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Alawite man wearing a kaftan, around the turn of the last century.

A kaftan (sometimes spelled caftan from Persian خفتان) is a man's cotton or silk cloak buttoned down the front, with full sleeves, reaching to the ankles and worn with a sash.

The kaftans worn by the Ottoman sultans constitute one of the most splendid collections of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. Some of them were so precious that they were given as rewards to important dignitaries and victorious generals during elaborate religious festivals (see the "khalat" article).

Kaftans^[1] were often embroidered on the front and on the sleeves, but like everything else under the Ottomans, there was a strict hierarchical order in the colours, patterns, ribbons and buttons, which were chosen according to the rank of the person to whom they were presented.

While in the 14th century large patterns and subdued colours were used, these became both smaller and brighter in the next century. By the second half of the 17th century the most precious fabrics were those with 'yollu': vertical stripes with various embroideries and small patterns, the so-called "Selimiye" fabrics.

Most fabrics were manufactured in Istanbul and Bursa, but some came from as far as Venice, Genoa, Persia, India and even China. Each had very specific characteristics and was named accordingly: there was velvet, aba, bürümcük, canfes, gatma, gezi, diba (Persian ديبا), hatayi, kutnu, kemha, seraser (Persian سراسر), serenk, zerbaft (Persian زربفت), tafta (Persian تافته), and many others; the most often used colours were 'China blue', 'Turkish red', violet, "pişmis ayva" or cooked quince, and saffron yellow.

The Topkapı Museum, Istanbul, possesses a large collection of Turkish kaftans and textiles.^[2]

The left person wears a simple Russian kaftan

In Russia the word "kaftan" is used for another type of clothing: a kind of a man's long suit with tight sleeves. By 19th century Russian kaftans were the most widely spread type of outer clothing among peasants and merchants. Currently they are used as a ritual religious clothing by the most conservative sect of Old Believers.

In Morocco kaftans are only worn by women, and are substantially different from their Turkish counterpart. They are probably of Turkish origin though, through neighbouring Turkish dominated Algeria.

In South East Asia, batik kaftans are produced for cool floaty feeling in hot sweltering heat of the tropical weather. While batik is very acid fast, numerous kind of fabrics are used ranging from silk to viscose. Florals and abstract designs heavily influence the kaftans from this region.

In West Africa, a dashiki kaftan is a pullover, button-less woman's dress. The men's garment is called a dashiki.

• Ottoman clothing
• Boubou (clothing)
• Senegalese kaftan