Natural Fibers
All textiles were made of natural fibers until man-made fibers were invented in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Coining terms like shoddy, entire industries were devoted to their recycling and reuse. Even paper was made from recycled cotton and linen until the development of wood pulp-based paper in the mid-19th century. As the use of less expensive synthetic fibers like polyester rose, wool and cotton lost their dominant position in textiles. Currently, wool only constitutes 1 percent of world textile production and cotton approximately 25 percent.
Natural fibers wick moisture and are breathable, warming, and cooling. Many are washable, and some are even flame retardant. They are regenerative and eventually biodegrade. They also have downsides; cotton, for instance, requires large amounts of land and water which might otherwise be used for drinking and food production. Non-organic cotton production also requires the use of pesticides which can harm the field workers and the communities and water sources around them. Animals raised for fiber production also require water and land for grazing. They create methane, a leading greenhouse gas, and their use involves questions of animal welfare and husbandry.
Any large-scale fiber production, even for natural fibers, requires resources that will become increasingly scarce as the climate around us changes.
J.P. Stevens & Company. J.P. Stevens & Co. suitings sample book, Fall 1941.
During World War II, wool was needed for military uses and was often mixed with other textiles for the consumer market. Here are examples of virgin (new) wool being combined with recycled wool, or shoddy. During the 20th century, mixing natural fibers with synthetic fibers, such as rayon, would become common.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 6896 FS
Stevens Companies. Production sample books. Wool sample colors, 1897.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 6896
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Stevens Companies. Production sample books. Silk noil colors, 1897.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 6896
Unknown artist. Image of cotton and flax plants, ca. 1858.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 6524/004 G
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J. Mortimer Cochrane (photographer), Keystone View Co. (publisher). Cotton Boll, 1918.
One of a series of photographs showing the different stages of cotton production. This cotton boll is similar to the one seen in the image of the cotton plant above.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 6524/006 P
American Printing Company. Printed cotton sample book, ca. 1870s.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 6896 FS
J.P. Stevens & Company. Hockanum Coast-to-Coast Woolens, Stevens Fabrics, Fall 1955.
By the 1950s, the marketing of textiles takes on importance as companies compete for growing consumer markets. This brochure takes us on a train ride across America, highlighting the landscape, such as the canyons of the West, as seen through that season’s woolen colorways.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 6896 FS
Stevens Companies. The Portsmouth Range, Stevens Fabrics, Fall 1963.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 6896 FS
Department of Education of the International Wool Secretariat. The Wonder Book of Wool, ca. 1936-1940s.
The International Wool Secretariat (now The Woolmark Company) was founded in 1936 by woolgrowers as a means to promote wool to combat the growing popularity of synthetic fibers.
Collection/Call #: TS1625.I5 W655