| Webster's Dictionary defines Textiles as: "Pertaining to | | | | overcame both the French and local rulers to take |
| weaving or to woven fabrics; woven, capable of being | | | | power in Bengal in eastern India. |
| woven; formed by weaving." | | | | The Company grew immensely wealthy, and created |
| This definition extends to a wide variety of clothing, | | | | great cities at Calcutta, Madras and, later, Bombay. |
| bedding, and fabric related products. Articles of | | | | During the eighteenth century, British merchants and |
| nightwear, hosiery, sportswear, and apparel are all | | | | administrators commanded luxurious households, and |
| considered textile products. | | | | elegant furniture was made by Indian craftsmen to |
| Chinese textiles, China and India currently dominate the | | | | European taste. |
| international market for textiles. | | | | By the mid-nineteenth century, Britain had annexed |
| Material of composition can be silk, wool, man-made | | | | huge areas of India. British administrators imposed |
| fibre, cotton, lace, leather , furskins and even rubber | | | | stringent taxes and laws and damaged the livelihood |
| and plastic. | | | | of Indian craftsmen by importing cheap mill-made cloth |
| Textiles manufacturing can be either materials | | | | from Lancashire. Widespread discontent erupted |
| production, processing and finishing or textiles and | | | | among Indian troops in 1857, and the Company's troops |
| clothing design or manufacturing of made-up articles. | | | | lost control of much of northern and central India. In the |
| Materials production and processing includes preparing | | | | wake of the revolt, the East India Company was |
| and spinning raw textile fibres, weaving textiles like | | | | abolished by the British Government, who took over |
| cotton, wool and silk, and the manufacture of other | | | | direct responsibility for governing India. The last |
| textiles, such as carpets, rope, and textiles using | | | | vestiges of the Mughal empire were also abolished, |
| man-made fibres. | | | | and in 1876 Queen Victoria was named Empress of |
| In the textiles sector, a range of factors are playing a | | | | India. |
| significant role in shaping the industry's development. | | | | India became a key part of the British Empire, and |
| These include: | | | | Victorian influence on the Indian way of life, |
| 1. globalisation - with increased sourcing (particularly of | | | | architecture and craftsmanship was very strong. |
| finished clothing) from lower-cost overseas countries | | | | Objects in the ornate Victorian taste were made for |
| 2. environmental legislation - rules affecting the | | | | export to Britain, or for local rulers emulating the |
| development, use and disposal of chemicals can have | | | | Victorian style in their palaces. Indian skills drew |
| a significant impact in the textiles sector (a major | | | | widespread admiration at the great international |
| consumer of dyes, pigments and oils) | | | | exhibitions that took place during the nineteenth |
| 3. technology and research and development - | | | | century. The apparent placidity of the British Raj - a |
| including streamlined production processes, and the | | | | Sanskrit word meaning rule - was short-lived, however. |
| development of new fibres and textiles (including | | | | With independence came renewed pride and interest |
| high-value technical textiles and technical fabrics). | | | | in traditional crafts which, in many cases, had almost |
| In the UK, the sector runs a trade deficit, the UK | | | | died out through lack of patronage. The textile arts in |
| imports more textiles goods than it exports. There is a | | | | particular came to symbolise national self-sufficiency |
| long tradition behind this. | | | | as European imports were rejected, and a new Indian |
| The success of English textiles in overseas markets, | | | | middle class evolved to take the place of the Mughal |
| between perhaps 1150 and 1250, was destined not to | | | | and British patrons of the arts. |
| last.The cloth trade of Flanders expanded during the | | | | By the early 18th century, a complex network of |
| 13th century, English cloths were gradually driven out | | | | colonial trade had also been established over the North |
| and Flemish cloths invaded the English home market. | | | | Atlantic Ocean. This network was partially the result of |
| 13th-century Flemish ascendancy was then | | | | local conditions and of dominant wind patterns. It was |
| undermined by the superior finance and business | | | | discovered in the 15th century, notably after the |
| organization of Italian firms, and the reign of Edward I | | | | voyages of Columbus, that there is a circular wind |
| may be thought of as an age of Italian hegemony in | | | | pattern over the North Atlantic. The eastward wind |
| the wool trade. Being able to control large funds of | | | | pattern, which blows on the southern part, came to be |
| money, Italians often lent money to English wool | | | | known as the "trade winds" since they enabled Atlantic |
| producers on the security of the wool crop, thereby | | | | crossings by merchant vessels. The westward wind |
| gaining control of large supplies of wool at a good | | | | pattern, blowing on the northern part, came to be |
| price even before the sheep were sheared. The | | | | known as the "westerlies". |
| Italians supplied English wool to the cloth-makers of | | | | Since sailing ships were highly constrained by dominant |
