İSTANBUL
ŞİLE CLOTH
Şile Cloth is woven in Şile district of İstanbul province. The history of Şile Cloth dates back to the settlement of Ottoman Turks in Şile. Greengrocers, who settled in Şile and its surroundings in the 14th century, became famous for their hand-woven products with linen. Şile Cloth, which carries the traces of many cultures, is a common product of the cultures and weaving experiences of the Manav and Greeks.
Şile Cloth is woven with cotton and linen materials in natural white color and plain weave by using normal twisted cotton or linen warp or more twisted cotton or linen weft based on the warp. Silk material was also used in some examples. The most characteristic feature of Şile Cloth is that after the weaving process is finished, the clothes are kept in lime cream, which is called creaming, and then washed in the oligohaline water of the Black Sea and dried on the sands. The names of the fabrics according to their different qualities such as thinness and flexibility are “Hybrid Cloth”, “Crimped Cloth”, “Fulled Cloth”, and “Raw Cloth”. There are two different types of Şile Cloth as plain and patterned. Patterned Şile cloths are patterned with colored pattern threads during weaving. Şile Cloth is used as oilcloth, napkin, wrap, handkerchief, drawstring, table cloth, bundle, bedspread and covers of various sizes, shirts, pants/shalwar, underwear, dress, and headscarf.
By the Şile Cloth Preservation, Protection and Development Association, the geographical indication no. 272 has been taken for the Şile Cloth to be protected as of 26.08.2014 within the scope of the Industrial Property Law no. 6769.
