Fringe tassels

[M. De Land]

Do fringe tassels on hunting coats, shooting bags and rifle scabbards really keep things on the inside dryer?
I've heard this for years but can't see how ,why or even if it really works.
Some one care to teach me something about fringe tassels? MD

 

[necchi]

really keep things on the inside dryer?

Nope.
Wet is wet.
The idea behind fringe (beyond decorative) is that they wick away the wetness from what ever they're attached to and the smaller strip will dry or evaporate the wetness faster.

It's a basic physics thing, a smaller item of the same material will dry faster than the larger one because of the mass of water available in it.
Now notice I said wetness and not moisture. Nothing is going to dry in a humid environment.

 

[BrownBear]

Never seen them make a whit of difference in the rain. They DO however help cut down on screeching and scratching as you move through brush. Never heard it expressed in the literature, but I'm convinced that (along with style of course) was the big reason for it.

 

[SgtSchutzen]

Ditto on what BrownBear says.

 

[Elnathan]

Never seen them make a whit of difference in the rain. They DO however help cut down on screeching and scratching as you move through brush. Never heard it expressed in the literature, but I'm convinced that (along with style of course) was the big reason for it.

Another theory, advanced by one of the guys interviewed in Foxfore 5 IIRC, is that fringe helps break up the solid outlines of the silhouette and helps the wearer blend into vegetation better. I have my doubts that this was what it was originally intended to do, but that might have been an added bonus, a fringe benefit if you will..

 

[Stophel]

I believe fringe was pure, 100%, frontier fashion, with ZERO practical use, real or imagined.

The 18th century aesthetic was different than ours usually is. They LOVED color, flair, fringe, fru-fru.

 

[smo]

I had read somewhere it was "Frontier Camo" as well. :idunno: More than likely just "1800's Bling" :haha:

 

[Okwaho]

I agree with Stophel here and would also point out that fringing is found on early northeast woodland Indian leggings and at least one buckskin shirt from the same time and area. :v
Tom Patton

 

[SpottedBull]

Plus it was a handy place to store extra stringing materials in case ya needed it...

 

[LRB]

I believe Okwaho told me years ago that the early eastern fringe was quite short. 1 to maybe 2 inches at most. One could not tie much with that.