In the beginning

As far as historians can tell the first use of woven textiles, rather than just animal hides, dates
back roughly 100,000 years. Discovered in a Neolithic site in Anatolia, these surviving examples
of textiles are believed to date from 6500 BC. Made from a very basic form of felt; it would have
been produced on a loom and then tied in place.

Four all-natural fabrics

For thousands of years there were only natural fabrics, name from the fibres of flax, silk, cotton
and wool. These fabrics were all produced from renewable and natural sources.

Linen

A soft linen handkerchief

Around 5000 BC, the Egyptians began to produce linen. It was made from wild flax and spun or
spliced to make the yarn. The Egyptians used linen to make bandages for mummification and as
items of clothing. There are examples of Egyptian wall art depicting pharaohs, such as Neferatar,
wearing linen dresses and shirts.

The use of linen grew and spread and by Roman times it became popular to wear linen under
other garments. And so it was that by the Middle ages wearing linen in this manner became so
popular that the word “linen” became to mean the same as underwear, in fact word ‘lingerie’ is
derived from it.

Cotton

Cotton fields
Between 5000 and 3000 BC cotton came into existence. There is evidence that people of ancient
China, India and Egypt were spinning, weaving and dying cotton.

By 400 BC India had began to produce cotton textiles on a bigger scale. Records show growers
planting out cotton fields and carvings from this time depict cotton rolling machines used to
remove the seeds from the fibres.

In 1884 the invention of the power loom brought with it vast improvements to the speed of cotton
production.

Wool
In very early times, around 10,000 BC, people began to keep sheep to breed for meat. The wool
was much shorter and coarser than the sheep’s wool we know, not really woolly at all. But as the
best sheep were kept for breeding their wool became more useful, and by 5000 BC their wool
was good enough to spin well.

By 3000 BC there were approximately 40 different breeds of sheep, which produce more than
200 types of wool.

In the Middle Ages woollen garments were popular in Europe. Worn over linen, the wool would
create a thick warm outer layer.

Silk

Early silk production in China

It is believed that silk was discovered by a Chinese princess around 2500 BC. Silk is made from
two threads joined together and used to form the cocoon of silkworm. These worms only eat the
leaves of the mulberry bush, a plant native of East Asia, so for a long time silk production only
took place in parts of China and Japan.

During the Han Dynasty, around 114 BC, The emperor started the infamous Silk Road, a set of
treacherous trails that would enable people in other parts of Asia, and later Europe, to purchase
silk.
 

Colours and prints

 
 Antique fabric printing blocks

Printing onto fabric dates back as far as the fourth century, in China.  The two main printing
methods – block and screen, began to be used throughout Asia and India, then later Europe.
These two techniques have been used to create intricate repetitive patterns on fabrics ever
since, with industrialisation, speeding up the process dramatically.

Vibrant Indian pigments

Once again it was China that led the way, this time as one of the first places to starting dyeing
textiles, around 5000 years ago. They used natural dyes from insects and plants to produce
vividly colour silks and linens.
Synthetic dyes have only been around since the 19th century, and the first of these was
discovered accidentally by the English Chemist William Perkins.

Man-made fabric

Reels of polyester thread

Compared to the long history of natural textiles the use of synthetic fibres is a very new
development, only appearing around a hundred years ago. Experiments began to see if some
problems with natural fabrics, such as its lack of elasticity or wrinkling, could be solved.

It took over two hundred years for scientists to get these artificial fibres right. Finally, a British
chemist, Sir Joseph Swan, produced the first synthetic fibre and unveiled it at the International
Inventions Exhibition in London in the early 1800s.
The fibres of synthetic fabrics are made from synthesised molecules, which come from
compounds of chemicals such as petroleum.

From this development would come a whole range of man-made fibres. And from 1910 onwards
we’d see the creation of fabrics such as Rayon, Nylon, Acrylic, Polyester, Spandex and later
Micro Fibres.

The future of fabric

Smart fabric used to create a digital dress

What is next for fabric? Smart textiles! These are fabrics with all sorts of technological
enhancements, be it to improve performance or make them more aesthetically pleasing. Fabrics
are being developed that can light up and change colour. What’s more, some of them will be able
to harness light, heat and sound to create a garment that reacts to its wearer or the environment.

Fabric has come a long way from its simple felt origins, but what is noticeable is that some all-
natural fabrics such as pure silk have proven pretty hard to improve on.

Indeed, many gorgeous garments featured on the most recent catwalks come from fabrics that
have been in existence for over 5000 years – sometimes it is hard to improve on perfect