| Flanders, and from the late 13th century, to Italy itself. | | | | wind patterns, a trade system followed this pattern. |
| One expanding market of the later 14th century was | | | | Manufactured commodities were exported "clockwise" |
| Gascony, a specialized wine-producing region; it paid | | | | from Europe, some towards the African colonial |
| Gascons to export their wine in return for good quality | | | | centers, some towards the American colonies. This |
| cloths which they could not produce so | | | | system also included the slave trade, mainly to Central |
| advantageously themselves. This market was one | | | | and South American colonies (Brazil, West Indies). |
| which English merchants, especially those from Bristol, | | | | Tropical commodities (sugar, molasses) flowed to the |
| captured from the Flemish after 1350. As the declining | | | | American colonies and to Europe. North America also |
| export of raw wool implies, English merchants of the | | | | exported tobacco, cotton, furs, indigo (a dye) and |
| 15th century were much more likely to be enriched by | | | | lumber (for shipbuilding) to Europe. This system of |
| the profits of the textile trade than by exporting wool. | | | | trade collapsed in the 19th century with the introduction |
| By 1500, cloth merchants, or clothiers as they came to | | | | of steamships, the end of slavery and the |
| be called, were often significant employers, putting out | | | | independence of many of the colonies of the |
| wool to be spun and yarn to be woven in private | | | | Americas. |
| households. London handled over 80 per cent of total | | | | Wind the clock on to the 18th and 19th centuries and |
| cloth exports by the 1530s. | | | | Manchester, and the towns of the region, generated |
| The British in India and the textile trade | | | | much of Britain's 19th century wealth, as well as |
| The British East India Company - named to distinguish it | | | | pioneering much of its technological groundbreaking |
| from British trade in the West Indies - was founded in | | | | achievements. Methods in spinning, weaving and dyeing |
| 1599 mainly to counter Portuguese domination of the | | | | had become fully mechanised by the middle of the |
| spice trade. As soon as the British set up trading | | | | 19th century, through inventors like Samuel Crompton, |
| settlements in India, however, they were impressed by | | | | and his spinning Mule, James Hargreave's Spinning |
| the quality of the textiles they found there. These had | | | | Jenny, Richard Arkwright, and many other's works of |
| normally been used as goods for barter with the spice | | | | invention. Steam and water had made power plentiful |
| producers of Indonesia. | | | | and still cheap, coal came from just down the road at |
| The painted and printed cottons, known as chintzes, | | | | Worsley through Lord Egerton's Bridgewater Canal, |
| were especially admired, as they had fast, bright | | | | the new railways and the Ashton & Rochdale |
| colours superior to anything produced in Europe at that | | | | Canals had made transportation close and convenient. |
| time. It was textiles, therefore, rather than spices which | | | | Mass production methods were gradually introduced |
| soon came to dominate trade between India and | | | | and productivity was at an all-time high. |
| Britain. | | | | Only the American Civil War interrupted profitability. |
| The local designs on the painted cottons were | | | | Raw Cotton from the Confederate Southern Sates |
| considered unsuitable for British tastes, and | | | | was being blockaded by the Union North, and this |
| specifications came from England as to how they | | | | resulted in a major depression in all the textile trades |
| should be modified. The result was a hybrid 'exotic' | | | | by the early 1860s - a period known as "the cotton |
| style, usually based on flowering tree patterns, which | | | | famine". Nevertheless, many of the mills survived that |
| was used on wall-hangings, bedspreads and clothing | | | | period, and were in active and profitable manufacture |
| throughout the eighteenth century. | | | | until well after the Second World War, when they |
| Rivalry for trading privileges between the East India | | | | failed to win orders against cheaper foreign imports. |
| Companies of Britain and other countries, especially | | | | Some of these mills are with us today. Several are |
| France, was so strong that the Companies set up their | | | | derelict, most are converted to other commercial or |
| own armies to defend their interests. Conflict between | | | | industrial uses, though their tall, now smoke-free, |
| Britain and France during the Seven Years' War in | | | | chimneys still stand proudly, bearing witness to a time |
| Europe (1756-63) led to hostilities in India too, and the | | | | when they were important buildings of trade and |
| two countries began to wage war for control of | | | | commerce. |
| southern India. | | | | We are now in an era where the world has shrunk |
| Robert Clive, now known as Clive of India, led the | | | | and the economical viability of textiles from countries in |
| British armies to victory and effectively ended French | | | | the Far East where labour is cheap determines our |
| influence in South India, while offering protection to the | | | | consumption. |
| local rulers who had supported him. Clive also | | | | |