Cut to length · shipped from Kyiv
Retro plaid fabric for classic car interiors
Tartan, houndstooth and ombré check woven for automotive trim — cut to length from our own stock in Kyiv. Eighteen patterns, 150 cm wide, wool blend, from €100 per linear metre.
Browse the catalogue Order samples
- Patterns
- 18F01–F06, F11–F20, H04, H05
- Europe / UK
- €100per linear metre; $129 for North America
- Width
- 150cm (59 in), wool blend
- In stock
- 258metres right now
Catalogue sections
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Houndstooth
The small broken check that has outlasted every other pattern in car interiors.
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Tartan & plaid
A bold grid of bands in varying widths.
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Ombré check
The blocks of the pattern fade into one another instead of meeting at a hard line, so the cloth produces its own shading across the curve of a cushion.
Most asked for
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F01
Black and white houndstooth
€100 stock 20 m -
F11
Black and white tartan with red
€100 stock 18 m -
F12Black with a yellow grid
€100 stock 18 m -
F13Red and blue tartan
€100 stock 18 m -
F16Orange and brown tartan
€100 stock 6 m -
F17Navy and green tartan
€100 stock 17 m -
F19Red ombré check
€100 stock 18 m -
H04Large black and white houndstooth
€80 stock 18 m
What this cloth is for
Plaid in a car interior is not a recent fashion. Manufacturers put checked cloth on the sporting versions of ordinary cars for practical reasons: it did not turn scalding in summer the way leather did, it held the driver in place better than smooth velour, and it marked the car out as the quick one without adding much to the build cost. Nearly every marque used the idea, which is why “plaid interior” now describes a whole family of patterns rather than one design.
We sell the material by the metre. Cloth is cut from one metre upwards, the roll is 150 cm (59 in) wide and the composition is a wool blend. The pattern is woven, not printed — you can read it from the reverse of the cloth, and it will not wear off.
Who buys it
- Restorers bringing an interior back close to how it left the factory, when the original cloth has not been available for thirty years.
- Trim shops that want a pattern the shop down the road does not have.
- Project car owners after an interior that reads from the doorway without going into neon territory.
- Anyone tired of grey. One plaid insert changes the character of a cabin more than a full retrim in a different shade of grey.
How much you need
Working figures at 150 cm width:
- full set of seats, saloon — 8–10 m (9–11 yd)
- large car, estate or van — 12–16 m (13–17 yd)
- two front seats — 5–6 m (5.5–6.5 yd)
- rear bench — 3–4 m (3.3–4.4 yd)
- centre inserts only, whole interior — 2.5–3.5 m (2.7–3.8 yd)
- door cards — 1–1.5 m (1.1–1.6 yd)
These are budgeting figures, not a cutting list. Your trimmer works to the patterns of your car, and on a large check they will always allow extra for matching across seams.
A note on width
Most automotive tartan sold in the UK and the US comes on a 57-inch roll. Ours is 59 inches. That difference sounds small and is not: on a wide seat panel it can be the difference between one piece and a seam, and across a full interior it shows up as less waste. Compare on price per square metre rather than per running metre — at €100 per metre this cloth works out at about €67 per square metre.
Order a sample first
No screen reproduces the colour of woven cloth, or the way it behaves in daylight. The sample set costs €15 and settles the question in a minute against your own dashboard. It is a great deal cheaper than eight metres of the wrong colour — cut cloth cannot be returned.
Frequently asked
Is this original factory fabric?
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. Factory cloth for a specific model and year was woven under contract, those runs closed decades ago, and what circulates now is either old stock or new cloth in the same spirit. Ours is the second kind: the pattern and the weight follow the same logic, but it is not an OEM reproduction. If you need absolute authenticity for a concours car, find a donor with intact seats.
Is it 100% wool?
No — it is a wool blend. Pure wool automotive tartan exists and sells in the UK and the US at a similar price per square metre. Our cloth trades a little of that for better abrasion behaviour and a wider roll.
Will plaid wear out faster than leather?
On the side bolsters, yes — but so does every material there. The classic arrangement is leather or leatherette on the bolsters and airbag zones, cloth in the centre panels. That is how the factories did it, and it was engineering rather than cost-cutting.
Can you match a pattern to my car remotely?
No. We sell material; we do not choose it for your trimmer. Your dashboard is not in front of us, a screen carries neither colour nor weave, and no mill publishes a “this cloth is for a BMW” catalogue. Ordering samples and holding them against the car in daylight is the only method that works.
Do you ship outside Ukraine?
Yes — across the EU and the UK, and to the USA and Canada. Shipping is quoted per order by weight and destination.