Textile industry 1943311 217278982 2008-06-05T10:39:41Z Treisijs 2847625 Adding [[lv:Tekstilrūpniecība]] The '''Textile industry''' (also known in the [[United Kingdom]] and [[Australia]] as the '''Rag Trade''') is a term used for industries primarily concerned with the design or manufacture of [[clothing]] as well as the distribution and use of [[textile]]s. ==Cottage stage== Prior to the manufacturing processes were mechanized, textiles were produced in the home, and excess sold for extra money. Most cloth was made from either [[wool]], [[cotton]], or [[flax]], depending on the era and location. For example, during the late [[medieval]] period, [[cotton]] became known as an [[International trade|import]]ed fiber in northern [[Europe]], without any knowledge of what it came from other than that it was a [[plant]]; noting its similarities to wool, people in the region could only imagine that cotton must be produced by plant-borne sheep. [[John Mandeville]], writing in [[1350]], stated as fact the now-preposterous belief: "There grew there [India] a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungry." This aspect is retained in the name for cotton in many European languages, such as [[German language|German]] ''Baumwolle'', which translates as "tree wool". By the end of the 16th century, cotton was cultivated throughout the warmer regions in [[Asia]] and the [[Americas]]. In Roman times, wool, linen and leather clothed the European population: the cotton of India was a curiosity that only naturalists had heard of, and silk, imported along the [[Silk Road]] from China, was an extravagant luxury. The use of [[flax]] fiber in the manufacturing of cloth in northern Europe dates back to Neolithic times. Cloth was produced in the home, and the excess woven cloth was sold to merchants called [[cloth merchant|clothiers]] who visited the village with their trains of pack-horses. Some of the cloth was made into clothes for people living in the same area and a large amount of cloth was exported. The process of making cloth depends slightly on the fiber being used, but there are three main steps: preparation of fibers for [[spinning (textiles)|spinning]], spinning, and [[weaving]] or [[knitting]]. The preparation of the fibers differs the most depending on the fiber used. Flax requires [[retting]] and dressing, while wool requires carding and washing. The spinning and weaving processes are very similar between fibers though. Spinning evolved from twisting the fibers by hand, to use of a [[Spindle (textiles)|drop spindle]], to a [[spinning wheel]]. Spindles or parts of them have been found in very, very old archaeological sites; they may represent one of the earliest pieces of technology available to humankind. was invented in [[India]] between 500 and 1000 AD<ref name=Wayne>Cotton: Origin, History, Technology, and Production By C. Wayne Smith, Joe Tom Cothren. Page viii. Published 1999. John Wiley and Sons. Technology & Industrial Arts. 864 pages. ISBN 0471180459</ref> It reached [[Europe]] via the [[Middle East]] in the [[European Middle Ages]]. Weaving, done on a [[loom]] has been around for as long as spinning. There are some indications that weaving was already known in the [[Palaeolithic]]. An indistinct textile impression has been found at [[Pavlov]], Moravia. [[Neolithic]] textiles are well known from finds in [[pile dwellings]] in Switzerland. One extant fragment from the [[Neolithic]] was found in [[Fayum]] at a site which dates to about [[5th millennium BC|5000 BCE]]. There are many different types of looms, from a simple loom that dates back to the Vikings, to the standard floor loom. ==History during the industrial revolution== {{main|Textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution}} The key British industry at the beginning of the 18th century was the production of [[textile]]s made with [[wool]] from the large [[sheep]]-farming areas in the [[Midlands]] and across the country (created as a result of land-clearance and [[enclosure]]). [[loom|Handlooms]] and [[spinning wheel]]s were the tools of the trade of the [[weaving|weaver]]s in their cottages, and this was a labor-intensive activity providing [[employment]] throughout Britain, with major centers being the West Country; [[Norwich]] and environs; and the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]]. The [[export]] trade in woolen goods accounted for more than a quarter