The textile industry (also known in the United Kingdom and Australia as the Rag Trade) is a term used for industries primarily concerned with the design or manufacture of clothing as well as the distribution and use of textiles.
Prior to the manufacturing processes being mechanized, textiles were produced in the home, and excess sold for extra money. Most cloth was made from either wool, cotton, or flax, depending on the era and location. For exa...
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The textile industry (also known in the United Kingdom and Australia as the Rag Trade) is a term used for industries primarily concerned with the design or manufacture of clothing as well as the distribution and use of textiles.
Prior to the manufacturing processes being mechanized, textiles were produced in the home, and excess sold for extra money. Most cloth was made from either wool, cotton, or flax, depending on the era and location. For example, during the late medieval period, cotton became known as an imported fiber in 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 there [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...
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