History of clothing and textiles

The study of the history of clothing and textiles looks at how people have made and used clothing and textiles through time. Clothing and textiles show what materials and tools people had in different places and times. The types of clothes and fabrics people use tell us about their social habits and culture.

People are the only animals that wear clothes. Most human groups wear clothing. Scientists think early humans used animal skins and plants to cover themselves. This helped protect them from cold, heat, and rain as they moved to new places. Because early clothes broke down easily, it is hard to know exactly when humans first started wearing them or what they were made from. Studies of tiny bugs that live on clothes suggest people wore clothes between 83,000 and 170,000 years ago. Evidence of silk weaving has been found in China from about 8,500 years ago. The oldest proof of cotton comes from cotton fibers found inside copper beads in a place called Mehrgarh, dating to around 6000 BC. Cotton spinning started in India around 3000 BC.

Textiles can be felt or spun fibers turned into yarn. This yarn can be netted, looped, knit, or woven to make fabrics. These fabrics appeared in the Middle East during the late Stone Age. Over time, ways of making textiles have changed, and the types of fabrics available have affected how people dress, carry things, and decorate their homes.

We learn about the history of clothing and textiles from several sources. These include items found by archaeology, pictures of textiles and how they were made in art, and old writings about making, buying, using, and trading fabrics, tools, and clothes. Studying textile history, especially the early parts, is part of material culture studies.

Prehistoric development

Sungir boy clothes reconstruction, about 30,000 years ago.

Scientists study how humans first started wearing clothes. They are not sure when this happened, but think it may have been between 40,000 and over 3 million years ago.

One way scientists try to find out is by studying tiny insects called lice that live on humans. These lice can only live if humans wear clothes. By looking at when these lice changed, scientists estimate that humans may have started wearing clothes between 40,000 and 170,000 years ago.

Some scientists believe humans began wearing clothes when they moved north from Africa into colder places, which may have happened between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago. Old paintings and artifacts also show that people were wearing clothes around 30,000 years ago. The oldest known pieces of cloth date back to 7000 B.C.

Ancient textiles and clothing

Looms

Main article: Loom

A loom is a tool used for weaving cloth. In early times, two main types of looms were used in Europe, the Near East, and North Africa: the warp-weighted loom and the two-beam loom. The beam’s length decided the cloth’s width, which could be up to 2 to 3 meters. Early clothes were often made from full widths of cloth, draped, tied, or pinned. Large pieces of fabric were likely made on the warp-weighted loom in Central Europe long ago. This is shown by many finds of loom weights from old settlements. Even small pieces of large textiles made on the warp-weighted loom can be identified by their starting border.

Preservation

Our knowledge of ancient cultures depends a lot on where archaeological finds are located. The Middle East, South America, and dry parts of China have given us many early samples in good shape, along with textile marks in clay and pictures. In northern Eurasia, peat bogs, rock-salt mines, oak coffins, and permafrost also preserved textiles. Whole Neolithic clothes have survived, like those linked to Ötzi ("the Iceman"), along with tools used to make textiles. Early textile development in the Indian subcontinent, sub-Saharan Africa, and other wet parts of the world remains unclear.

Textile trade in the ancient world

Main article: Silk Road

During the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, the open lands of the Eurasian Steppe allowed nomadic groups to grow and interact. The Steppe Route connected parts of Asia for trade and culture, including clothing.

Around 114 B.C., the Han dynasty started the Silk Road trade route. The Silk Road was a series of old paths between Chang'an (today’s Xi'an) in China, Asia Minor, and the Mediterranean, stretching over 8,000 km (5,000 mi). Trade on the Silk Road helped the growth of big civilizations like China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and Rome. It also set the stage for today’s world. Luxury textiles were a big part of Silk Road trade, linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads, and city people from China to the Mediterranean Sea.

Ancient Near East

The earliest woven textiles from the Near East may be flax fabrics used to wrap the dead. These were found at Çatalhöyük in Anatolia. They were found in a grave, protected by layers of clay/plaster in a fire-sealed area. Because no flax seeds were found nearby, the textile might have come from the Levant. Evidence of flax farming exists from around 8000 BC in the Near East, but sheep with woolly fleece instead of hair appeared much later, around 3000 BC. Well-preserved linen textiles from the Cave of the Warrior in Judea date to about 3200 BC.

In Mesopotamia, regular Sumerian clothes were very simple, especially in summer. Winter clothes were made from sheep fur. Even rich men were shown with bare chests, wearing only short skirts called kaunakes, while women wore long dresses to their ankles. Kings wore tunics and coats to their knees, with belts in the middle. Over time, wool weaving in Mesopotamia led to many types of clothes. By the end of the 3rd millennium BC, men wore tunics with short sleeves and over the knees, with belts (and rich men wore wool cloaks over them). Women’s dresses had many designs: with or without sleeves, narrow or wide, usually long and not showing the body.