of British exports during most of the 18th century, doubling between 1701 and 1770 [http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/toynbee/indrev]. Exports of the [[cotton]] industry &ndash; centered in [[Lancashire]] &ndash; had grown tenfold during this time, but still accounted for only a tenth of the value of the woolen trade. The textile industry grew out of the [[industrial revolution]] in the [[18th Century]] as [[mass production]] of clothing became a mainstream industry. Starting with the [[flying shuttle]] in [[1733]] inventions were made to speed up the manufacturing process. In [[1738]] [[Lewis Paul]] and [[John Wyatt (inventor)|John Wyatt]] patented the [[Roller Spinning machine]] and the [[flyer-and-bobbin]] system. Lewis Paul invented a [[carding]] machine in 1748, and by 1764 the [[spinning jenny]] had also been invented. In [[1771]], [[Richard Arkwright]] used waterwheels to power looms for the production of cotton cloth, his invention becoming known as the [[water frame]]. In [[1784]], [[Edmund Cartwright]] invented the [[power loom]]. With the spinning and weaving process now mechanized, [[cotton mill]]s cropped up all over Great Britain. Textile mills originally got their power from [[water wheel]]s, and thus had to be situated along a river. With the invention of the [[steam engine]], in the 1760s to 1800s, mills no longer needed to be along rivers. ==Post industrial revolution== Many of the cotton mills, like the one in Lowell MA, in the US originally started with the intention of hiring local farm girls for a few years. The mill job was designed to give them a bit more money before they went back to the farm life. With the inflow of cheap labor from Ireland during the potato famine, the setup changed, as the girls became easily replaceable. Cotton mills were full of the loud clanking of the looms, as well as lint and cotton fiber. When the mills were first built a worker would work anywhere from one to four looms. As the design for the loom improved so that it stopped itself whenever a thread broke, and automatically refilled the shuttle, the number of machines a worker could work increased to up to 50. Originally, power looms were shuttle-operated but in the early part of the 20th century the faster and more efficient shuttleless loom came into use. Today, advances in technology have produced a variety of looms designed to maximize production for specific types of material. The most common of these are air-jet looms and water-jet looms. Industrial looms can weave at speeds of six rows per second and faster. By the later [[20th Century]], the industry in the [[developed world]] had developed a bad reputation, often involving [[immigrant]]s in illegal "[[sweat shop]]s" full of people working on [[textile manufacturing]] and [[sewing machine]]s being paid less than minimum wages. This trend has resulted due to attempts to protect existing industries which are being challenged by [[developing country|developing countries]] in [[South East Asia]], the [[Indian subcontinent]] and more recently, [[Central America]]. Whilst [[globalization]] has seen the manufacturing outsourced to overseas labor markets, there has been a trend for the areas historically associated with the trade to shift focus to the more [[white collar]] associated industries of [[fashion design]], [[Model (person)|fashion modeling]] and retail. Areas historically involved heavily in the "rag trade" include [[London]] and [[Milan]] in [[Europe]], [[SoHo]] district in [[New York City]] and the [[Flinders Lane, Melbourne|Flinders Lane]] and [[Richmond, Victoria|Richmond]] districts in [[Melbourne]] and [[Surry Hills]] in [[Sydney]]. ==In popular culture== *[[The Rag Trade]], a British sitcom ==See also== *[[Textile manufacturing terminology]] *[[Rags to riches]] *[[History of textiles]] ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *[http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventorsalphabet/a/textile.htm History of the Textile industry] *[http://www.textile.fr:81/site/home_en.asp union of textile industries] {{Textile arts}} [[Category:Industries]] [[Category:Textile industry| ]] {{Link FA|hu}} [[de:Textilindustrie]] [[es:Industria textil]] [[fr:Industrie textile]] [[hr:Tekstilna industrija]] [[it:Industria tessile]] [[lv:Tekstilrūpniecība]] [[hu:Textilipar]] [[pt:Indústria têxtil]] [[ru:Текстильная промышленность]] [[sv:Textilindustri]]