The Textile Before and After the

Industrial Revolution

The Textile before the Industrial Revolution

Textiles one of the oldest human activities. The oldest known textiles date back to about

5000 B.C. In order to make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fiber from which
a yarn can be made, primarily by spinning. The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving to
create cloth. Before the Industrial Revolution, textiles were made by hand in the “cottage
industry”, where materials would be brought to homes and picked up when the textiles
were finished. This allowed for workers to decide their own schedules and was largely
unproductive.

Methods of process making:

All the methods and techniques were very time taking because before the industrial
revolution of the 19th century, thread and cloth were made by hand. 

Spinning, dyeing, weaving, knitting, tufting, breading and harvesting all the processes were
done by hand, it took them more than days and months to make fabric.

Fabric was made in small quantity because of lengthy process., drastically shortened
production times because machines could produce much faster than humans could work on
their own, an estimated 10 minutes per day for quick workers versus all day for others when
dealing with handlooms.

The Textile after the Industrial Revolution

Today, the textile industry is one of the most important industries in the world. Over 17
million tons of all clothing sold in America and other countries is produced by it.
During the 18th century, world had a big need for cotton clothes that led to an increase of
factories worldwide; new inventions also helped with this growth. There are several ways in
which the industrial revolution changed the textile industry.

 The Cotton Gin: The cotton gin made it easier to clean the seed from cotton fibers,
which allowed cotton to become a popular source of fiber.
 The Spinning: The spinning jenny made it possible to produce more thread without
many more workers, so cloth production increased rapidly.
 Printing Presses: Printing presses led to an increase in printed fabrics because they
could be easily reproduced quickly on machines instead of being done by hand on
canvases. They were also much cheaper than any made before, which helped them
be sold faster and easier.

The Role of Textile Manufacturing in the Industrial Revolution

Textile manufacturing played a major role in the industrial revolution. The production and
increase of cloth climbed quickly because it changed from handlooms to factories and
machines, which allowed for more time to be spent on other things, so output increased
rapidly.

Not only were people making more cloth than they had before, but big textile mills also
started to appear in England, Scotland, and the United States, which created thousands of
jobs in factories. Here are some interesting information you may want to know about this;

 Factories began to make more cloth than they had with handlooms because
machines were able to work faster and more efficiently.
 The increase in production caused many workers to lose their jobs in the domestic
system, but new jobs were available in factories.
 It was cheaper for many people because there were better prices brought on by an
increase in supply and decrease in demand.
During the transition period from the 18th century to the 19th, there was a rapid
development of new technologies and methods that changed the textile industry. The
widespread use of machines in factories made it possible for production to increase
exponentially.

The textile industry was first altered during the industrial revolution with a new division of
labor, decreased domestic production, and improved machinery. Then with printing presses
and new methods, the textile industry developed more rapidly into a factory-style system,
allowing for its progression into today’s modernized world.