A Charvet fabric

Textile

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

 is woven

Weaving

Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...

 of silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

 or acetate

Acetate

An acetate is a derivative of acetic acid. This term includes salts and esters, as well as the anion found in solution. Most of the approximately 5 billion kilograms of acetic acid produced annually in industry are used in the production of acetates, which usually take the form of polymers. In...

 in warp

Warp (weaving)

In weaving cloth, the warp is the set of lengthwise yarns that are held in tension on a frame or loom. The yarn that is inserted over-and-under the warp threads is called the weft, woof, or filler. Each individual warp thread in a fabric is called a warp end or end. Warp means "that which is thrown...

-faced rib weave, of a reversed reps

Rep (clothing)

Rep, Repp, or Reps is a cloth made of silk, wool, or cotton. The name is said to have been adapted from the French reps, a word of unknown origin; it has also been suggested that it is a corruption of rib. It is woven in fine cords or ribs across the width of the piece. In silk it is used for...

 type with a double ridge effect. The fabric's name derives from its frequent and "clever" use in the 19th century by the Parisian shirtmaker Charvet. It is characterized by a soft handle and shiny appearance. The bindings create a herringbone effect parallel to the warp, which make this weave suitable for creating faint diagonal stripe effects for ties, for which the fabric is cut on the bias. Patterns on this base are often made with supplemantary weft. The fabric has also been used for mufflers,
scarves and robes.

This weave is based on the Régence weave, a kind of reps with all weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

 raised on the backside, which was popular during the regency of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

Philippe d'Orléans was a member of the royal family of France and served as Regent of the Kingdom from 1715 to 1723. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth under the title of Duke of Chartres...

 (lasting from 1715 to 1723). In the United States, at the end of the 19th century, the term was used in a broader sense, to describe either fabrics "extremely dainty in construction and effect" or silk shirtings. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the weave is rather found in solid fabrics for semi formal wear.

By extension, the term is also used in knitting

Knitting

Knitting is a method by which thread or yarn may be turned into cloth or other fine crafts. Knitted fabric consists of consecutive rows of loops, called stitches. As each row progresses, a new loop is pulled through an existing loop. The active stitches are held on a needle until another loop can...

for a certain kind of bias striping, going up from left to right.