1 Introduction

Abstract

This chapter provides a brief introduction, history, and the evolution of textiles. It also covers the textile exports in the world and the status of the textile industry of Pakistan.

1.1 Introduction to Textiles

Textiles play a crucial role in human civilization to fulfill some basic human needs such as giving protection by clothes, tents, umbrellas, or shelter through a canopy. Textiles are also known as potential artistic materials and are widely used for artistic expression. The intriguing thing about textiles is that they are probably present in several household items such as towels, bed sheets, and clothes. In ancient times, humans wore clothes that are made of animal skins, grasses, and leaves. The desire for better clothing and apparel led to the growth of textile fiber production and the manufacturing process in the textile sector. Textile fibers played a crucial role to develop comfortable and sustainable physical structures of modern society. A fiber typically seems like hair because it has hundreds of times more length than its width. Both synthetic and natural materials can be used to make textile fibers. In terms of comfort and fashion, natural textile fibers are primarily suitable for human consumption [1]. Wool, silk, cotton, and jute are examples of natural fibers while spandex, polyester, rayon, acrylic, and nylon are known as synthetic fibers. The fibers are spun into strands to make textiles and then woven to make fabric. The textile sector is one of the biggest sectors in the world.

1.2 What Is Textile?

The word “textile” is derived from the Latin word “Textilis” meaning woven, fabric, or cloth. The product that is made from the interlacing of fibers and thread is referred to as textiles. Any intermediate or finished textile product obtained from any method falls within this broad definition. Thus, the term “textile” refers to the filament, yarn, fibers, knitted, braided, and nonwoven as well.

Several processes are involved in the manufacturing of textile products to form them wearable, and the names of these processes are spinning, knitting, weaving, processing, and garments manufacturing. Figure 1.1 depicts the flowchart of these different processes. A brief description of the manufacturing process is provided further.

Fig. 1.1: Flowchart of textile manufacturing.

1.2.1 Spinning

The spinning is the process of creating long, continuous strands of fibers (called yarns) by twisting together shorter strands of fibers. The process involves three basic steps: preparing the fibers, drafting, and spinning. The first step in the spinning process is to prepare the fibers. This involves cleaning and carding the fibers to remove any impurities and align the fibers so they are parallel. The next step is drafting, which involves pulling the fibers into long, thin strands that are more even in thickness. This is done by passing the fibers through a set of rollers or hand-pulling them. The final step in the spinning process is spinning, which involves twisting the drafted fibers together to create a single, continuous strand of yarn. This is done by either using a spinning wheel or a spindle, which rotates the fibers as they are twisted together. After the yarn is spun, it can be dyed, woven, or knitted into fabric or other textile products [1].

1.3 Weaving and Knitting

Weaving and knitting are two fabric manufacturing processes. In weaving, two types of mutually perpendicular threads are used. The ones along the length of fabric are called warp threads, whereas the ones across the length of fabric are called weft threads. The fabric manufacturing takes place due to interlacement of warp and weft threads. The warp threads have to bear a lot of stresses and friction during weaving; therefore, a protective film called size is applied on them to prevent their breakage. The woven fabrics have normally high dimensional stability, i.e., they try to maintain their dimensions.

The second type of fabric manufacturing process is knitting in which the fabric is formed by the intermeshing of loops of yarns. There are two types of knitting processes: weft knitting and warp knitting. The knitted structures have normally less dimensional stability [2].

1.3.1 Coloration and Finishing

To add aesthetic and functional properties, both woven and knitted fabrics passed several processes in which they are treated with different chemicals to remove natural as well as added impurities. Once all the impurities are removed and the fabrics are completely white, then they segregated depending upon the requirements of customers. They are finished in white, dyed, or printed and then finished. The finishing is one of the most important processes in which functional properties such as water repellency, crease recovery, flame retardancy, and softness are imparted to textiles. These are chemical and water-intensive processes which generate a significant environmental impact [3].

1.3.2 Garment Manufacturing

The last step is transforming finished fabric into garment or home textile. Various steps are involved in the production of garment or home textile by garment manufacturing industries. Sampling, costing, designing, cutting, sewing, finishing, washing, packing, final inspection, dispatch, and many other steps are among them [4].

1.4 History of Textiles

Textile history is almost as old as human civilization. The earliest of Veda, Rigveda, consists of literary information regarding textile and thus called “weaving.” Ramayana and Mahabharata, as prominent Indians, depict the wide range of fabrics within ancient India. It is suggested by archaeological evidence that humans used plants for weaving into garments and baskets about 23,000 years ago. After that, there was rapid advancement and diversification associated with fabric technology. Figure 1.2 illustrates the summary of the evolution of textile industry throughout the human history.

Fig. 1.2: Schematic of the history of the textile industry [5].

During the Industrial Revolution, weaving was mechanized which enabled fast production of cost-effective cloth. Until the nineteenth century, artificial fibers would not be a prominent category but emerged with the discovery of “Rayon,” also known as artificial silk or semisynthetic fiber invented within the 1800s. Synthetic fibers have revolutionized the textile industry since their inception and the history of the textile is represented in Tab. 1.1 [6].