Cottage Industries to Fast Fashion: How the Textile Industry has Changed
Written By: Hannah Lewis
We all wear clothes. We as a human race have worn clothes for a while. However, the way we get these clothes we wear has changed vastly. Methods have changed so much that most are unaware of the amount of work it takes to make a t-shirt, and the effect that has on people and the environment. Although, people look darn cute in their fancy clothes.
For the sake of not starting in 5000 B.C., this timeline starts with the cottage industries of the 17th and 18th centuries. These “industries” were nothing like manufacturing today, other than the concept of working at home. Usually, cottage industries were groups of rural homes working together to make products, which in this case, were textiles. Cottage industries developed the first form of specialization. Before they existed, the same person would use raw materials and do every step until they had made a completed item, ready to sell. In most cottage industries, specific people made raw materials, like yarn, others turned the raw materials into usable products, like cloth, while other people turned those products into sellable goods, like clothing. While cottage industries created specialization within the manufacturing process, it also made specialized businesses possible. People now didn’t have to make all their goods themselves, so instead of making their own clothing, furniture, etc., they could make shoes to sell. These cottage industries were essential in the progress towards today’s society.
Cottage industries had the ability to flourish because they did not need large investments to start, and they were a relatively safe business venture. They could spur growth in small economies, creating a backbone for more industrialization.
This new innovation became known as the agricultural revolution. The number of agricultural goods produced in England increased by three and a half times. This was due to new inventions that increased efficiency for farmers. More crops could be produced by one person, so fewer people had to be farmers. Efficiency was also increased in ranching. Important to clothing, cotton and wool production increased. Additionally, more people moved to cities, allowing for the creation of factories.
Urbanization brings us to the industrial revolution. It was a time of vast growth that truly changed this world forever. It brought the steam engine, more efficient steam engines, machines used in manufacturing, railroads, steamboats, and so much more. Many machines were invented that made cloth and clothing, like the spinning mule and power looms, changing jobs from weaving to feeding a machine. From 1770 to 1787, the production of cotton goods increased by ten times.
While the industrial revolution brought the world inventions, it also led to the rise of materialism. I argue this is the most important factor in today’s world that started in the industrial revolution. Culture towards clothes started to resemble 21st century culture towards clothes. The rich have always experienced the aesthetic (see Erin’s article) of clothes, but during this time, the middle class we know today was born. With the growth of mass production and specialization, it made sense to buy goods rather than make them at home. Consumerism and wanting is human nature, but with the growth of the middle class, more people could indulge their materialism. Department stores were created at this time for this purpose. By the end of the 18th century, many people had additional clothing (clothing other than everyday/work clothes). The standard of living had risen enough for this to be possible. Enough goods were produced to feed this materialism and standard of living.
The growth of clothing and materialism led to the rise of designer fashion brands. Inaccessible to most consumers, they created a desire among many to attain that type of clothing. This desire is very much prevalent today.
It has led to the creation of fast fashion: cheap and affordable clothing that often resembles high fashion designs. Brands such as Forever 21, H&M, and Fashion Nova for teens, and countless other brands fall into the fast fashion category. With the creation of this type of textile manufacturing, as well as the increase in the standard of living, many people in the western world have a full wardrobe. This increase in consumption has its consequences.
Fast fashion is “the second-biggest consumer of water, producing 20 percent of wastewater while also generating more greenhouse gas emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined” (UN Environment). Additionally, “one garbage truck of textiles is wasted every second” (UN Environment). To make a t-shirt. Many different raw materials have to be made. If it’s made of cotton or some other crop, that has to be grown, collected, and shipped. If it is made of synthetic materials, the base ingredients have to be collected, the synthetics have to be made and then shipped. Then the cloth is made. Then it is woven into a shirt, then the shirt is dyed, usually in a pool dangerous to the workers and to the surrounding ground and water. Then the shirt has to be shipped to a store, perhaps on the other side of the world. All of these steps have drastic effects on both humans making the clothes and the environment.
I present this not to have society go back to cottage industries, but to have one consider the effects of buying a t-shirt in today’s world. With the growth we have made as the human race, our world has become so complex that it is impossible to know all of the effects of an action we make. Something that seems as simple as buying a shirt can pollute a river across the world.
I also recognized that this is a very westernized version of clothes, as I will be focusing on the industrial revolution and consumerism. However that does not mean this information is not valuable, it simply means this article does not provide the full history of clothes. And I, a white American teenager, am not the right person to give you a full history.
Consumerism has created growth in the world economy, but not without other effects. All I can say is next time you buy a t-shirt, make sure you wear it at least 30 times to make it worth it. Or spin your own cloth.
Sources
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cottage-industry.asp
https://industrialrevolution.sea.ca/innovations.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1887/08/the-growth-of-materialism/522969/
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/writings/2013-2/the-age-of-materialismconsumerism/
https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/blog-post/why-fast-fashion-needs-slow-down
