TEXTILE INDUSTRY

The history of the Textile industry,Mogadishu women weaver photo,

The history of the Textile industry is the story of the movement from handcraft production of cloth in every country, to the industrial revolution in Britain, driven by cotton and wool yarn and cloth factories, which then spread to Europe, America, Japan and other countries.

Handcraft era

The use of cotton textiles came to the West via the Middle East during the Middle Ages, when Muslims brought cotton cultivation from India. The earliest fabric in Europe to include cotton fibers was fustian, a combination cotton and linen used to make garments and bedding. Demand for Indian cotton textiles, especially the 100% cotton fabric known as calico, increased in the 16th century. European textile makers attempted to capitalize on this trend by making substitutions and having the Indian textiles banned.

For centuries the spinning of yarn and the weaving of cloth had remained a manual operation. In England, for example, women and children, working at home, combed cotton with wire brushes and spun it by hand; the father then wove the cotton on a hand loom. Output was expensive and consumed locally. Most of Britain's cloth was home-made from wool in the West Country, Yorkshire and Lancashire. 1702 a critical turning point occurred when Thomas Cotchett and George Sorocold built a silk mill powered by a waterwheel at Derby. Their mill was probably Britain's first factory, for it was a single establishment with complex machinery, a source of power and accommodation for workers.