This chunky tufted mohair sample comes from the archive of Zika Ascher, an innovative textile manufacturer who based himself in London after the annexation of Czechoslovakia. His wife designed textiles and their company became incorporated in 1942. Ascher developed a range of fabrics for use at the top end of the market. He kept used samples such as this to show prospective clients his wares, and as a record of his output.

This is an example of the collaboration between textile manufacturer and fashion designer. Ascher developed a close working relationship with a number of the French and British couturiers active in the 1950s and 1960s, in particular the Spanish designer Cristobal Balenciaga who was based in Paris. The colours were among those that dominated Balenciaga's work throughout his career. The bulkiness of the textile dictated that the garment had to be simple in cut.

Balenciaga's dramatic use of a different colourway of this fabric in a coat appeared on the front cover of French Vogue in November 1964. It was black, red and white, accessorised with a black bowler hat with a gold conch shell on the front (symbol of Saint James the Major, patron saint of Spain and of pilgrims).