Textile History of Various Countries

India
Indian textile enjoys a rich heritage and the origin of textiles in India traces back to
the Indus valley Civilization where people used homespun cotton for weaving their
clothes.Rigveda, the earliest of the Veda contains the literary information about
textiles and it refers to weaving. Ramayana and Mahabharata, the eminent Indian
epics depict the existence of wide variety of fabrics in ancient India. These epics refer
both to rich and stylized garment worn by the aristocrats and ordinary simple clothes
worn by the common people. The contemporary Indian textile not only reflects the
splendid past but also cater to the requirements of the modern times.

Japan
In 1869 the capital of Japan was shifted from Kyoto to Tokyo and from this time
onwards the Nishijin weaving tradition seemed threatened with extinction. The
industry again started to grow along with Japan's new capitalist economy by 1890
when the Nishijin weavers embraced and applied modern technology to their own
ancient and original textile art. The textile art of Japan particularly reached an
epitome of excellence by exhibiting a cultural distinction and remarkable artistic skill
in the Edo and succeeding Meiji periods (1868 - 1912).

China
Chinese textiles enjoy an excellent heritage in textile sector and occupy a prominent
position in the global textile market. Chinese textiles are world famous and
extraordinary for their fine quality and profound symbolic meanings. Textiles in china
often form an integral aspect of its heritage and symbolically reflect its tradition and
culture.In China, textile is often closely associated with prosperity and involved in the
process of elaborate rituals. Parents' spontaneous love for their children is most
visibly reflected through the excellent clothes they provide on festive occasions to
their children. These clothes are made up of expensive materials and excellent
craftsmanship.

Africa
In the ancient times the most important aspect of textiles or more precisely cloth in
Africa was that cloth was used as form of money. The width of cloth strip was usually
standardized in each region of Africa and therefore there used to be a regular
number of such standard length cloth strips required to make a woman's wrapper
cloth. This would then be used to serve as the unit of value. Cloth was a convenient
form of money primarily because it was used by everybody, fairly durable and easily
sub dividable.
The weavers, dyers and other textile artists of Africa together makes an active
contribution in creating exquisite and amazing range of textiles. African textiles
usually embody a great variety of styles. Adinkara, kente and bogolan are some of
the some of the African textiles which are becoming increasingly popular while some
others like Yoruba, ase-oke and adire are equally beautiful but less well known.
Natural Fibers
Natural fibers have traditionally been used in all cultures of the world to meet basic
requirements of clothing, storage, building material, and for items of daily use such as
ropes and fishing nets. People in olden times used various kinds of natural fibers
depending on their local availability.

The first composite material in history was apparently made with clay and straw in
Egypt 3000 years ago to build walls. Hemp was cultivated in China in 2800 BC and is
considered one of the oldest natural fibers to be taken in use for making products
along with linen. Hemp in Greek and Latin terminology was cannabis that led to the
word canvas as hemp was used for making sails of boats. Flax or fine linen was
used for burial shrouds of Egyptian pharaohs. Similarly nettle was used for making
fishing nets in olden times.

India is rich in plant resources and the use of a variety of natural fibers such as
banana, pineapple, sisal, hemp, coconut, palm, grasses etc was widely prevalent in
olden times. Their use became limited once cotton acquired the prime status in plant
fibers. In cotton production, organic cotton accounts for a very small percentage of
total cotton production. Silk, linen and jute are other natural fibers that have
continued to enjoy popularity.

Linen/Flax Fiber
Linen is one of the earliest products known to civilization. When man was in his
earliest primitive state, living on the wide animals he hunted, the skins of those
animals formed his only clothing. Later, when nomadic communities formed, driving
herds of cattle and sheep across the lands of Eastern Europe during those great
migrations, the wool from those flocks of sheep was used to clothe their owners.

After a long period of history, man settled down, built himself permanent cities, and
cultivated the land. One of the products of the soil was flax, and out of the fiber from
flax, linen was made. Linen is, therefore, the earliest known vegetable fabric to be
woven.

Domestication of fiber flax to say nothing of seed flax occurred in India and China
before that of cotton - more than 5,000 years ago. Some scholars believe that flax
originally came from western Persia and spread over to other countries regarded to
be the regions of early flax cultivation - India, China and Central Asia and westwards
and southwestwards, primarily, to Babylon and Egypt.

Flax, from which linen is made, is one of the oldest agricultural plants in the world.
Over 5000 years ago the Egyptians named it "woven moonlight", due to its very
singular beauty. A little less poetic, but all the more apt, is the Latin appellation:
"linum usitatissimum" the extremely useful flax plant.
Flax has been used in the Middle East since the fifth millennium BCE. In Egypt its
role was probably more important than in many other cultures, as Egyptians rarely
used wool and cotton was unknown during much of their ancient history. It was seen
as a gift of the Nile, as the Hymn to Hapi has it: People are clothed with the flax of his
fields.

Through time linen has persisted. Its history is also closely interwoven with the Bible
stories. Linen has always been held in reference as an emblem of purity, and it is
mentioned frequently in the Old Testament.

Linen is the most ancient vegetable fabric known to man. For centuries people have
been growing flax to make fiber and weave linen. But despite its venerable age flax
remains to be as young as ever.

Cotton Fibers
The oldest cotton fibers and boll fragments, dated from around 5000 B.C., were
discovered in Mexico. In 5 B.C., the Greek historian Herodotus reported of a plant
that bore fleece. Cotton has been worn in India and Egypt for over 5,000 years.
Cotton was grown by Native Americans as early as 1500. In England in the 1700s, it
was against the law to import or manufacture fabric made of cotton since it was a
threat to the sheep and wool industry.

American colonists were able to grow lots of cotton, but processing was difficult. It
was not until the 1700s that the cotton industry flourished in the United States. It was
then that Samuel Slater, an Englishman, built the first American cotton mill. These
mills converted cotton fibers into yarn and cloth.

In 1793, Eli Whitney developed the cotton gin, which mechanically separates the
seed from the lint fiber. Whitney named his machine a "gin," short for the word
"engine." Technology has improved over the past centuries making cotton growth
and production much more efficient

Wool Fibers
Over 8,000 years ago people domesticated sheep. Sheep were one of the first
animals to be herded by humans. Sheep helped provide people with food, clothing
and shelter. As humans moved from place to place, sheep were easy to herd and
take with them.

Buying and selling wool cloth was important to many areas. As early as 4,000 B.C.
woolen cloth was being used in the city of Babylon. Babylon means land of wool.
Manmade Fibers
The history of man-made fibers is less than a century old; until 1910, there were no
synthetic or chemical fibers. Today, by mixing different components, manufacturers
can take the basic fibers listed below and make them more waterproof or more
absorbent, warmer or cooler, thicker or thinner, stiffer or more supple. Some, like
polyester and spandex, combine well with natural fibers, making fabrics that wrinkle
less or are more form-fitting.