Where it gets interesting is the 1780's where massive quantities of calico printed fabric was imported from Lancashire, this is where a linguistic differentiation occurred. While Europe held onto the root word of calico, they called the fabric calico as that what it was called, Americans decided to name the print calico and not the fabric. Calico prints became quite popular because of the floral design and the indigo dye, it creates a sense of interest as the prints are not always floral patterned. Sometimes there are paisleys, diamonds, or even a mix of different styles to create a new one. The most common calico print in modern days would be a diamond followed by an intricate line then another diamond. However, for women, there still seem to be the regular floral or diamond pattern on the shirts to show femininity. Men's shirts are still printed with paisleys and diamonds as well as a hybrid version of lines and diamonds or lines and floral patterns.
Although the fabric is not considered calico, the prints are quite popular in the modern day in the States. Europeans still label the cloth as calico so if you ever want muslin or cheesecloth, you can call it calico and they will understand you. However, here, it is simply a pattern that is indigo-dyed or another color with a pattern printed onto it. If you want the calico cloth, you're going to have to look for muslin or cheesecloth as that is the same. Modern calico fabric may be far different than the past but it's still similar, it is still thicker and coarser than denim or canvas but it's not used to create any kind of garment. The most common place to find calico would be the kitchen, used in every day life, and very few people even know the truth of the calico fabric.
It's a good history lesson and one that we're sure you'll remember for years to come as you will see the calico print on a shirt or somewhere in the kitchen. Either way, calico is used today in various forms and printed on various fabrics, to find an actual calico fabric that was dyed with the bright hues that the traditional Calicut peoples used is rare, so if you happen to find one, then keep it. It's a piece of history that started a fashion trend simply because of a linguistic error.