Marl wool is made from more than one colour being twisted together. Things knitted from marl wool have that "tweedy" look to them. The marl of the hose is the background colour made from the marl wool. Most hose tops have an area that only has the background colour, or marl, since it is assumed that it will be covered by spats.



Worn properly only the diced area shows above the spats. This would obviously be harder if the spats are lower. However it would probably be very easy to have custom hose tops made with the pattern all the way down to the lower cuff to prevent this.