Learn Fabrics (old)

General Fabric Introduction

There is evidence that humans started wearing clothes between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago but it is not clear whether it was for protection from weather conditions or for magic, cult or decoration.

The materials first used were probably a mass of fibre, tiny, hair-like strands found in vegetation which were then matted together to form a felted non-woven fabric. It was not long until humans developed spinning by drawing out the fibres and adding a twist making a longer and stronger thread and producing a yarn. This could then be knitted or woven together to make fabric.

If we want to understand fabrics we need to know about fibres, where they come from and how they are processed into fabrics, and what makes them so attractive for use in cultures all over the world.

Textile fibre types

We have natural fibres that come from plants and animals and we have man-made fibres that come from natural polymers (vegetable and animal) or synthetic polymers (oil based). There are two different types of fibre that go into the manufacture of fabric.

Staple Fibre: Short strands, high quality staple yarn is longer and finer, lower quality is shorter and coarser.

Filament Fibre: Continuous strands, high quality is finer and stronger as this is mainly man-made fibre it really depends on its final use.

Natural Fibres

Natural Staple Fibres		Natural Filament Fibres
Plant (cellulose) fibre	Animal (protein) fibre	Plant (cellulose) fibre	Animal (protein) fibre
Cotton	Fleece		Silk
Kapok	Wool		Spider silk
Bast (stem) fibre	Merino
Flax (linen)	Mohair
Hemp	Cashmere
Ramie	Camel Hair
Kenaf	Alpaca/Vicuna
Nettle
Jute
Leaf fibre
Sisal
Pina
Abaca

 

Manmade and Synthetic Fibres

 

 

 

Manmade Staple Fibres		Manmade Filament Fibres
Cellulosic staple fibre	Synthetic staple fibre	Cellulosic filament fibre	Synthetic filament fibre
Viscose rayon	Polyester	Acetate	Polyester
Lyocell	Virgin (new fibre)	Viscose rayon	Virgin (new fibre)
Tencel	Recycled     fibre/garments	Lyocell rayon	Recycled     fibre/garments
	PET polyester	Bamboo rayon	PET polyester
	(Produced from         plastic bottles)	PLA	Recycled plastic      bottles
	Triexta	Soy	Triexta
	Nylon	Rubber	Nylon
	Virgin (new fibre)		Virgin (new fibre)
	Recycled     fibre/garments		Recycled      fibre/garments
	Acrylic and mod-acrylic		Elastane
			Elastane
			Metallic
			Carbon fibre
			Synthetic spider silk

Please note that new raw materials an are being introduced for new fibre production all the time alongside innovative developments of recycling fibres, garments and fabrics.

Over the coming months we will add more detail and explanation to all these fibre and fabric types.