From at least as early as the medieval era, striped fabrics were extremely popular in Central Asia. The Turkic word alacha, which became the name for a striped robe, was first used to describe striped, warp-faced fabric in either cotton, silk, or mixed threads (1).

Because early Islamic practices prized humility, the wearing of entirely silk garments was frowned upon by some religious authorities (2). Less costly and concordant with Islam's early teachings, mixed silk and cotton fabrics were still being produced in the 19th century.

The finest traditional alacha came from Samarkand, in present day Uzbekistan, which was renowned for its cotton textiles (3). Sources from the 16th century mention that alacha were so popular that there was a bazaar in Samarkand dedicated exclusively to them (4).

* * *

(1) Kate Fitz Gibbon and Andrew Hale, Ikat: Splendid Silks of Central Asia: the Guido Goldman Collection (Lawrence King Publishing in Association with Alan Marcuson Publishing, 1999), 28, 203.
(2) Ibid., 31.
(3) Johannes Kalter, ed., Uzbekistan: Heirs to the Silk Road (Thames and Hudson, 1997), 216.
(4) Ibid., 216.