Styled logo

From Field To Fashion

First a plant, then some pants

By N0tYourAverageSoul Published 2 years ago 5 min read
2
From Field To Fashion
Photo by Alyssa Strohmann on Unsplash

Ever wondered what transpires with a garment before it hits the racks of your local boutique? Wonder no more! This article is meant to enlighten you on the fascinating operations behind-the-scenes of the fashion textile industry.

The three textile fibers traditionally used are wool, linen, and cotton. What you may not be aware of is the many steps each type of fiber experiences pre-production.

Originating from sheep, wool is sheared from the animal and then undergoes more than five other phases before it is ready for use in textiles. Skirting is the removal of all edges from the wool/fleece “coat”. Fibers are sorted according to coarseness or fineness as well as by varied lengths. The fibers are washed to be rid of oils. Once dried, the wool fibers undergo picking/teasing -- opening and fluffing-- and then fed into a carding machine. “[Carding] can also be done on a larger scale with machine driven drums covered with ‘card cloth’ which combs the wool many times by transfering [sic] it back and forth from one drum to the other as it is passed down the series of drums.” (source: www.blackberry-ridge.com/prosdscr.html) Ultimately, the fibers are spun into yarn.

Linen, derived from flax, was commonly used until the 1800’s. In order to produce linen, the flax stalks are sundried for several weeks. Next they are beaten, retted -- the partial rotting of the stems -- in either water or a chemical solution, cured, scraped/scutched to loosen the long fibers in the stalks, and finally spun into thread.

About the time linen was losing popularity, cotton was gaining. Like linen, cotton begins with a plant, specifically the seed head, or the fluffy boll of the cotton plant. Ginning involves the separation of seeds from fiber/lint. Next, the fibers are cleaned, combed, and spun. Cotton can be spun into either yarn or thread.

France in 1891 saw the birth of a new generation of textile sources, with the introduction of rayon. Rayon is a hybrid of sorts in the world of textiles. Through a series of complicated mechanical and chemical steps, the cellulose from such plant material as wood pulp and cotton lint is dissolved in chemicals and then extruded through a spinneret. The resulting filaments are spun into thread.

Though in some ways similar to rayon in production, the process of yielding tencel fibers is vastly more complicated. Also a hybrid, tencel originates from eucalyptus trees. The trees are hewn and the chips are then chemically digested until they are a soft pulp. Next, they are bleached and dried into a long sheet. The sheet is broken into smaller squares and placed in a natural solvent. This results in a cellulose solution, which is next pumped through a spinneret, producing long strands of fiber. These strands are cleaned and spun into yarn.

This only scratches the surface of the process of creating fashion textiles.

The next scene in the production of fashion textiles is set in a room in which reside knitting machines and looms.

Knitting machines use a series of hooks with levers and clasps which hold each stitch. A handle is run along the machine, over the hooks, carrying a thread which creates a new stitch in each hook and passing the previous stitch off the hook and into the fabric. The result is a textile consisting of connected loops and thus it easily unravels. Purl and knit are two typical stitches when using a knitting machine.

Looms are used for weaving. Weaving is a more complicated technique, involving the interlacing of two sets of fiber perpendicular to each other. Warp threads run along the longitude of the yardage and parallel to the selvage -- the edge formed on woven fabric that counteracts unraveling. Weft threads run laterally from selvage to selvage (side to side). “There are floor looms which often involve the lifting of different groups of [warp] thread all at once. The way they interact creates the structure of the cloth,” says Jennifer Byram, a research assistant for the Choctaw Nation in the Native American Textile department. There are two basic ways to weave: plain (one warp and one weft) and twill (one weft goes beneath two warps).

Wool, linen, cotton, rayon and tencel are all adaptable to either knitting or weaving.

The finishing touch in fashion textile production is the design, which can be achieved by either printing or weaving. There are a few variations on both methods.

Printing requires dyes, often chemically concocted. But historically, many natural dyes were used. These dyes were typically derived from the three following source categories: animal product, minerals, or plant material. A common animal-derived dye, used even in modern times, is cochineal (from insects). Malachite— a mineral -- creates a lovely green dye. Indigo, originating from plant material is often used when dyeing denims, as well as other textiles. Most dyes must be combined with a mordant in order to preserve the color in the fabric. Two common mordants are alum and tannic acid. The mordants required vary depending on the type of fabric. Wool, for instance, naturally retains dyes very well, but when dyed in cochineal, it must be paired with alum as a mordant. Together, they yield a purplish red dye. When dyeing tencel, it is necessary to use fiber reactive dyes as well as alum.

Weaving, the other design method for textiles, undergoes an intriguing and intricate process.

One variation of this process is to weave a design using various dyed fibers. “Designs can be made by changing the structure of the cloth as you weave (as in a set repeating pattern that serves as the design) or by using or alternating the weft colors to create a pattern, design or image,” Byram explains.

Another technique of woven design is to incorporate beadwork in the textile. “…Add design by beading it into the fabric as you weave. This is especially the case in free hanging warp weaving where you simply weave with threads that are not tied down at one end. Here you can change the position of the warp threads and create very different effects than the other methods.”

Printing and weaving design create a pleasant final act in the production of textiles.

Now that the textiles have experienced the preparation of their sources—for example: harvesting, cleaning, spinning, weaving/knitting and embellishing, they are ready to be created into the garments you will discover at your local boutique.

industry
2

About the Creator

N0tYourAverageSoul

A young lady with a passion for the Maker, her husband, old fashioned things, chocolate, and a flair for creativity and scribblings.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.