From the above it would seem clear that true Nankeen is a plain native cotton cloth woven on a native hand loom from unbleached and undyed yarn spun from cotton of a yellowish or yellow-brownish natural colour. The weave of Nankeen is a plain one-over and one-under shirting weave, such being the type of weave most readily produced on a native hand loom. The finished fabric is marketed in its loom state.
True Nankeen is therefore devoid of any ornamentation or figuring produced by weave or subsequent printing, embossing, dyeing, or stencilling. The width of Nankeen has apparently been always recognised as not exceeding 20 inches.
The name Nankeen in China was originally used to describe native hand-loom cloths of the above variety only, but as new and slightly different makes of native cloth appeared on the market the practice grew of including them under this heading, until gradually the term was used to describe not only the true Nankeen but a whole group of native cloths answering to the following description: all-cotton cloths not exceeding 20 inches in width, woven on a hand loom with a one-over and one-under shirting weave from cotton yarn which has not been previously dyed or mercerised, and including cloths of the above variety which have either been bleached, piece-dyed in solid greyish or blue colour, or woven from yarn previously dyed in greyish or blue colour, and including hand-loom-woven grey or bleached cotton cloths not exceeding 20 inches wide which have been ornamented by the introduction in the weave of a yarn-dyed blue stripe or yarn-dyed blue checkered design.
This loose application of the term continued until the 2nd May 1917, when the Chinese Maritime Customs, in their Notification No. 876 (Shanghai, 2nd May 1917) laid down an authoritative definition of this class of piece goods reading as follows:—
1. The cloth must be of plain shirting weave, woven on a hand loom of the old style; it must not exceed 20 inches (English) in width.
2. The "count" of the yarn (whether Chinese or foreign) from which the cloth is made must not exceed 20's. The yarn must be single in both warp and weft; it must not be "gassed."
3. The cloth may be of the natural colour, i.e., undyed, or it may be bleached or dyed in the yarn. It must not be dyed in the piece.
Chinese Cotton Cloth that does not fulfil the above conditions will not be treated as Nankeen.
Noils are the rejected fibres from the process of combing the different wools and hairs prior to making them up into yarn. The primary object of combing is to sort or separate the long from the short fibres.