Textile industry

The textile industry or apparel industry is primarily concerned with the design and production of yarn, cloth, clothing,
and their distribution. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry.
The industry process

Cotton Manufacturing Processes

 Finishing- giving textiles

Synthetic fibres
Artificial fibres can be made by extruding a polymer, through a spinneret into a medium where it hardens. Wet spinning
(rayon) uses a coagulating medium. In dry spinning (acetate and triacetate), the polymer is contained in a solvent that
evaporates in the heated exit chamber. In melt spinning (nylons and polyesters) the extruded polymer is cooled in gas or air
and then sets. All these fibres will be of great length, often kilometers long.
Artificial fibres can be processed as long fibres or batched and cut so they can be processed like a natural fibre.

Natural fibres
Natural fibres are either from animals (sheep, goat, rabbit, silk-worm) mineral (asbestos) or from plants (cotton, flax, sisal).
These vegetable fibres can come from the seed (cotton), the stem (known as bast fibres: flax, Hemp, Jute) or the leaf (sisal).
Without exception, many processes are needed before a clean even staple is obtained- each with a specific name. With the
exception of silk, each of these fibres is short being only centimeters in length, and each has a rough surface that enables it
to bond with similar staples.

History
Cottage stage
There are some indications that weaving was already known in the Palaeolithic. An indistinct textile impression has been
found at Pavlov, Moravia. Neolithic textiles were found in pile dwellings excavations in Switzerland and at El Fayum,
Egypt at a site which dates to about 5000 BC.
The key British industry at the beginning of the 18th century was the production of textiles 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). This was a
labor-intensive activity providing employment throughout Britain, with major centres 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. Exports of the cotton industry centered in
Lancashire had grown tenfold during this time, but still accounted for only a tenth of the value of the woolen trade. Before
the 17th century, the manufacture of goods was performed on a limited scale by individual workers. This was usually on
their own premises (such as weavers' cottages) and goods were transported around the country. clothiers 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. Rivers navigations were constructed, and some contour-following canals. In the early 18th
century, artisans were inventing ways to become more productive. Silk, wool, fustian, and linen were being eclipsed by
cotton, which was becoming the most important textile. This set the foundations for the changes.
In Roman times, wool, linen and leather clothed the European population, and silk, imported along the Silk Road from
China, was an extravagant luxury. The use of flax fibre in the manufacturing of cloth in Northern Europe dates back to
Neolithic times.
During the late medieval period, cotton began to be imported into 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 in 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 Baumwolle, which translates as "tree wool". By the end of the 16th century, cotton
was cultivated throughout the warmer regions of Asia and the Americas.
The main steps in the production of cloth are producing the fibre, preparing it, converting it to yarn, converting yarn to
cloth, and then finishing the cloth. The cloth is then taken to the manufacturer of garments. The preparation of the fibres

differs the most, depending on the fibre used. Flax requires retting and dressing, while wool requires carding and washing.
The spinning and weaving processes are very similar between fibres, however.
Spinning evolved from twisting the fibres by hand, to using a drop spindle, to using a spinning wheel. Spindles or parts of
them have been found in archaeological sites and may represent one of the first pieces of technology available. They were
invented in India between 500 and 1000 AD.

Industrial revolution
The woven fabric portion of the textile industry grew out of the industrial revolution in the 18th Century as mass production
of yarn and cloth became a mainstream industry.
In 1734 in Bury, Lancashire, John Kay invented the flying shuttle one of the first of a series of inventions associated with
the cotton woven fabric industry. The flying shuttle increased the width of cotton cloth and speed of production of a single
weaver at a loom.[8] Resistance by workers to the perceived threat to jobs delayed the widespread introduction of this
technology, even though the higher rate of production generated an increased demand for spun cotton.

Shuttles

In 1761, the Duke of Bridgewater's canal connected Manchester to the coal fields of Worsley and in 1762, Matthew Boulton
opened the Soho Foundry engineering works in Handsworth, Birmingham. His partnership with Scottish engineer James
Watt resulted, in 1775, in the commercial production of the more efficient Watt steam engine which used a separate
condensor.
In 1764, James Hargreaves is credited as inventor of the spinning jenny which multiplied the spun thread production
capacity of a single worker initially eightfold and subsequently much further. Others credit the original invention to
Thomas Highs. Industrial unrest and a failure to patent the invention until 1770 forced Hargreaves from Blackburn, but his
lack of protection of the idea allowed the concept to be exploited by others. As a result, there were over 20,000 Spinning
Jennies in use by the time of his death. Again in 1764, Thorp Mill, the first water-powered cotton mill in the world was
constructed at Royton, Lancashire, England. It was used for carding cotton. With the spinning and weaving process now
mechanized, cotton mills cropped up all over the North West of England.
The stocking frame invented in 1589 for silk became viable when in 1759, Jedediah Strutt introduced an attachment for the
frame which produced what became known as the Derby Rib, which allowed stockings to be manufactured in cotton.
Nottingham, a traditional centre for lacework, had allowed the use of the protected stocking frame since 1728.

