The Cotton and Textile Industry: Innovation and Maturity


Book Description

This shortform book presents key peer-reviewed research on industrial history. In selecting and contextualising this volume, the editors address how the field of textile history has evolved. Themes covered include entrepreneurial, technological and labour history, whilst the book highlights the strategic and social consequences of innovations in the history of this key UK sector. Of interest to business and economic historians, this shortform book also provides analysis and illustrative case studies that will be valuable reading across the social sciences.




Cotton


Book Description

Despite the increased variety of manufactured fibres available to the textile industry, demand for cotton remains high because of its suitability on the basis of price, quality and comfort across a wide range of textile products. Cotton producing nations are also embracing sustainable production practices to meet growing consumer demand for sustainable resource production. This important book provides a comprehensive analysis of the key scientific and technological advances that ensure the quality of cotton is maintained from the field to fabric.The first part of the book discusses the fundamental chemical and physical structure of cotton and its various properties. Advice is offered on measuring and ensuring the quality of cotton fibre. Building on these basics, Part two analyses various means for producing cotton such as genetic modification and organic production. Chapters focus on spinning, knitting and weaving technologies as well as techniques in dyeing. The final section of the book concludes with chapters concerned with practical aspects within the industry such as health and safety issues and recycling methods for used cotton.Written by an array of international experts within the field, Cotton: science and technology is an essential reference for all those concerned with the manufacture and quality control of cotton. - Summarises key scientific and technological issues in ensuring cotton quality - Discusses the fundamental chemical and physical structure of cotton - Individual chapters focus on spinning, knitting and weaving technologies




British Cotton Textiles: Maturity and Decline


Book Description

This book examines the decline of the cotton textiles industry, which defined Britain as an industrial nation, from its peak in the late nineteenth century to the state of the industry at the end of the twentieth century. Focusing on the owners and managers of cotton businesses, the authors examine how they mobilised financial resources; their attitudes to industry structure and technology; and their responses to the challenges posed by global markets. The origins of the problems which forced the industry into decline are not found in any apparent loss of competitiveness during the long nineteenth century but rather in the disastrous reflotation after the First World War. As a consequence of these speculations, rationalisation and restructuring became more difficult at the time when they were most needed, and government intervention led to a series of partial solutions to what became a process of protracted decline. In the post-1945 period, the authors show how government policy encouraged capital withdrawal rather than encouraging the investment needed for restructuring. The examples of corporate success since the Second World War – such as David Alliance and his Viyella Group – exploited government policy, access to capital markets, and closer relationships with retailers, but were ultimately unable to respond effectively to international competition and the challenges of globalisation. The chapters in this book were originally published in Business History and Accounting, Business and Financial History.




Water in Textiles and Fashion


Book Description

Water in Textiles and Apparel: Consumption, Footprint, and Life Cycle Assessment provides a thorough analysis of one of the most urgent issues facing the textiles industry. As water is essential to the textile production system, and as availability of water is reduced due to natural and anthropogenic factors, the industry must respond. With a thorough treatment of both life cycle assessment and water footprint perspectives, this book provides practical strategies for responsible water use across the textile supply chain. Readers will learn essential information from research and industry case studies that will help them understand the textile industry's role in this issue. - Combines different perspectives, life cycle assessment, government policies, businesses strategies, and case studies to provide a holistic view on the topic - Addresses water consumption in every life cycle phase of textile production - Explores emerging strategies for water conservation in the textiles sector




Cotton


Book Description

"This book explores the fascinating history and present-day practices associated with cotton. This is a story of commercial and cultural enterprise, of war between East and West, of technological and industrial revolution, social modernisation, colonialism and slavery. And yet cotton remains one of the most significant mass commodities today. Cotton's history and track record on labour conditions and the environment have tarnished its history and reputation, even as cotton clothes have become the mark of modern industrialised society. Yet cottons also take other cultural forms and cotton textiles and artifacts are part of a vibrant craft tradition in many parts of the world. This book explores the history, impact and ongoing life of this hugely influential textile"--




A New Order of Things


Book Description

A lavishly-illustrated social history of the manufacture that did most to transform the character of New England and of America.




Cotton


Book Description

Today's world textile and garment trade is valued at a staggering $425 billion. We are told that under the pressure of increasing globalisation, it is India and China that are the new world manufacturing powerhouses. However, this is not a new phenomenon: until the industrial revolution, Asia manufactured great quantities of colourful printed cottons that were sold to places as far afield as Japan, West Africa and Europe. Cotton explores this earlier globalised economy and its transformation after 1750 as cotton led the way in the industrialisation of Europe. By the early nineteenth century, India, China and the Ottoman Empire switched from world producers to buyers of European cotton textiles, a position that they retained for over two hundred years. This is a fascinating and insightful story which ranges from Asian and European technologies and African slavery to cotton plantations in the Americas and consumer desires across the globe.




Sustainable Fibres and Textiles


Book Description

Sustainable Fibres and Textiles provides a whole-lifecycle approach to the subject of sustainable textiles, from fiber production, through manufacturing and low-energy care and recycling. The scientific, industrial, regulatory and social aspects of this lifecycle are explored by an expert author team who bring global perspectives to this important subject. The first part of the book provides detailed coverage of the sustainable production of textiles, with chapters devoted to each of the main fiber types, including new biosynthetic fibers, such as textiles produced from Polylactic Acid (PLA). The second part examines sustainable production methods, focusing on low carbon production technologies and sustainable, low-pollution methods of processing and dyeing fabrics. The final sections explore the benefits of textiles designed to enable low-energy fabric care via both finishes used to treat the fabric and better care labelling. Re-use and recycling options are also covered, as are ethical aspects, such as fair trade fabrics. - Presents an integrated understanding of sustainability through the whole supply-chain – from agriculture, through manufacturing and fabric care, to recycling - Teachers users how to make optimal choices of fiber and manufacturing technologies to achieve the sustainable production of high-quality apparel and other textile products - Provides a wider understanding of emerging regulatory frameworks that will shape the future of sustainable textiles




The Spinning World


Book Description

This collection of essays examines the history of cotton textiles at a global level over the period 1200-1850. It provides new answers to two questions: what is it about cotton that made it the paradigmatic first global commodity? And second, why did cotton industries in different parts of the world follow different paths of development?




World Textile Industry


Book Description

This book analyzes the competitive forces which dominate this major sector, and traces how the nature of competition has evolved during the last two hundred years. Through an analysis of key factors, including demand, related and supporting industries, firm strategy, structure and national rivalry, chance and government policy, the author explains how and why the locus of competitive advantage in textiles and apparel has moved from country to country, particularly in the period since 1945.