By Virginia Postrel (2021)
Postrel’s book is an interesting look at the impact of
textiles on human history and civilization. It focuses on woven textiles, with
brief mentions of knitting and felting. Postrel's approach is journalistic,
reviewing academic historical articles while emphasizing stories that
illuminate key issues. She personalizes the story editorial comments, such as,
“In short, it’s complicated. Textiles tend to be.”
She traces the evolution of textiles through the adaptation
of natural fibers –flax, wool, silk, and cotton – over centuries. Human
selection refined these materials until the emergence of synthetic and
bioengineered fibers, which are now displacing natural ones. It’s interesting
to note that the labor-intensive process of spinning fibers took weeks of
labour to produce enough cloth for a pair of trousers, years of work to provide
sails for a navy.
One notable historical development is the highly organized
silk spinning in northern Italy, creating the first textile factories two
centuries before the industrial revolution. Despite this early
industrialization, silk remained a luxury product, although Postrel says it created
a basis for later mass production.
Postrel suggests that the fundamentals of arithmetic in
Euclid come out of the basic operations of weaving, a key activity in ancient
Greek society. Weaving patterns, when expressed in written form, become the
basis for transmitting industrial design and standardized notation.
Surprisingly, the weaving of microscopic fibers in the 1960s laid the
foundation for early computer storage, an unexpected intersection of ancient
crafts with modern technology.
Knitting eventually surpassed weaving as the most common
textile form, with 16th-century knitting machines evolving into
computer-programmable devices capable of producing intricate patterns,
including three-dimensional shapes like shoe forms. This shift reflects the
adaptability and evolution of textile techniques throughout history.
Dyeing of fibers evolved from pre-modern forms of chemistry,
using natural materials in intricate processes. Examples include obtaining
indigo blue from plants, Tyrian purple from sea snails, and red from common
plants or cochineal imported from Aztec plantations. The trade with India in
the 1600s introduced lightweight cotton with colorful prints, showcasing the
global exchange of textile traditions.
The development of chemistry as a science from the 1850s
onwards led to the demand for synthetic textile dyes and the inception of the
chemical industry. Synthetic dyes replaced traditional dyes from colonial
sources within 50 years. This shift transformed the textile industry and also
influenced the development of pharmaceuticals and other synthetic materials.
Postrel also develops the idea that textiles required “social
technologies” such as literacy, records, agreements, laws, practices and
standards. These social technologies formed the basis of economic and legal
institutions in China, Iceland, West Africa and northern Italy. Textile
traders' bills of exchange, says Postrel, formed the foundation of credit,
banking and currency.
She emphasizes that consumers, rather than producers,
determine the meaning and value of textiles. They continuously evolve in form
and meaning, as seen in the adaptation of traditional African and Guatemalan
weaving techniques to contemporary styles.
The book concludes with the 1930s development of synthetic
fibers like nylon and polyester, marking a revolutionary moment comparable to
the impact of ceramics and metallics. This development reflects the ongoing
transformative power of textiles throughout history, connecting ancient
craftsmanship with modern technological advancements.
Although a bit programmatic, I found this book an
interesting survey of historical developments related to everyday products that
we use without thinking of how they came to us and how they affected
contemporary society.
