Wadmal

Wadmal (Old Norse: vaðmál; Norwegian: vadmel, 'cloth measure') is a coarse, dense, usually undyed wool fabric woven in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Greenland, and the Orkney, Faroe and Shetland Islands from the Middle Ages into the 18th century. Wadmal was woven on the warp-weighted loom used throughout these areas of Norwegian influence, and was usually a 2/2 twill weave, although some medieval sources outside Iceland describe wadmal as tabby or plain-woven. In remote regions, wadmal remained the primary fabric for working people's clothing into the 18th century. Wadmal was a medium of exchange throughout Scandinavia. Wadmal was accepted as currency in Sweden, Iceland, Shetland, and Ireland, and exchange rates defined the equivalent of various grades of wadmal (measured in ells) in silver and in cows. According to Bruce Gelsinger, the term watmal was known in Germany and the southern Baltic region as a rough cloth primarily used by the poor. Historically, wadmal was a common material for military wear, both for combat uniforms and for formal dress uniforms. The Finnish Defence Forces used wadmal tunics (sarkatakki) up to the 1990s, although the main uniform had already been changed to a lighter fabric with the uniform model of 1983 (M/83). Today, traditional wadmal hunting jackets are still being produced.