پرکاله

Percale comes from Persian pārkāla or pargāla, meaning a piece or portion of cloth. The word entered French as percale in the 17th century through the East India trade, naming a tightly woven, plain-weave cotton fabric with a thread count of at least 200 per square inch. The French adopted the word because they adopted the fabric — fine Indian cotton was one of the most desirable trade goods of the colonial era.

The word's modesty is striking. Persian pārkāla means just 'a piece of cloth.' It is the most generic possible name for a specific fabric. But the fabric itself was not generic — it was tightly woven, smooth, and crisp, with a matte finish that distinguished it from the sheen of sateen. The Persians may have named it simply because it came as cut pieces rather than whole bolts. The French kept the Persian name because it sounded exotic.

Percale became the standard for luxury bed sheets in Europe and America by the 19th century. Thread count — the number of threads per square inch — became the measure of percale quality. A percale sheet with 300+ thread count is among the most comfortable bedding available: cool in summer, smooth to the touch, and increasingly soft with each washing. The fabric improves with use.

The word percale competes with sateen in the luxury bedding market. Percale is plain-weave (crisp, matte, cool). Sateen is satin-weave (smooth, lustrous, warm). The choice between them is personal preference, not quality difference. Hotels tend to use percale because it launders well at high temperatures. The Persian piece of cloth became the sheet of choice for the hospitality industry.