Eisengarn

Eisengarn, meaning "iron yarn" in English, is a light-reflecting, strong, waxed-cotton thread.

[3][4] The Eisengarn manufacturing process was invented in the mid-19th century in a factory in Barmen, now part of the city of Wuppertal, east of the river Rhine.

[3] The manufacture of the yarn gave a considerable boost to the textile industry of Barmen and the surrounding region.

[3] In 1927 the weaver and textile designer Margaretha Reichardt (1907–1984), then a student at the Bauhaus design school, experimented and improved the quality of the thread and developed cloth and strapping material made from Eisengarn for use on Marcel Breuer's tubular steel chairs, such as the Wassily Chair.

[6][7] A more prosaic use for the strong Eisengarn was, and still is, for making colourful string shopping bags, which were popular in the former East Germany, and are now an Ostalgie item.