Plate No. 153fabric

The stiff, pale, hard-wearing leaf fiber of rope and matting.

First documented
Antiquity
Origin
Sisal, Yucatan, Mexico
Fiber
sisal
Weave
stiff leaf fiber, woven or twisted
Family
fibers

Plate No. 153 · fabric

Sisal

Sisal is a stiff, strong leaf fiber stripped from the sword-shaped leaves of the agave Agave sisalana, native to Mexico and named for the Yucatan port it shipped from. Coarser and harder than the bast fibers, it is the classic cordage fiber, made into agricultural baler twine, marine rope, and sacking, and its durability and grip also send it into floor mats, rugs, dartboards, and buffing cloths. It resists saltwater and stretches little, and it is increasingly used as a natural reinforcement in composites, a renewable stand-in for glass fiber.

Illustration: a sisal decortication yard on a dry Yucatan plantation, rows of spiky blue-green agave, pale stripped leaf fiber hung in long hanks to dry, a worker at a distance, hard bright sun and a low stone wall
A sisal decortication yard on a dry Yucatan plantation, rows of spiky blue-green agave, pale stripped leaf fiber hung in long hanks to dry, a worker at a distance, hard bright sun and a low stone wall.

Named for

Named for the port of Sisal in Yucatan, Mexico, through which the fiber was first shipped.

Sources & References

  1. 1.Sisal, Wikipedia
  2. 2.Agave sisalana, Wikipedia

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