The quality of fabric – then as now – results from the raw materials processed, the tools and techniques available and the expertise and skill of the workers. “Good fabric” must meet the demands of the consumer and the purpose it serves. At the same time, however, “good fabric” is characterised by a sufficiently high and uniform quality of workmanship. 

The woolen fabrics traded and processed in the Hanseatic era were of very different fineness, sometimes further refined, sometimes not. Packing materials had to be durable and were woven from wool and goat’s hair. 

Thousands of fragments of fabric for clothing found in Tallinn are woven in a simple cloth weave and made of fine wool, refined several times – rolled, napped, shorn – and often probably also dyed, although this is often impossible to say exactly after centuries in the ground. There are usually 10×10 threads per centimetre here – this is considered medium-fine for medieval weaving. The imported goods were probably made in the Netherlands, England, Germany or other regions. It is definitely “good cloth” in the sense of standardised products that meet a certain demand.

While the medium-fine cloth could also have been produced regionally, the very fine worsted fabrics are undoubtedly imports – the raw material is in all probability English wool, which was particularly high-quality and fine. These high-quality woollen fabrics make up only about two per cent of the finds in Estonian towns. They have not been further refined and are woven in the twill weave that everyone is still familiar with today from denim jeans fabrics. This type of fabric is called Worsted in medieval trade, after the English Worstead in Norfolk. Worsteds could count over 20 threads per centimetre and were thus considerably finer than the fabrics typically consumed in the city.