Fiber processing

Because textiles and other materials are the foundation of the fashion industries, an understanding of the historical context and organization of the global textile industry is important

The term textile is used to describe any fabric (e.g., woven or knitted materials) made from natural (e.g., cotton, wool, silk) or manufactured (e.g., nylon, polyester, rayon) fibers. The textile industry is organized around four basic components of textile production—fiber processing, yarn spinning, fabric production, and fabric finishing.

Fiber processing

Fibers comprise the basic unit used in making textile yarns and fabrics. Fibers are classified into generic families according to their chemical composition and can be divided into two primary divisions—natural fibers and manufactured fibers. Natural fibers include those made from natural protein fibers of animal origin (e.g., wool, cashmere, camel, mohair, angora, and silk) and natural cellulose fibers of plant origin (e.g., cotton, flax, jute, bamboo, and sisal).

Although natural fibers have been used in making textiles for thousands of years, manufactured fibers have been around for only about 130 years. In the mid-1800s, scientists became interested in duplicating natural fibers. In 1891, “artificial silk,” made from a solution of cellulose, was commercially produced in France. In 1924, the name of this fiber was changed to rayon. In 1939, nylon, the first fiber to be synthesized entirely from chemicals (synthetic), was introduced by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company.

Since then, many more manufactured fibers have been developed, including cellulose-based fibers (e.g., lyocell, rayon acetate), synthetic fibers (e.g., acrylic, aramid, modacrylic, olefin, polyester, and spandex), and mineral-based fibers (e.g., glass, gold). New manufactured fibers are developed through research efforts that take up to five years before the fiber is available on the market. When a fiber belonging to a new generic family is invented, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) assigns it a new generic name. Currently, more than forty generic fiber names are recognized by the FTC (U.S. Customs and Border Protection 2006).

For more information refer to the table available in the download section below for a listing of these generic fiber names.

• nonpolluting to obtain, process, and fabricate
• made from renewable resources
• reusable/recyclable
• fully biodegradable.

Figure 1.6: Polyester staple fibers recycled from soda bottles are used for creating more environmentally responsible textiles.

Companies are also recycling scrap yarns and fabric as a means of reducing the number of scrap materials ending up in a landfill.

Fiber processing is the start of the textile production process, in the next step we discuss yarn spinning and fabric construction. Next, we look at yarn spinning and fabric construction.