19th century developments

For further details of the operation and history of spinning mules, see Spinning mule.
With the Cartwright Loom, the Spinning Mule and the Boulton & Watt steam engine, the pieces were in place to build a
mechanised woven fabric textile industry. From this point there were no new inventions, but a continuous improvement in
technology as the mill-owner strove to reduce cost and improve quality. Developments in the transport infrastructure; that is
the canals and after 1831 the railways facilitated the import of raw materials and export of finished cloth.
Firstly, the use of water power to drive mills was supplemented by steam driven water pumps, and then superseded
completely by the steam engines. For example, Samuel Greg joined his uncle's firm of textile merchants, and, on taking
over the company in 1782, he sought out a site to establish a mill.Quarry Bank Mill was built on the River Bollin at Styal in
Cheshire. It was initially powered by a water wheel, but installed steam engines in 1810.Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire still
exists as a well-preserved museum, having been in use from its construction in 1784 until 1959. It also illustrates how the
mill owners exploited child labor, taking orphans from nearby Manchester to work the cotton. It shows that these children
were housed, clothed, fed and provided with some education. In 1830, the average power of a mill engine was 48 hp, but
Quarry Bank mill installed an new 100 hp water wheel. William Fairbairn addressed the problem of line-shafting and was
responsible for improving the efficiency of the mill. In 1815 he replaced the wooden turning shafts that drove the machines
at 50rpm, to wrought iron shafting working at 250 rpm, these were a third of the weight of the previous ones and absorbed
less power.

Secondly, in 1830, using an 1822 patent, Richard Roberts manufactured the first loom with a cast iron frame, the Roberts
Loom. In 1842 James Bullough and William Kenworthy, made the Lancashire Loom. It is a semiautomatic power loom.
Although it is self-acting, it has to be stopped to recharge empty shuttles. It was the mainstay of the Lancashire cotton
industry for a century, when the [ 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.
Thirdly, also in 1830, Richard Roberts patented the first self-acting mule. Stalybridge mule spinners strike was in 1824; this
stimulated research into the problem of applying power to the winding stroke of the mule.[11] The draw while spinning had
been assisted by power, but the push of the wind had been done manually by the spinner, the mule could be operated by
semiskilled labor. Before 1830, the spinner would operate a partially powered mule with a maximum of 400 spindles after,
self-acting mules with up to 1300 spindles could be built.

Year
Looms

1803
2400

1820
14650

Number of Looms in UK
1829
55500

1833
100000

1857
250000

The industrial revolution changed the nature of work and society The three key drivers in these changes were textile
manufacturing, iron founding and steam power. The geographical focus of textile manufacture in Britain was Manchester,
England and the small towns of the Pennines and southern Lancashire.

Textile production in England peaked in 1926, and as mills were decommissioned, many of the scrapped mules and looms
were bought up and reinstated in India.

20th century
Major changes came to the textile industry during the 20th century, with continuing technological innovations in machinery,
synthetic fibre, logistics, and globalization of the business. The business model that had dominated the industry for centuries
was to change radically. Cotton and wool producers were not the only source for fibres, as chemical companies created new
synthetic fibres that had superior qualities for many uses, such as rayon, invented in 1910, and DuPont's nylon, invented in
1935 as in inexpensive silk substitute, and used for products ranging from women's stockings to tooth brushes and military
parachutes.
The variety of synthetic fibres used in manufacturing fibre grew steadily throughout the 20th century. In the 1920s, the
computer was invented; in the 1940s, acetate, modacrylic, metal fibres, and saran were developed; acrylic, polyester, and
spandex were introduced in the 1950s. Polyester became hugely popular in the apparel market, and by the late 1970s, more
polyester was sold in the United States than cotton.
By the early 20th century, the industry in the developed world often involved immigrants in "sweat shops", which were
usually legal but were sometimes illegally operated. They employed people in crowded conditions, working manual sewing
machines, and being paid less than a living wage. This trend worsened due to attempts to protect existing industries which

were being challenged by developing countries in South East Asia, the Indian subcontinent and Central America. Although
globalization saw the manufacturing largely 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, fashion
modeling and retail. Areas historically involved heavily in the "rag trade" include London and Milan in Europe, and the
SoHo district in New York City.
By the late 1980s, the apparel segment was no longer the largest market for fibre products, with industrial and home
furnishings together representing a larger proportion of the fibre market. Industry integration and global manufacturing led
to many small firms closing for good during the 1970s and 1980s in the United States; during those decades, 95 percent of
the looms in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia shut down, and Alabama and Virginia also saw many factories
close.