When Indian cloth reached Europe, it didn’t just change what people wore — it changed the law, the language and the look of an age. And one of its words came straight from the brocade of Banaras.
✨ Fun fact: The English word “kincob,” for a rich gold-and-silver brocade, comes from the same root as kamkhwab (kinkhab) — the Persian-Urdu name for Banaras brocade. The cloth carried its own name to the West.
A word that travelled
That very word is the clue. “Kincob” entered Anglo-Indian English from kamkhwab, the name for the gold-and-silver brocade of Banaras and the wider region — the same family of cloth we explore in our piece on kinkhab and kamkhwab. When a cloth lends its name to another language, it has already made its mark.
The textile craze
From the seventeenth century the East India Companies shipped Indian textiles into Europe in enormous quantity. Printed chintz was the mass phenomenon; rich brocades and kincobs sat at the top of the market, prized for court dress, furnishings and ceremonial use. Indian cloth became, for a time, the most fashionable thing in Europe.
The cloth that was banned
The wider trade became so popular that it frightened Europe’s own producers — though it was above all the flood of printed cotton chintz, not the costly brocades, that drove the backlash. France banned printed calicoes in 1686, and England passed its Calico Acts of 1700 and 1721. The silk weavers of Spitalfields in London and Lyon in France were among the loudest voices. There is no clearer proof of influence than cloth so desirable it had to be made illegal.
Patterns that stayed
Even after the bans, the look had taken root. Indian floral sprigs and the curving boteh — the cone we now call paisley — entered the European design vocabulary; the very name “paisley” comes from the Scottish town that mass-produced the motif.
Kamkhwab at Khinkhwab
Kamkhwab is our namesake and our craft. Explore our handwoven gold-and-silver brocade in the Brocade Fabric collection — the living cloth that once travelled to Europe as “kincob.”
Frequently asked questions
What is kincob?
An old English term for a rich silk brocade woven with gold or silver thread — borrowed from kamkhwab, the name for Banaras-region brocade.
Why were Indian textiles banned in Europe?
Because they were so popular that they threatened Europe’s domestic silk and wool industries. France banned them in 1686, and England passed Calico Acts in 1700 and 1721 to protect its own weavers.
Did Indian textiles influence European design?
Yes — Indian floral patterns and the boteh (paisley) cone entered European fashion and furnishing; the chintz craze and the Kashmir shawl were especially influential, with brocade prized at the luxury end.
Sources & further reading
- Giorgio Riello, Cotton: The Fabric that Made the Modern World.
- Rosemary Crill (ed.), Chintz: Indian Textiles for the West.
- John Irwin & Katharine Brett, Origins of Chintz; and Hobson-Jobson for the etymology of “kincob.”
