Hessian fabric

Hessian (UK: /ˈhɛsiən/, US: /ˈhɛʃən/[1]), burlap in North America,[2] or crocus in Jamaica[3] and the wider Caribbean, is a woven fabric made of vegetable fibres, usually the skin of the jute plant[4][5][6] or sisal leaves.

[7] It is generally used (in the crude tow form known as gunny) for duties of rough handling, such as making sacks employed to ship farm products and to act as covers for sandbags (although woven plastics now often serve these purposes), and for wrapping tree-root balls.

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').

Labourers used their resourcefulness to recycle discarded sacking and fashion them into garments that, although fairly uncomfortable by all accounts, provided protection from the heat and dust.

A traditional costume of Jamaican Maroons uses fabric very similar to this material as a way of drawing an affinity and paying homage to the resourcefulness and creativity of their labourers who gained freedom.

It is also durable enough to withstand rough handling in transit; these properties have also led to its use for temporary protection as wet covering to prevent rapid moisture loss in the setting of cement and concrete in the construction industry.

Hessian jute bags (commonly known as gunnysacks) are used to ship wool, tobacco, and cotton, as well as foodstuffs such as coffee, flour, vegetables, and grains.

Hessian jute's ability to allow the contents of bags to breathe makes it excellent for preventing or minimizing rotting due to trapped moisture.

Once planted, young trees may require the protection of hessian jute to ward off mice and other rodents that might otherwise eat their bark and compromise their structure.

Owing to its durability, open weave, naturally non-shiny refraction and fuzzy texture, hessian is often used in the fabrication of ghillie suits for 3D camouflage.

[20] In the 19th and first half of the 20th century, in Australia, hessian fabric, laid over a crude timber framework, was used to create the walls of primitive dwellings, particularly in mining towns[21][22] and in settlements of unemployed people during the Great Depression.