Brocade is a class of richly decorative shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in coloured silks and with or without gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word “broccoli”, comes from Italian broccato meaning “embossed cloth”, originally past participle of the verb broccare “to stud, set with nails”, from brocco, “small nail”, from Latin broccus, “projecting, pointed”.

Brocade is typically woven on a draw loom. It is a supplementary weft technique; that is, the ornamental brocading is produced by a supplementary, non-structural, weft in addition to the standard weft that holds the warp threads together. The purpose of this is to give the appearance that the weave was actually embroidered on.