I have selected ‘The Geometry of Cloth Structure’ by F. T. Peirce, as the paper which had the most profound impact on my teaching and research as well as my former and current post graduate students. Peirce was the first to introduce mathematical modeling of plain woven fabric geometry and thus laid the engineering and scientific foundation in this significant area and its practical applications. Perhaps, one of the most significant outcomes of Peirce’s publication is the predication of the maximum construction of plain weave as opposed to the empirical relationships derived from lengthy and costly experimental work that cannot cover the diversity and applications of woven structures for the apparel, home, and technical markets. As a result of his publication, Peirce earned the title ‘the father of woven fabric geometry’. The paper inspired numerous researchers, including myself, and led them to expand his work to weaves other than plain. Using woven fabric geometry, researchers were able to model mechanical and physical properties as well as manufacturing/structure relationship (tear, tensile, bending, air permeability, shrinkage in laundering, weaving efficiency, weaving resistance, etc.) of woven fabrics, predict whether a proposed construction can be woven, research a weaving machine’s settings to achieve maximum construction, degree of tightness/firmness (which is related to maximum construction), structure/property relationship based on tightness, etc. My first exposure to the paper was during my B.Sc. In Textile Engineering at Alexandria, Egypt (late 60’s-early 70’s) and I was fascinated by the topic and felt that one day I will work in this area: woven fabric geometry and its applications. The opportunity came in the 1980s when I joined the School of Textiles (now Wilson College of Textiles), North Carolina State University (NCSU), USA to pursue my Ph.D. degree in Fiber and Polymer Science. I proposed to my adviser to work on modeling maximum construction of woven fabric from irregular yarn (intentional to impart fancy effects or unintentional due to non-uniformity nature of yarns) and thus challenging Peirce’s assumption of yarns are uniform cylinders. In fact Peirce indicated that yarn irregularities would impact the maximum weavability relationship and my work was inspired by the statement. I was the first to derive a generalized equation to predict maximum weavability of woven fabrics constructed from irregular (or regular yarns) and weave. I got my first job in the USA because of my strong background in woven fabric geometry and design, thanks to the inspiration from Peirce’s paper. While developing a user friendly software ‘Engineered Fabric Design System’ for the company, I discovered the lack of applying engineering principles and science in designing woven fabrics, which was realized by college degree designers in the company. When I started my job as assistant professor at NCSU in 1991, I decided to publish review papers and develop courses that deal with rules of designing woven fabrics to prepare students to better serve the industry. One such paper (book) is titled ‘The Structure Design of Woven Fabrics: Theory and Practice’ published also by The Textile Institute (Textile Progress, Vol 31, No. 3, ISSN 0040 5167, ISBN 1870372395). The book is used in my classes and I learned from my international collaborators that they are using it for their classes too. In terms of research, I continued to work in the area and expanded it to the geometry of three-dimensional (3D) orthogonal preforms for composites. Examples of relevant publications with my Ph.D. students are: