What fabric was favoured by polar explorers in the early 20th Century?

While the word "gaberdine" or "gabardine" has been used since the 15th century naming an item of clothing like a long cassock, it wasn't until 1879 when the fabric named Gabardine was invented.

Thomas Burberry, founder of the Burberry fashion house in Basingstoke in the UK patented his fabric in 1888. His original fabric was of worsted wool or a combination of worsted wool with cotton. It was waterproofed using lanolin before weaving.

Burberry clothing made of gabardine was worn by polar explorers, including Roald Amundsen, the first man to reach the South Pole, in 1911 and Ernest Shackleton, who led a 1914 expedition to cross Antarctica. George Mallory also wore a jacket made of the same fabric on his ill-fated attempt on Mount Everest in 1924.

During the 1960s and 1970s when safari suits were fashionable, gabardine was often the choice of fabric. Because of its tough, tightly-woven finish, it is the fabric choice of bespoke tailors to make pocket linings for business suits.