textiles, (cloth) are one of the oldest comodities traded. right up there with olive and other oils...

name for textiles, are often very old words..
Anu in the past has covered seersucker.. (but it was mentioned recently by me, so search for it!) is one with an interesting etymology. but there are others

Satin (just for you inselpeter!) from the spanish, setuni, which came from the arabic, zaituni, meaning of Zaitun, the medieval name of Quanzhou, China!
Satin was original a silk fabic, but now is often made from synthetics. sateen, is a fabic similar to satin, made from cotton