As I recall it, the tradition was to hire poor widows to make tachrichim, thereby giving them parnasa in their old age. They are mdae from white linen since that was once a very inexepnsive fabric, and chazal wanted to keep the cost of funerals down. It seems people once treated funerals the way we treat bar mitzvahs today, as an excuse to display wealth. In response, Chazal institution cost controls. That’s why outside of Israel, a coffin is a plain unfinished wooden affair with little if any decoration. There used to be a practice of the table at which a sage learned to make his coffin (the Chatham Sofer’s aron was made from his desk). I don’t know if that is still done anywhere, but I doubt it. I’m rather dismayed that I won’t be buried in the kittel I wore at my wedding. Having something my wife gave me nearby would let me rest more peacefully. I plan on issuing a tzavaah that either my kittel be used as part of the shrouds, or that it at least be placed on top of the tachrichin or at the very least be placed in the aron.
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