The term textile fibres refers to fibres that can be spun into yarn or made into fabric by such operations as weaving,
knitting, braiding, and felting.
Weaving, one of the first crafts was practiced as early as the New Stone Age, as shown by fragments of flax fibres found in the remains
of lake dwellings in Switzerland. In ancient Egypt, the earliest textiles were woven from flax; in India, Peru, and Cambodia, from cotton;
in the southern European area, from wool; and in China, from silk.
Made from flax, linen was first used by the ancient Egyptians. Because the earliest linen cloth was usually white, it became a symbol of purity for the Egyptians, and was used not only for clothing and household articles but also in religious practices. The Egyptians also produced textiles made of cotton imported from India. The term linens, now popularly used to designate such household items as cotton sheets, napkins, and towels, probably originated from the Egyptian word linum.
The Bible refers to the superior quality of wool sold in the ancient city of Damascus. The ancient peoples of the Caucasian peninsula wore
woollen robes called shal, from which the word shawl is derived. Sheep were raised for fibre, as well as for meat and leather,
throughout the Mediterranean area. Sicily and southern Italy provided wool for clothing in Rome until the time of the Roman Empire, when
fabrics of silk, imported from China, became fashionable. The finest wool came from merino sheep, raised in Spain by the Basque people,
whose reputation as the most able sheepherders in the world continues to the present day.
Subsequently, the Belgians became skilful in producing fine-quality wool textiles and taught their art to the Saxons in Britain, who also
became noted for their fine woollen fabrics.
Although cotton is the most common textile fibre now in use, it was the last natural fibre to attain commercial importance. In the
5th century BC the Greek historian Herodotus reported that among the valuable products in India was the wild plant that bears fleece as
its fruit. In the following century Alexander the Great introduced cotton from India into Greece. Although the early Greeks and Romans
used cotton for awnings and sails as well as for clothing, it was not adopted for widespread use in Europe until centuries later.
In the New World, the Mexicans used cotton for weaving in the pre-Columbian period. Cotton textiles were found in the West Indies and in
South America by explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries. The early American colonists cultivated Cotton, and after the introduction of
the cotton gin, invented in 1793 by the American inventor Eli Whitney, cotton became the most important staple fibre in the world for
quantity, economy, and utility.
According to Chinese legend, the weaving of silk originated in the 27th century BC during the reign of Emperor Huang Ti, whose wife
supposedly developed the technique of reeling the thread of the silkworm for use in weaving. Although for many centuries raw silk and silk
fabrics were exported to the Mediterranean countries, the source of the fibre remained unknown to Europeans until the 6th century ad, when
travellers returning from China smuggled eggs of the silkworm into the Western world. From this stock, silkworm culture was introduced
into Greece and Italy. By the 12th century silk was used for the weaving of precious fibres throughout Europe.
In the western hemisphere, attempts to cultivate the silkworm began in 1620 when King James I of England urged the colonists to produce
silk instead of tobacco. Some success was achieved by the Georgian colonists, but subsequent efforts in Connecticut and New Jersey failed
because of the lack of efficient, low-cost labour required to raise the mulberry trees, upon which the silkworms feed, and to care for
silkworms.
In the mid-20th century only Japan and China were important silk-producing countries. At the beginning of World War II, Japan supplied
90 percent of the world production of raw silk. When the Western world was cut off from this source during the war, nylon fibres, which
had been developed in the 1930s, were used as a substitute.
Hemp is currently being used by designers in clothing. When thinking of hemp, the illegal plant, marijuana comes to mind. No, hemp fabric does not contain the narcotic chemical that, when smoked produces the "high" that smoking marijuana produces. Marijuana is from the dried flowers and leaves of the Cannabis Sativa plant. Hemp fabric is made from the stems of the plant. The stems are processed to dissolve the gum or pectin and separate the fibers which are then processed again and woven into yarns and fabric. The finest hemp for fabric is produced in Italy. Hemp fabric is like linen in both hand and appearance. Hemp fabric withstands water better than any other textile product. It wrinkles easily and should not be creased excessively to avoid wear and breakage of the fibers.
Ramie is also similar to linen and is a bast of plant fiber. It is natural white in color, has a high luster and an unusual resistance to bacteria and molds. Used in fabrics, and often mistaken for linen, it is extremely absorbent and dries quickly. Ramie has excellent abrasion resistance and has been tested to be three to five times stronger than cotton and twice as strong as flax. It is an inexpensive fiber from an East Asian plant and can be spun or woven into a fabric.
Jute is a glossy fiber from a plant. It is seen most often in sacks, rope, twine, and as backing on carpeting.