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Flax Fiber |
Textiles have been one of humanity’s oldest activities. After the primitive era when hides were used for clothing, once agriculture was discovered, humans began to imitate nature, weaving various grasses and plants into raw materials.
According to archaeologists, flax fiber was the first textile material used by humans. Subsequently, wool emerged in the Mesopotamia region, followed by cotton near the Indus River in India.
In ancient times, textile production also depended on the local environment and economic activities: pastoral communities used wool (in Mesopotamia, the Middle East, and Central Asia), while linen was common in Egypt and Central America, cotton in India, and silk in China. The Inca, Maya, and Toltec civilizations in America utilized fibers from banana plants (abaca) and sisal. According to the Book of Songs by Confucius, silk was accidentally discovered in 2640 BC. After Emperor Fu Xi, the first emperor of China, encouraged people to cultivate mulberry trees for silkworm farming, silk became a prosperous industry and one of the first goods traded between East and West. For many centuries, China was the only country producing and exporting silk. The Silk Route, which is still celebrated today, was not only a trade route for merchants but also facilitated the exchange of culture, art, religion, and military conquests.
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Hemp Plant |
Although textile techniques quickly became sophisticated and sometimes reached the level of art, for 5,000 years, humans continued to use only natural materials sourced from plants, such as cotton, jute, hemp, flax, and animal products like wool and silk. As a result, production was limited, and textiles remained a luxury item, with fine garments reserved for the aristocracy and upper classes, while the majority of the population wore coarse fabrics in limited colors and styles. It wasn’t until the mid-18th century, with the Industrial Revolution in England and the emergence of mechanized weaving machines powered by steam, that the textile industry truly transitioned from handmade production to an industrial scale.
However, humans remained dependent on nature, and many scientists in Europe sought ways to create an artificial fiber that could be mass-produced at a low cost. It was not until 1884 that a Frenchman, Count Hilaire Bernigaud de Chardonnet, invented a method for producing artificial silk after six years of research, in collaboration with scientist Louis Pasteur, to combat diseases affecting silkworm farming. In 1889, Chardonnet showcased an artificial silk-spinning machine and the first artificial silk fabrics at the Paris World Exposition. The following year, he opened a factory for artificial fibers, starting production in 1892. However, the methods were not yet perfected, and production costs remained high, so it wasn’t until the early 20th century that the facility began operating on a large scale and achieved success.
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Chardonnet |
Chardonnet is regarded as the father of the chemical fiber industry, a term that encompasses both artificial and synthetic fibers. His goal in developing artificial silk was to democratize textiles, making it possible for anyone to wear elegant clothing that had previously been reserved for a minority. He succeeded beyond expectations, as the industry that emerged from his inventions led to a revolution in clothing, turning fashion into a mass phenomenon in every country. The textile industry has since developed rapidly, paralleling advancements in the economy and trade. From 1889 to 1939, it took 50 years for global production of chemical fibers to reach 1 million tons per year, but just 12 years later, it doubled, and the growth continued to soar.
In 1900, the world had 1.6 billion people consuming 3.8 million tons of fiber, almost entirely natural fibers—cotton (81%) and wool (19%)—with synthetic fibers accounting for less than 1,000 tons. By 1975, global fiber consumption rose to 26 million tons, with 50% cotton, 6% wool, and 44% synthetic fibers. Thus, in just three-quarters of a century, consumption of cotton increased 4.3 times, wool by 2.2 times, and synthetic fibers by 11,000 times. This extraordinary growth, however, slowed down after 1973 due to the oil crisis and subsequent economic downturn. Additionally, as oil is the primary raw material for synthetic fibers, the trend of replacing natural fibers with synthetic ones also slowed, and today, natural fibers, primarily cotton, still exist in the market, while synthetic fibers account for approximately 60%.
The products of the textile industry are not only clothing, fabrics, and familiar items like tablecloths, towels, blankets, mattresses, curtains, carpets, seat cushions, umbrellas, and hats, but they are also essential for most trades and activities: tents, sails, fishing nets, rods, various types of ropes, automotive, railway, aircraft, and marine interior equipment (an average car uses about 17 kg of fabric fibers), belts, tire casings, pipes, packaging, and generally all materials used for wrapping, insulating, filtering, and even medical supplies like sutures and bandages.
It is clear why the textile industry has been closely linked to the development of industrialized countries, alongside the steel industry, as both sectors have been prioritized to benefit from technological advancements and have driven the entire economy’s transformation from manual to industrial production during the Industrial Revolution. This also explains why industrialized nations remain determined to protect their domestic textile industries from competition with developing countries, particularly since the 1970s when these nations focused on building this sector as a key part of their development strategy. Consequently, this has been one of the ongoing contentious issues in trade relations between rich and poor countries for many years.
