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Wool fabrics were available in a wide range of qualities, from rough undyed cloth to fine, dense broadcloth with a velvety nap; high-value broadcloth was a backbone of the English economy and was exported throughout Europe. [68] Wool fabrics were dyed in rich colours, notably reds, greens, golds, and blues. [61]
Calico and chintz, types of cotton fabrics, became popular in Europe, and by 1664 the East India Company was importing a quarter of a million pieces into Britain. [33] By the 18th century, the middle class had become more concerned with cleanliness and fashion, and there was a demand for easily washable and colourful fabric.
c. 1000 BC – Cherchen Man was laid to rest with a twill tunic and the earliest known sample of tartan fabric. [7] c. 200 AD – Earliest woodblock printing from China. Flowers in three colors on silk. [8] 247 AD – Dura-Europos, a Roman outpost, is destroyed. Excavations of the city discovered early examples of naalebinding fabric.
The woven fabric portion of the textile industry grew out of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century as mass production of yarn and cloth became a mainstream industry. [7] In 1734 in Bury, Lancashire John Kay invented the flying shuttle — one of the first of a series of inventions associated with the cotton woven fabric industry.
It is the one Mediterranean exception to the tendency for early industrialisation to be concentrated in northern Europe. [1] [2] The Catalan cotton industry, in common with many European countries and the United States, was the first large-scale application of modern technology and the factory system. [3]
These were both events that enabled cotton mill construction and the move away from home-based production. 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. [9] The multiple spindle spinning jenny was invented in 1764.
During the 14th and 15th century, English merchants brought woollen cloth and other goods to Iceland, trading it mainly for dried fish, but also for Icelandic vaðmál (coarse wool fabric). [19] [20] Guild organisations seem to have emerged in the textile industry in England in the 12th century. [21] This was earlier than elsewhere in Europe.
Some garments were created from fabrics based on these fibers, such as women's hosiery from nylon, but it was not until the introduction of polyester into the fiber marketplace in the early 1950s that the market for cotton came under threat. [91]