breadth cutoff of 30 centimeters (about 12 inches). By this definition, the US government estimates that 70-75% of all cloth production globally, by weight, is broadwoven. Historical manufacture Broadcloth (Flemish Laken) was produced in the Duchy of Brabant (now Flanders) from the 11th century and throughout the medieval period. After 1400 Leiden in Holland (now The Netherlands) became the most important place for broadcloth industry in Europe. There for the first time the production became industrialised. This means that the production process didn't take place entirely in one single factory anymore but according to a precise task allocation, where in several stages intermediate goods were produced. The entire process was strictly supervised, resulting in a constantly high quality, making Leiden broadcloth very popular. In 1417 the Hanseatic League decided that only approved broadcloth from Leiden was to be sold. From 1500 competition from other parts of Europe, especially England, grew and Leiden lost its leading role. In Italy Florence became an important center of broadcloth industry. Around 1500, broadcloth was made in a number of districts of England, including Essex and Suffolk in southern East Anglia, the West Country Clothing District (Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, east Somerset - sometimes with adjacent areas), at Worcester, Coventry, Cranbrook in Kent and some other places. This was the best English cloth, and large quantities were exported by the merchants of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London, principally to Antwerp as white (i.e. undyed) cloth. It was finished and dyed in Flanders, and then marketed throughout northern Europe. The cloths might be short (24 yards long) or long (30 yards long). The raw material for broadcloth from Worcester was wool from the Welsh border counties of Herefordshire and Shropshire, known as Lemster (i.e. Leominster) wool. That for the West Country came from the Cotswolds. In both cases, the high quality was the result of the comparatively poor pasture, which (probably aided by selective breeding) led the sheep to grow wool with the desired qualities. English exports of broadcloth reached their highest level in the mid 16th century, after which some regions began producing other kinds of cloth. Difficulties were encountered in export markets in the mid-1610s, partly due to currency difficulties in eastern Europe, and partly to the ill-conceived Cockayne Project. Broadcloth production, thus declined in the 17th century. Worcester remained a centre for the production of white broadcloth. Other areas, such as Ludlow and