G'day WyoWoman,

Both Corduroy and Moleskin are cloths of the type called Fustian. Fustians have a fine nap on the inside of the cloth and would be one reason for them being warm in winter, yet not clingy in hot conditions (something Australia has a lot of). The term 'fustian' has come to mean academically boring or stodgy, presumably because the cloth was durable and practical for the sort of university academic that grew more boring with the years.

I followed Bugsy's lead in the other "Moleskin" thread to our local country outfitter RM Williams' site and I notice that the Poms learnt to make moleskin from the displaced French Hugenots. This brings me another distant connection with the subject, as the Dalmers, ancestors on my mother's side, where Hugenots who fled to England.

Regards,

Bob Bolton