather strips

huckaback  an absorbent durable fabric of cotton, linen, or both used chiefly for towels. It is strong.  Has variation in weaves but most have small squares on the surface that stand out from the background.   Comes in white, colors, or colored borders.  Also stripes.  The motif is made from a series of floats, some of them rather long, which gives a loose effect in certain areas.  This, if well spaced, acts as a good absorbing agency.

hug-me-tight a woman's short usually knitted sleeveless close-fitting jacket.

humeral veil an oblong vestment worn around the shoulders and over the hands by a priest holding a sacred vessel

hunter green  a dark yellowish green.

hypo-allergetic a fiber or material is deemed hypo-allergenic if it has undergone a process that makes it less apt to cause an allergic reaction.

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The Apparel Search glossary has been compiled from numerous resources over the past several years.   In addition to receiving definitions from our viewers and friends, we have also compiled information from various newsletters, magazines, newspapers, advertisements, lectures, brochures etc.   The glossary is also supplemented with words and definitions from Merriam Webster's Dictionary (Tenth Collegiate Edition) and Webster's New World Dictionary.   In addition, we have also created words & definitions entirely from our own imagination (we tried to make them as accurate as possible).   In some cases, we have created single definitions by combining information from various locations.  This has been done to create a broader & more detailed definition.  Due to the fact that this resource is a compilation from literally hundreds of resources, we can not guarantee the accuracy, spelling , definitions etc., of any of the items listed on these pages.   Please utilize this resource at your own risk.   Do not rely on our definitions for accuracy.   If you have any additional definitions or have suggestions for updating current definitions, please continue to submit your comments for review; Add or Modify Definitions.  Thanks to viewers like you, this glossary has become a helpful tool for the apparel industry.  Please continue to send your new definitions and definition revisions.

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