Textile

From ArticleWorld

Textile is a term used to define any piece of material that is made out of fibers or different types of extended materials. There are several types of textiles and they are usually categorized by the type of material used in its construction. Classes of such pieces of material can be: woven, knotted, crochet, non-woven fabrics and so on.

Textile production is considered to be an ancient craft. It is believed that tradition in weaving transmitted from generation to generation produces quality textiles that are done with the heart and not with the machine. This was the popular belief in the past, which is currently changing because of the introduction of modern machines that makes all the operations automatic and a lot faster than in the past. These manufacturing tools are very expensive and that makes them unaffordable for the average individual. Manual machines, much slower than industrialized, are common among every day manual weavers.

With technology evolving, new textiles were developed. Some models are known for centuries while the new ones are variations of them, transformed into synthetic material.

Textiles are made out of different materials with the most common being:

• Of animal origin (camel hair, alpaca, silk, cashmere, thread etc.)
• Of vegetal origin (cotton, grass, hemp, jute, nettle, ramie, sisal etc.)
• Derived from plants (paper, rayon etc.)
• Synthetic (lurex, nylon fiber, polypropylene, spandex, acrylic fiber etc.)
• Mineral (asbestos, metal fibre etc.)