To maille or not to maille? That is the silliest thing I've ever said...

For nearly 3000 years chain maille (yes, I prefer to use the French spelling) has been a staple of armor and jewelry in most of the northern hemisphere. Chain maille first saw the light of day (in recorded history) in Europe with the Greeks making something like modern chain maille, called ring maille. It was over lapping rings sewn onto cloth or leather armor. The Romans around the time of Julius Caesar (100B.C.) were using the more well known four-in-one style chain maille. Medieval Europe saw the rise of chain maille during the crusades. It was easy to fabricate, but time consuming, flexible and quickly mended. Swords, axes, spears, and daggers could not easily pierce the armor.


In today's world of gun violence, modern weapons and high tech poly plastic armors, chain maille is just a passing fad. An archaic type of metal working that few of us still do. Fashion apparel and accessories still have a place in this world though. These chain maille bras are an excellent example of the niche market that still exists for chain maille clothing.

Chain maille armor was mostly out of use by the 1400's due to invention of plate armor, gun powder and small firearms. Plate armor even disappeared in the 1600's because of better firearms and steel. Today's armor is made of Kevlar and ceramic. Tightly woven fibers that stop most bullets from penetrating the body. The basic idea of armor! However, in the late 1990's, British police ran into a problem with the Kevlar armor they were wearing on the streets: a blade would pass easily through the vest making it useless. The U.K. outlawed firearms. So, more violent crimes were being committed with knives! (Can you see the problem?)

To combat this flaw in the armor, a layer of welded titanium (insert angelic choir here) CHAIN MAILLE was placed in the various layers of Kevlar! Since the ancient technology was added fatal knife attacks on British police is nearly non-existent. Also in the past few decades scuba divers have been using this old world tech to make shark proof suits. Nifty huh?