Green’s Dictionary of Slang

any article of inferior quality, made from a mix of first- and second-rate materials.

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1903		W. Crooke in Yule & Burnell Hobson-Jobson 875/1: Surat in English slang is equivalent to the French Rafiot, in the sense of ‘no great shakes,’ an adulterated article of inferior quality[...] This perhaps was accounted for by the fact that ‘until lately the character of Indian cotton in the Liverpool market stood very low, and the name ‘Surats,’ the description Tinder which the cotton of this province is still included, was a byword and a general term of contempt’.