Strip of woven wool apparel fabric. Red with boucle (curly yarn) stripes. Label has come loose and is pinned to fabric. Eaten away along one edge. Marked on red and white glued paper label: "108/10 ctm (/) 2 fe 18. (/) Roubaix (/) France."
Roubaix was the premier wool weaving center in France; producing fine fabrics for both the domestic and export markets. It is likely that this group of selvage width strips of wool were all collected by a US Consular officer and sent back to the Dept. of Commerce as an example of the quality of the competition American woolen manufacturers faced in products from Roubaix.
Consular Collection: Part of collection of samples acquired by US Consuls overseas between about 1898 and 1918, in the interests of promoting US trade and business opportunities; which was transferred by the Dept. of Commerce in the 1920s-30s.