Development process of textile industry

Flax fiber (flax)

Textiles are one of the oldest human activities. After the period of eating fur in the hole, taking animal skin to cover the body, since the time of cultivation, humanity has imitated nature, knitting all kinds of grass and plants to make materials.

According to archaeologists, flax fiber is the first human textile material. Wool fibers then appear in Mesopotamia (Mésopotamia) and cotton (cotton) along the Indus River (India).

In ancient times, weaving also depends on soil and economic activities: ethnic groups live on breeding using wool (Mesopotamia, Middle East and Central Asia), linen popular in Egypt and Central Vietnam. USA, cotton in India and silk (silk) in China. The Inca, Maya, Tolteca, etc. in the Americas use bananas (abaca) and buttonholes (sisal). According to Kinh Thi of Confucius, silk was accidentally discovered in 2640 BC. After Emperor Hainan, the first emperor of China, encouraged people to grow mulberry for silkworms, silk became a prosperous industry, one of the first goods exchanged between East and West. For centuries, China is the only country that produces and exports silk and silk. Silk Route, which has been passed down to this day, is not only the location of traders but also paves the way for cultural, artistic, religious exchanges, and also expeditions. mutiny.

Hemp

Although textile techniques have quickly reached sophistication, sometimes into art, but for five thousand years, people still use only natural materials, taken from plants such as cotton and yarns. jute, hemp, linen, or vegetable such as leather, wool, silk, etc. Therefore production is limited, fabric is still a precious product, clothes are staggered. For the aristocracy and the upper class, the majority of the population wears only rough, round fabrics with some palm-like colors. It was not until the middle of the 18th century, with the British technological revolution and the introduction of steam-powered, mechanical textile machines (steam loom) that the textile industry was truly out of manual production to become an industry.

However, people still depend on nature, and many scientists in Europe seek to make a man-made fiber that can be mass-produced, cheaply. It was not until 1884, when a Frenchman, Count Hilaire Bernigaud de Chardonnet invented a way to create artificial silk, after 6 years of research, in parallel with Louis Pasteur scientist, to find ways to overcome epidemics. devastating silkworm rearing facilities. In 1889, Chardonnet displayed at the Paris World Expo an artificial spinning machine and the first artificial silk. The following year, he inaugurated the artificial fiber factory, started production in 1892. But at that time the methods were incomplete and the cost was high, so it had to wait until the beginning of the 20th century. Large tissue and success.

Chardonnet

Chardonnet is regarded as the father of chemical fibers, a common term for man-made fibers and synthetic fibers. His purpose in finding artificial silk is to popularize fabrics, so that anyone can get silk clothes until then only for a minority. He was more successful than expected because the technology generated by his inventions led to a revolution in apparel, turning fashion into a mass phenomenon in every country. The textile and garment industry has since grown rapidly, along with the economic and trade momentum. From 1889 to 1939, it was only after 50 years that the world production of chemical fibers reached 1 million tons a year, but only 12 years later doubled, and soared.

In 1900, there were 1.6 billion people in the world, consuming 3.8 million tons of yarn, almost all natural fibers - cotton (81%) and wool (19%) -, the number of chemical fibers under 1000 tons. In 1975, the world consumed 26 million tons of yarn, of which 50% cotton, 6% wool and 44% chemical fiber. Thus, in just three quarters of a century, the consumption was multiplied by 4.3 times for cotton, 2.2 for wool, and 11,000 for chemical fiber. This phenomenal growth however halted after 1973, due to the oil crisis and the economic downturn afterwards. In addition, because kerosene is the main raw material of chemical fibers, the tendency to replace natural fibers with chemical fibers has also slowed and today, natural fibers, mainly cotton, still exist in the market, and Chemical fibers are the majority with about 60%.

Textile products are not only clothes, fabrics and familiar items such as tablecloths, towels, blankets, mattresses, curtains, carpets, chair cushions, umbrellas, hats, etc., but also necessary for most industries and activities: tents, sails, fishing nets, fishing rods, ropes, ropes, rope, devices inside cars, trains, airplanes, ships (a car medium weight uses up to 17 kilograms of fabric fibers, crab-belt belts, tire tubes, pipes, packaging, and generally all materials used for packaging, wrapping, lining, filtering, for insulation , sound insulation, electrical insulation, water insulation, and medical equipment such as sutures and bandages.

It can be understood why the textile industry has been associated with the development of industrial countries, along with iron and steel are the two industries that have been prioritized to inherit the technical innovations and the engine of transforming the economy from craft to industry during the period of industrial revolution. This also explains why industrialized countries are still determined to protect the domestic textile industry from the competition of poor countries, from the 1970s onwards, when these countries focus on building this industry into a key of development strategy. And why is it also one of the long-standing disputes in trade relations between rich and poor countries.