The word Seersucker originates from the Persian words "shir u shakar", meaning "milk and sugar", because of its smooth and rough stripes resembling the smooth surface of milk and bumpy texture of sugar.
Joseph Haspel, who founded a small manufacturing business in 1909 in New Orleans, is said to have created a seersucker garment for the working class. But the fabric was soon embraced by Southern gentlemen and eventually by well-to-do Ivy Leaguers.
It was famously worn by FDR, West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, actor Andy Griffith as TV's Matlock, and actor Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.
