Sample of Collins & Aikman Corporation figured rayon velour, 1929. Cut pile velvet with tiny repeating voided rectangular figure, alternating pattern of pile and voided rectangles. Panne (flattened) finish.Brown ground (cotton) and pile (rayon) warps, pink ground weft (cotton). Half width. Machine overlocked on three sides; no selvage.
Collins & Aikman Corporation was founded in 1891 and incorporated in 1929. The company made high end upholstery fabrics, including velvets and plushes in cotton, mohair, and silk, and beginning in the 1910s, artifical silk (rayon). Early on the firm competed successfully in the market for automotive and aviation fabrics. In the 1920s the company had mills in Astoria (Queens), New York; Philadelphia, PA; and North Carolina.