Paisley – Where it Comes from

Paisley designs are familiar, from wallpaper to neckties, and have been so for at least the past 200 years. But the story is a case of “once upon a time”.

Paisley designs can be traced back to Iran and Zoroastrian symbols on carpets, applied in something like their present shape to kashmiri shawls, brought back to Great Britain from India and sold there. In Farsi, the design was called “butah”.

The name “Paisley” comes of course from the town of that name in Scotland, where shawls were woven using a jacquard loom for sale in the British market. Soon, or at least by about 1850, printed paisley squares (bandanas) were flooding the European market (printed in Paisley and in France), elbowing out the woven type.

With the 1960s, an interest in Eastern culture and designs meant that paisley designs enjoyed a renewed popularity in printed scarfs, shirts and other garments. In the meantime, of course, paisley designs had been used for ties and pockets squares, and still are. Tasteful, traditional and a good way to get some variety into a tie or square.