Hessian fabric

Hessian (UK: /ˈhɛ.si.ən/, US: /ˈhɛ.ʃən/), burlap in North America, or crocus in The Caribbean, is a woven fabric made of vegetable fibres: usually the skin of the jute plant, or sisal leaves. It is generally used (in the crude tow form known as gunny) for rough handling, such as to make sacks in which to ship farm products and sandbags (although woven plastics now often serve these purposes), and for wrapping tree-root balls. However, this dense woven fabric, historically coarse, is also recently being produced in a more refined state—where it is known simply as jute—so as to provide an eco-friendly material for bags, rugs, and other products.

Hessian cloth comes in different types of construction, form, size and color. The name "hessian" is attributed to the historic use of this type of fabric as part of the uniform of soldiers from the former Landgraviate of Hesse (1264–1567) and its successors—such soldiers were called Hessians.

The origin of the word burlap is uncertain, though it appeared as early as the late 17th century. Its etymology is speculated to derive from the Middle English borel ('coarse cloth'), the Old French burel and/or the Dutch boeren ('coarse'), in the latter case perhaps interfused with boer ('peasant'). The second element is the Dutch word lap, meaning 'piece of cloth'.