An Overview of Textiles in Our Daily Life

Apparels in ancient days.

Origin of Textile

Clothing is one among the basic needs of mankind. Man started using the plant leaves and skin of animals as clothing. Clothing protects man from unfavorable climatic condition like cold and sunlight. Evaluation agriculture helped mankind to explore a new material for the preparation of clothing. Cotton, Jute, Coir, Silk and Wool are some of the textile fibres. Hence textile material are produced using these fibres. These fibres are obtained from natural sources. Cotton, Jute and coir are plant fibres. Cotton is obtained from the cotton balls of the plant. Jute is extracted from the stem of the jute plant. Coir is obtained from the fruit of the coconut tree. Silk and wool are known as animal fibres.   In ancient days clothing was the symbol of status and belonged rich people.

Fibers from Natural Sources

Plant Fibers

Cotton and Silk are the mostly appreciated materials for the preparation of clothing. Cotton clothing  is used as a regular wear due to its comfort. It absorbs the moisture from the body and transfers this to the atmosphere. This mechanism continuously takes place making the wearer cool and comfortable. Due to this cotton is mostly used as the relaxing wear. Jute is used as the packing material for the storage and transportation of various materials like grains, vegetables etc   Yarn made from jute fibres are used for many applications. Silk is obtained from the silkworm. The cocoons made by the silkworm are boiled in a hot water bath. The insect inside the cocoon is killed and the silk filaments are extracted from the cocoons.

Animal Fibers

Silk cocoons contains twin filaments. Multiple filaments are extracted from a number of cocoons. These filaments  are combined together to the required yarn thickness. These filament is twisted to form a stronger thread suitable for weaving. Silk reeling is part of agriculture due to the fact that mulberry leaves are the feed material for the growth of the silk worm and mulberry plants are cultivated by the farmers. Coconut fibre is known as coir and obtained from the husk of coconut fruit. The yarn made from the coir fibres is used for domestic and agriculture related activities. Wool is used by the people living in the regions of cool climatic conditions. Wool fibre has good thermal insulation properties and protects the wearer from extreme cold conditions.

Fabric Forming

For the preparation of fabric, the fibre is to be converted into yarn. In the ancient days, these fibres were converted to yarn by the hand spinning methods. Spinning of cotton fibres into yarns is done by using a spinning wheel called ‘charka’. These small lengths of yarns made from the charka are joined together to get a long length of yarn. The yarns are made as fabric by the hand loom weaving method.

History of Textile Industry

Textile industry was developed in the United Kingdom and was taken to other parts of the world by the British through their colonization. Textile industry in India was established by the British people. They first started ginning mills in India and exported the cotton fibre to the United Kingdom and converted them into yarn and fabric. Part of the yarn and fabrics were imported to India and sold to Indian people. Since a large volume of material was to be handled in the ginning process, the British established spinning mills in and around Bombay and started production of cotton yarn.

Spinning mills in India sent cotton yarn to the United Kingdom for the production of fabric. Industrial revolution helped in the invention of power operated machines. These machines helped in the bulk production of textile materials. Due to this the textile industry became labour intensive. The increasing manufacturing cost due to higher labour cost affects the performance of the textile mills in United Kingdom. The industry started shifting to  the under developed countries with huge populations like India, Indonesia etc. Development in science, engineering and technology made breakthroughs in products, processes and quality and performance  in the field of textiles also. These resulted in the invention of new fibres, improved machinery with higher productivity and product quality. Automation brought a major breakthrough in reduction of labour engagement

Manufactured Fiber Invention

New fibres were invented to met  specific requirements. Nylon is the first man made fibres invented using petroleum products as the raw material. Viscose, Modal and Tancel are the regenerated cellulose fibres produced from wood pulp. The invention of the polyester fibre made revolution in textile manufacturing due to its higher strength and durability. The fourth generation fibres like Kevlar, Nomex and Carbon cater the specific requirements. These fibres are used  in textiles meant for technical and industrial applications. In some applications these fibres replace the steel due to their strength to weight ratio.

Variety of Textile Fabrics

The regular use of textiles include apparels like shirting, suiting, inner wear, bath wear like towel and home textiles like bed spreads, billow covers, curtains for doors and windows.  Textiles found new avenues of usage apart from their regular applications as apparel and home textiles. Textiles become the base materials for the conveyor and belts. Nylon and viscose are the materials used for the fabrication of tyre. Polyester is the largest consuming textile fibre. This fibre is  found in the application like sewing threads, upholstery and furnishing fabric. Composite materials fabricated using textile as a part of the composites used in automobiles and other industrial applications for the reduction of weight and for improving the fuel consumption.

Different Types of Yarn

Poly polypropylene fibre  has very low density and moisture. This makes this fibre to float in the water and make it suitable for fishing nets. Weaving and knitting are the two fabric forming processes using yarn as the raw material. New spinning systems like rotor spinning, air jet spinning and air vortex spinning are capable of producing yarns at a higher production speed. Production rate of rotor spinning is about ten times higher than that of ring spinning and about fifteen times higher than air vortex spinning system. The yarn structure is different from that of the regular ring spun yarn. The difference in the yarn structure make them possible for the production of new products like denim. Development in the weaving and knitting machinery made it possible for the avenue for new products for a regular or specific end use.