What is Madras check? The cotton behind The Madras Theory
Madras check is a lightweight, yarn-dyed cotton woven by hand in South India, in colourful checks and stripes that look the same on both sides. It takes its name from Madras, the old name for Chennai, and it has been travelling the world for at least five hundred years. Our first collection, The Madras Theory, is cut from it. Here is what it is, where it came from, and how to wear it now.
The short answer
Madras is a plain-weave cotton. The threads are dyed before weaving, not printed after, so the colour runs right through the cloth. The classic Madras check is an irregular plaid in two or more colours, often bright and a little uneven, because it was woven by hand. The best of it is still handloom.
Where it comes from
The cloth grew up around Madrasapattinam, a fishing village on the Coromandel coast that became Madras and then Chennai. Checked cottons from South India were already being traded abroad in the 1500s, when Portuguese merchants carried them to the Middle East and West Africa. In southern Nigeria the Kalabari people still call it injiri, and treat it as a cloth for important days.
It reached America too. Elihu Yale, once governor of Madras, gave bales of it to the college that took his name, and by the 1950s Madras shirts and shorts were a staple of American summer style. In 1958 Brooks Brothers sold a line of Madras without warning buyers that the vegetable dyes ran in the wash. The colours bled into each other, and the shop turned the complaint into a slogan: "guaranteed to bleed". The name "bleeding Madras" stuck.
How it is made
Cotton yarn is dyed first, then set up on a handloom and woven into a light, open plain weave. Because the colour is in the yarn, the pattern is identical on the front and the back. That is also the quickest way to tell Madras from a printed check. Hand weaving gives small irregularities in the lines, which is part of the look. Our Madras Theory cloth is 100% handloom Madras cotton, woven in Tamil Nadu.
Madras check vs gingham
People mix these up all the time. Gingham is an even check: one colour plus white, stripes of equal width, a neat grid. Madras is usually more colours and less regular, more plaid than grid. "Madras" is also used for the cloth itself, the handloom cotton from this coast, whatever check or stripe it carries. So our Bluebell Breeze Tie-Top is a blue and white gingham check, and our Sundown top is a green stripe, and both are cut from Madras cotton.
Why it suits Indian summers
It is light, it breathes, and it gets softer with every wash. A plain weave lets air through, which is exactly what you want from April to June. A busy check also hides small creases better than a plain colour, which helps on a long day.
How to wear it
Let the check do the talking and keep the rest plain. A striped Madras top with white trousers works for the office. A gingham peplum with dark jeans is the weekend version. A checked midi dress needs nothing more than flat sandals. If you are new to pattern, start with one Madras piece and solid colours around it.
How to care for it
Machine wash cold on a gentle cycle, wash dark colours separately the first few times, do not tumble dry, dry in the shade and iron on low heat. Handloom cotton gets softer after the first few washes.
Shop The Madras Theory
Four pieces, all handloom Madras cotton, all in XS to XL: the Sundown Stripe Green Top, the Bluebell Breeze Tie-Top, the Rosé Stripe Tie-Back Top and the Summer Jam Midi Dress. See them all in The Madras Theory, with a size guide on every page and a 7-day size exchange.