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Encyclopedic overview
Sack made from hemp burlap Stacks of coffee bags, Ethiopia Potato sacks transported by horses in Colorado, 1890s A gunny sack, also known as a gunny shoe, burlap sack, hessian sack or tow sack, is a large sack, traditionally made of burlap (hessian fabric) formed from jute, hemp, sisal, or other natural fibres, usually in the crude spun form of tow. Modern-day versions of these sacks are often made from synthetic fabrics, such as polypropylene.
The word gunny, meaning coarse fabric, is of Indo-Aryan origin. Reusable gunny sacks, typically holding about 50 kilograms (110 lb), were traditionally used, and continue to be to some extent, for transporting grain, potatoes and other agricultural products. In Australia, these sacks, made of Indian jute, were known traditionally as "hessian sacks", "hessian bags" or "sugar bags".
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “gunny sack” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.