The textile industry is primarily concerned with the production of yarn, and cloth and the subsequent design or manufacture of clothing and their distribution. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry.
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Prior to 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. .[1]
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 fiber 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 1850, 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 fiber, 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 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, however.
Spinning evolved from twisting the fibers 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[2]
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 5000 BCE.
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 labour-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 [2]. 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.
The textile industry grew out of the industrial revolution in the 18th Century as mass production of yarn and cloth became a mainstream industry.ref>Hammond, J.L.; Hammond, Barbara (1919) (pdf), The Skilled Labourer 1760-1832, London: Longmans, Green and co., p. 51, http://www.archive.org/details/skilledlabourer00hammiala</ref>
In 1734 in Bury, Lancashire, John Kay invented the flying shuttle — one of the first of a series of inventions associated with the cotton industry. The flying shuttle increased the width of cotton cloth and speed of production of a single weaver at a loom.[3] 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.
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[4] 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.
With the Cartwright Loom, the Spinning Mule and the Boulton & Watt steam engine, the pieces were in place to build a mechanised 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, he 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 labour, 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.[5] 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.[5]
Secondly, in 1830, using a 1822 patent, Richard Roberts manufactured the first loom with a cast iron frame, the Roberts Loom.[3] In 1842 James Bullough and William Kenworthy, made the Lancashire Loom . It is a semi automatic 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.[6] 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 labour. 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.[7]
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.[8][9][10][11] 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. The demographic change made by the Great European War, had made the labour-intensive industry un-profitable in England, but in India and later China it was an aid to development.
| Bale Breaker | Blowing Room | |||||
| Willowing | ||||||
| Breaker Scutcher | Batting | |||||
| Finishing Scutcher | Lapping | |||||
| Carding | Carding Room | |||||
| Silver Lap | ||||||
| Combing | ||||||
| Drawing | ||||||
| Slubbing | ||||||
| Intermediate | ||||||
| Roving | Fine Roving | |||||
| Mule Spinning | - | Ring Spinning | Spinning | |||
| Reeling | Doubling | |||||
| Winding | Bundling | Bleaching | ||||
| Winding | ||||||
| Warping | Cabling | |||||
| Sizing/Slashing/Dressing | Gassing | |||||
| Weaving | Spooling | |||||
| Cloth | Yarn (Cheese)- - Bundle | Sewing Thread |
Cotton is the world's most important natural fiber. In the year 2007, the global yield was 25 million tons from 35 million hectares cultivated in more than 50 countries.[12]
There are five stages[13]
Artificial fibers can be are 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.[14] All these fibers will be of great length, often kilometers long.
Natural fibers are either from animals (sheep, goat, rabbit, silk-worm) mineral (asbestos) or from plants (cotton, flax, sisal). These vegetable fibers can come from the seed (cotton), the stem (known as bast fibers: flax, Hemp, Jute) or the leaf (sisal).[15] 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 fibers is short being only centimeters in length, and each has a rough surface that enables it to bond with similar staples.[15]
Artificial fibers can be processed as long fibers or batched and cut so they can be processed like a natural fiber.
The Multi Fibre Arrangement (MFA) governed the world trade in textiles and garments from 1974 through 2004, imposing quotas on the amount developing countries could export to developed countries. It expired on 1 January 2005.
The MFA was introduced in 1974 as a short-term measure intended to allow developed countries to adjust to imports from the developing world. Developing countries have a natural advantage in textile production because it is labor intensive and they have low labor costs. According to a World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) study, the system has cost the developing world 27 million jobs and $40 billion a year in lost exports.[16]
However, the Arrangement was not negative for all developing countries. For example the European Union (EU) imposed no restrictions or duties on imports from the very poorest countries, such as Bangladesh, leading to a massive expansion of the industry there.
At the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Uruguay Round, it was decided to bring the textile trade under the jurisdiction of the World Trade Organization. The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing provided for the gradual dismantling of the quotas that existed under the MFA. This process was completed on 1 January 2005. However, large tariffs remain in place on many textile products.
Bangladesh was expected to suffer the most from the ending of the MFA, as it was expected to face more competition, particularly from China. However, this was not the case. It turns out that even in the face of other economic giants, Bangladesh’s labor is “cheaper than anywhere else in the world.” While some smaller factories were documented making pay cuts and layoffs, most downsizing was essentially speculative – the orders for goods kept coming even after the MFA expired. In fact, Bangladesh's exports increased in value by about $500 million in 2006.[17]
| Year | 1803 | 1820 | 1829 | 1833 | 1857 |
| Looms | 2400 | 14650 | 55500 | 100000 | 250000 |
| Year | 1803 | 1820 | 1829 | 1833 | 1857 |
| Looms | 2400 | 14650 | 55500 | 100000 | 250000 |
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