The perfecting of various machine techniques made possible new types of textiles. Refinements to the Jacquard loom resulted in the gauzes, mousselines, and ultralight chiffons that became available only in the twentieth century. Panne velvet represented an innovation in a finishing technique: a machine could now flatten the velvet pile in one direction, creating suppleness and a metallic-looking sheen that was especially appealing to contemporary eyes accustomed to the machine aesthetic. The use of metal threads themselves in fabrics was not a new technology. The eighteenth century had brought to perfection "cloth of gold" that glittered and gleamed under the candlelight. The early twentieth century joined metallic threads to the brilliant colors possible with new dyeing and printing techniques to make fluid lamés with gold and silver threads in either weft or warp, another innovation of the 1920s. The chroniclers of the Exposition reserved special praise for designer Michel Dubost at Ducharne for his combinations of printing and brocading. This type of fabric is well represented among the Tirocchi textiles with many spectacular lengths that show off the strengths of the Jacquard loom [cover and fig. 147, p. 172; fig. 172, p. 197; fig. 178, p. 200; fig. 179, p. 201]. A bolt of lace from the period reveals progress in this area as well. The "Leavers" lace machine was a nineteenth-century invention, but the Dognin-Racine company in Lyon, which specialized in machine-made laces, brought the process to new heights with a bolt of rayon lace with many different weaving techniques shaping a pattern of abstract, bizarre poppies. The lace, dyed brown, then discharged and printed in red, orange, and yellow according to each floral motif, is a tour de force [fig. 165].

Anna Tirocchi patronized "the big four" textile manufacturers over the years. In 1916, she was already purchasing silk surahs from Bianchini, Férier through their office in New York. Before the Exposition of 1925, she had purchased matelassés, printed crepes and crepes patterned on the loom, and brocaded lamés. A letter of August 25, 1923, notifies Anna of the dispatch from New York to Providence of sample books for "Chiffon Cascadeuse," "Crêpe Romain," "Crêpe Éclatante," "Satin Ondoyant," "Fulgurante," "Moiré Mousmée," and "Velours Paradis." This letter reveals how the company was aiming through its product names to indicate the suppleness (cascadeuse, ondoyant) and metallic shine (éclatante, fulgurante) of its fabrics - an example of marketing the "moderne" that was widespread in industry.

Although Anna purchased many textiles directly from the French manufacturers, she also had other sources. B. Altman &Company, the New York department store, was a supplier of yard goods such as cretonne, serge, and lace throughout Anna's career. Anna also patronized John Wanamaker, the fabled Philadelphia department store with a branch in New York. John Wanamaker was the first department store to set up an office for its buyers in Paris, the first to have a resident buyer there, and the first American store to import couture directly for sale in its Philadelphia and New York stores. From 1915, John Wanamaker was a source for silks of all kinds, including pongees, velvets, and brocades, as well as ribbon trims.

A third class of suppliers for the Tirocchi shop was American importing firms with offices in New York and Paris, where they purchased textiles from firms such as Soieries F. Ducharne and Bianchini, Férier for resale in America. Anna's most important source was Harry Angelo Company, from whom she purchased textiles, "robes" (pre-embroidered fabrics for dresses), and Paris imports or copies throughout her career. In 1915, for example, Anna purchased nearly $3,000 worth of laces, trims, skirt panels, chiffons, and other textiles, while her next most important supplier, the venerable Haas Brothers, who had been operating a dry-goods store in New York since 1879, billed her for only half that amount for laces, silks, georgettes, and nets. John Wanamaker was a distant third with only $604 worth of trims, pongees, crepes, and other silks. Anna and Laura Tirocchi traveled to Paris in 1924 and 1926-27 to make purchases directly from the Paris offices of the French firms described above.