The History of The Modern Tarp
There is something quietly remarkable about the tarp or tarpaulin. It sits folded in the back of pickup trucks and tool sheds across the world, taken entirely for granted — and yet its story stretches back more than four centuries, winding through the golden age of sailing, the Industrial Revolution, two world wars, and a laboratory accident that changed everything.
1400s–1600s — Born at Sea
The story begins on ships. Long before anyone called it a "tarp," sailors were coating canvas and linen sheets in tar and using them to cover cargo, hatches, and equipment during ocean voyages. The word "tarpaulin" comes from a fusion of "tar" — the viscous, dark liquid used for waterproofing — and "palling," derived from "pall," meaning a heavy cloth covering. It was a working word for a working tool.
The earliest known use of the word "tarpaulin" in written English dates to 1607, appearing in the writing of poet and playwright Ben Jonson. Just a few years later, the famous sailor Captain John Smith referenced "a trar-pawling" in 1626, suggesting the term was already in circulation among mariners of the era.
The cultural footprint of the tarp extended even to the sailors themselves. Sailors often tarred their own overclothes in the same manner as the canvas sheets used to cover objects on ships. By association, sailors became known as "jack tars." The tarpaulin wasn't just cargo protection — it was clothing, identity, and survival gear wrapped into one tarred sheet.
1600s–1700s — From the Sea to the Land
As maritime trade expanded and roads became more traveled, the tarpaulin followed people inland. Between 1600 and 1900, tarps moved inland, with many people using them to protect items during travel, such as covering wagons. During the 1700s, they became essential tent coverings for land travelers and soldiers alike.
By the 18th century, tarpaulins weren't limited to maritime industries — this heavy-duty tarred fabric became popular in the agricultural sector, and farmers began using it to protect crops and goods from the elements. The material was the same: tar-treated canvas. But its applications were multiplying fast.
One notable footnote from this era — oilskin, a linen or cotton material impregnated with boiled linseed oil, was developed around the 1810s and progressively began replacing traditional tarpaulin for outerwear, while tarped canvas continued to dominate as a cover material.
1800s — The Industrial Revolution Changes Everything
The 19th century brought steam power, mechanized textile production, and an explosion in commerce — all of which pushed tarpaulin technology forward dramatically. With the advent of steam-powered machinery and advancements in textile production, tarps became more accessible and versatile. Canvas became the material of choice for industrial tarps — durable, weather-resistant, and producible in large quantities.
Canvas was prized for its resilient properties: tear resistance, natural water resistance, and breathability. Because it was typically made of cotton, it trapped less heat on hot days and produced less condensation in cool conditions — an important quality when covering goods, crops, and people for extended periods.
Pioneers, mountain men, and early western travelers recognized the value of well-made canvas tarps, using them to cover wagons and build shelters during years of difficult travel and transient housing.
Meanwhile, in the mid-1800s, rubber-coated fabrics were introduced, providing better protection against water and weather than plain canvas alone. In the early 20th century, rubberized tarps emerged as a significant advancement — often referred to as rubberized canvas, they provided enhanced waterproofing and strength.
1933 — The Accidental Invention That Would Remake the Tarp
Here is where the story takes its most surprising turn. On March 27, 1933, the first industrially practical polyethylene synthesis was accidentally discovered by Eric Fawcett and Reginald Gibson at the Imperial Chemical Industries works in Northwich, England. During high-pressure experiments, a trace amount of oxygen contaminated their ethylene sample and acted as a chemical initiator. When they opened the vessel the next morning, they found a white, waxy substance they had never seen before.
It wasn't until 1935 that another ICI chemist, Michael Perrin, advanced this accidental process into a reproducible high-pressure synthesis — and that process became the basis for industrial low-density polyethylene production beginning in 1939.
Nobody in that laboratory was thinking about tarps. They were thinking about cables. But they had just invented the material that would, within two decades, become the most widely used tarp fabric in the world.
1939–1945 — World War II as a Proving Ground
Both world wars forced rapid advances in material science, and tarps were direct beneficiaries. Canvas tarps had served armies for centuries, but the demands of global industrial warfare pushed manufacturers to develop something tougher, lighter, and more consistent.
During World War II, the military demanded more advanced and weather-resistant materials, spurring the creation of early synthetic tarps crafted from polyethylene — lightweight, reliably waterproof, and well-suited to military field use.
Meanwhile, polyethylene itself had become a wartime secret. During WWII, polyethylene was first used as an underwater cable coating and came to serve a critical role insulating material for military radar. Virtually all wartime production of polyethylene was used in electrical insulation, primarily for airborne radar installations — the result being that Allied aircraft carried radar sets that were significantly more compact than those of Axis planes.
The war had turbocharged plastics manufacturing on both sides of the Atlantic. When it ended, all of that production capacity needed a new purpose.
1950s–1970s — Polyethylene Goes Civilian
After the war, the technology and production methods originally designed for military use made their way into the civilian domain. Robust synthetic tarps began finding extensive applications across agriculture, construction, and transportation.
Further development of low-density polyethylene during the 1950s and 1960s revealed the properties we take for granted today — flexibility, light weight, chemical resistance, and low cost. By the end of the 1950s, both LDPE and HDPE were in wide commercial production, and the era of the blue poly tarp was on its way.
PVC followed a parallel track. PVC became the workhorse plastic for many military uses, and production in the USA rose very rapidly in the early 1940s. Once the war ended, its properties — waterproof, chemical-resistant, durable under abrasion — made it ideal for heavy-duty industrial tarpaulins. The vinyl tarp as we know it today traces its origins directly to this postwar PVC expansion.
1970s–1990s — The Modern Tarp Takes Shape
By the 1970s, the building blocks of modern tarp engineering were all in place: woven polyethylene scrims, PVC coatings, synthetic reinforcement fibers, and UV-resistant chemical treatments. Manufacturers began refining the layered construction — vinyl coating over polyester scrim over vinyl coating — that defines heavy-duty commercial tarps today.
The color-coding system for tarp grades also emerged during this era. Manufacturers began using color to indicate the grade of tarpaulin — blue indicating a lightweight tarp with a weave count of around 8×8 and a thickness of 0.005 to 0.006 inches, while silver indicated a heavy-duty tarp with a weave count of 14×14 and a thickness of 0.011 to 0.012 inches.
This was also the period when the poly tarp became a true mass-market product — cheap enough for anyone to buy, available at every hardware store in the country.
2000s–Present — A $7 Billion Industry
Over the past century, the tarp has progressed alongside industrial and technological advances, becoming more than a $7 billion-a-year global industry. According to Global Info Research, 56 percent of all tarp sales in the United States are polyethylene.
The word "tarpaulin" still carries its 17th-century DNA. Tar and pall. A sailor's cover, tarred against the sea, but the product itself has expanded and grown.
Today's market spans everything from simple economy tarps to the heavy-duty tarp material needed to cover and protect all sorts of building materials, outdoor equipment, and more. At Tarps.com, we have thousands of options ranging in color, size, and material. Color meanings might have changed, materials may have evolved and altered, but tarps remain ever reliable, versatile, and affordable.
A Final Note
After research, what comes out the brightest is that the tarpaulin has developed and become what it is today through sheer necessity rather than ambitious invention. Sailors needed dry cargo. Soldiers needed a dry shelter. Chemists in a leaking laboratory stumbled onto the material that would eventually cover half the job sites on earth. The tarp didn't arrive through ambition — it arrived through problems that needed solving.
Tarps.com can help you find canvas, poly, vinyl, large, small, thick, and thin. We are Tarps.com, we know tarps.
For whatever you need or want to protect, we've got you covered.