The term 'lace' is used by the British to refer to the gold bands sewn onto the sleeves of naval officers' uniforms to indicate rank, and to name the similar decoration elsewhere on other uniforms (such as Italian caps and Polish collars) because of the procedure used to make it. In America, the term is not used for this purpose because the bands are metal compactly sewn, while 'lace' seems to imply cloth sewn into patterns with holes in them.