Meaning of pacotilla by John Rene Plaut

PACOTILLA comes from PACO, the amount of fabric that the crew could formerly upload to the ship. This was work clothes and generally of poor quality. The indigenous people of the Azuay region in Bullcay and Bhulzún, both in the canton of Gualaceo, have been producing for centuries the cloths of Gualaceo or Macana de Gualaceo. These are manufactured in 3 versions: the macana campo blanco, peruvian imitation, the finest, the macana campo oscuro and a third, made by the poorest indigenous, the pacotilla. For these reasons the term is synonymous with poor quality. Its use resulted in calling something bad or useless or someone who does things to the lot, carelessly: the masters of pacotilla leave everything halfway or badly finished.