Houndstooth

For the plant used commonly known as Houndstooth, see Cynoglossum officinale.

Houndstooth, hounds tooth check or hound's tooth (and similar spellings), also known as dogstooth, dogtooth or dog's tooth, is a duotone textile pattern characterized by broken checks or abstract four-pointed shapes, often in black and white, although other colours are used. The classic houndstooth pattern is an example of a tessellation.

A smaller scale version of the pattern can be referred to as puppytooth.

Design and history

Houndstooth checks originated in woven wool cloth of the Scottish Lowlands, but are now used in many other materials. The traditional houndstooth check is made with alternating bands of four dark and four light threads in both warp and weft/filling woven in a simple 2:2 twill, two over/two under the warp, advancing one thread each pass. In an early reference to houndstooth, De Pinna, a New York City–based men's and women's high-end clothier founded in 1885, included houndstooth checks along with gun club checks and Scotch plaids as part of its 1933 spring men's suits collection. Oversized houndstooth patterns where also employed prominently at Alexander McQueen's Fall 2009 Collection, entitled Horn of Plenty. The patterns were a reference to Christian Dior's signature tweed suits.

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  Houndstooth pattern

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  Weaving a small-scale houndstooth check in a 2:2 twill

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  Houndstooth cloth men's blazer by Lanvin.

Examples of use

The Australian department store David Jones uses a houndstooth pattern as part of its corporate logo. The branding—a black-on-white houndstooth pattern—is one of the most recognized corporate identities in Australia. A government sponsored panel judged it in 2006 as one of Australia's top ten favorite trade marks.

Houndstooth designs of black and white, brown and tan, and other earthtone weaves, are very popular designs in tweed materials used for sport coats and other casual clothing. Houndstooth is a common design in casual hats and caps, perhaps most notable in the deerstalker, the kind of cap seen so often in illustrations and portrayals of Sherlock Holmes. U.S. college football coaching legend Paul "Bear" Bryant was frequently seen wearing a houndstooth or checkered patterned hat.

The character Ricky (Portrayed by Robb Wells), from the Canadian television show Trailer Park Boys, is most often associated with his houndstooth, collared shirt.

See also

• Checkerboard