The History of Herringbone

GGCo. welcomes the all new Herringbone blanket range to our Recycled Wool blanket collection!

Here at The Grampians Goods Co. we love unearthing the intriguing back stories to our products. And the story of the herringbone pattern has emerged over the centuries, first used in the Ancient Roman Empire as the building blocks to roads and buildings, then to jewellery made by the ancient Egyptian civilisation, before it made its way into the fashion world.

A Rich History

Ancient Romans were inspired by the shape and patterns of herring fish. They used the herringbone pattern to provide remarkable infrastructure to their empire.

It was called "spiked work", or opus spicatum in the original Latin and was used to build thousands of miles of Roman roads. The pattern has proven to be so durable, that you can still walk these roads today - truly timeless!

The Romans were not alone in their use of the pattern with the ancient Egyptians using it in the design of it’s elite’s intricate and exquisite jewellery.

The earliest herringbone fabrics were found in Ancient Italy. This distinctive cloth design also made its way into historic Irish textiles, often being used in rustic tweed suits. How interesting that our GGCo. herringbone blankets are in fact made from 25% recycled fabrics from fashion houses - what an amazing journey in the lifecycle of this beautiful fabric and truly timeless pattern.

It found a resurgence during the European Renaissance, especially in religious architecture. The Duomo's architect, Brunelleschi, used the herringbone method of layering bricks to add extra support to the structure. The Duomo in Florence helped reignite its popularity across Europe.

The Timeless Herringbone Pattern

Again, herringbone worked its way into fabrics. In Ireland, rustic herringbone suits were common. At the same time, it also gained ubiquity in Italy. Skilled tailors frequently used it in suits and other fine apparel for the upper class. Despite its ancient beginnings, herringbone is still an important part of classic menswear today and remains one of the most popular cloths for tailoring.

For those who are unfamiliar with herringbone cloth, it features a geometric pattern that is sometimes called a “Broken Twill Weave.” It has a distinct “zig zag” effect flowing across the width of the fabric, and the zig zags are broken up by alternating the colours in each direction.

As you might be able to gather, the pattern is called “Herringbone”, due to its visual similarity to the bone structure of a herring fish.

Bring a touch of versatile luxe to your decor

The Grampians Goods Co. has thoughtfully curated the Herringbone blanket range to its offering as it builds on (pun intended!) the intriguing history of where our blanket designs originate and the story they weave (apologies, pun again!)

Despite its ancient beginnings, herringbone is still an important part of home decor & fashion today and remains one of the most popular patterns for tailoring and design. It is an extremely versatile pattern, with its subtle design, it is an easy way to add some pattern to your decor without it being too much. In fact, a small scale herringbone design like our herringbone blankets can appear solid from afar, allowing the detail to delight when up close. However, on a larger scale, the pattern becomes much bolder. When you add a stronger contrasting colour to the pattern, it is beautifully striking.

The GGCo. Herringbone Blankets are made from 75% recycled wool and 25% recycled mixed fibres and form a versatile range with five colours in this stunning zig-zig design.

We have chosen the colour selections of Russet, Storm, Saffron, Bayleaf & Muscat to tone harmoniously with our existing blanket collection in the Heritage Tartans and Antipodean Picnic Checks so that you can mix, match with your current GGCo. blanket and stack in style whether you're indoors or out!

We hope you love them as much as we do...