Sumerian Statues of worshippers (males and females); 2800-2400 BC ([Early Dynastic period](/wiki/Early_Dynastic_Period_\(Mesopotamia\))); [National Museum of Iraq](/wiki/National_Museum_of_Iraq) ([Baghdad](/wiki/Baghdad))

The god [Abu](/wiki/Abu_\(god\)) (?) and a female statuette; 2800-2400 BC (Early Dynastic period); from the Square Temple of Abu at [Tell Asmar](/wiki/Tell_Asmar) (ancient [Eshnunna](/wiki/Eshnunna) ([Iraq](/wiki/Iraq))); National Museum of Iraq

The _[Statue of Ebih-Il](/wiki/Statue_of_Ebih-Il)_; c. 2400 BCE; [gypsum](/wiki/Gypsum), [schist](/wiki/Schist), shells and lapis lazuli; height: 52.5 cm; [Louvre](/wiki/Louvre) (Paris)

Ancient India

Main article: History of clothing in India

Excavations at Indus Valley sites have found a few twisted cotton threads, used for a bead necklace. However, clay figures from Mehrgarh show a male figure wearing what looks like a turban. A figure from Mohenjo-daro, called the "Priest King," shows a shawl with flower patterns. This is the only Indus Valley sculpture showing clothing clearly. Other figures of dancing girls from Mohenjo-daro only show jewelry. The figures don’t prove much about clothing in Harappan times.

Harappans might have used natural colors to dye their fabric. Research shows that indigo plants (Indigofera) were grown.

Herodotus, an ancient Greek writer, mentioned Indian cotton in the 5th century BCE as “a wool more beautiful and good than sheep’s.” When Alexander the Great attacked India in 327 BCE, his soldiers started wearing cotton clothes because they were more comfortable than their old woolen ones. Strabo, a Greek writer, talked about how bright Indian fabrics were, and Arrian wrote about Indian–Arab trade of cotton fabrics in 130 CE.

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Statue of a figure called the "Priest King" wearing a robe; 2400–1900 BCE; low-fired steatite; National Museum of Pakistan (Karachi)

The [Didarganj Yakshi](/wiki/Didarganj_Yakshi) showing the _dhoti wrap_; c. 300 BC; [Bihar Museum](/wiki/Bihar_Museum) (India)

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The Buddha wearing kāṣāya robes; c. 200 BC; Tokyo National Museum (Japan)

Ancient form of _[Churidar](/wiki/Churidar)_ worn during the [Gupta period](/wiki/Gupta_Empire); c. 300 AD; National Museum ([New Delhi](/wiki/New_Delhi))

[Shakuntala](/wiki/Shakuntala), wife of [Dushyanta](/wiki/Dushyanta) and mother of [Emperor Bharata](/wiki/Bharata_\(Mahabharata\)), from [Kalidasa](/wiki/Kalidasa)’s play [_Abhijñānaśākuntala_](/wiki/Shakuntala_\(play\)), wearing a [sari](/wiki/Sari), painting by [Raja Ravi Varma](/wiki/Raja_Ravi_Varma), c. 1870.

Painting on wooden panel found by Aurel Stein in [Dandan Oilik](/wiki/Dandan_Oilik), showing the story of the princess who hid silk-worm eggs in her hair to bring them to the [Kingdom of Khotan](/wiki/Kingdom_of_Khotan) in the Tarim Basin; 7th to 8th century; [British Museum](/wiki/British_Museum) (London)

Ancient Egypt

Main article: Clothing in ancient Egypt

There is proof of linen cloth making in Ancient Egypt from around 5500 BC. Farming of wild flax, probably from the Levant, is known from about 6000 BC. Other plant fibers like rush, reed, palm, and papyrus were used alone or with linen to make rope and other textiles. Evidence of wool making in Egypt is small at this time, though there are examples of wool tunics from Greco-Roman Egypt much later.

Ancient Egyptian spinning ways included the drop spindle, hand-to-hand spinning, and rolling on the thigh; yarn was also joined. A horizontal ground loom was used before the New Kingdom (16th to 11th centuries BCE), when a vertical two-beam loom was introduced, probably from Asia.

The Ancient Egyptian burial custom of mummification used linen bandages, and art shows Egyptian men wearing linen kilts and women in narrow dresses with shirts and jackets, often made of thin pleated fabric.

Pair of sandals; 1390–1352 BC; grass, reed and [papyrus](/wiki/Papyrus); [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/wiki/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art) (New York City)

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Illustration from the book Ancient Egyptian, Assyrian, and Persian costumes and decorations
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Illustration of a Goddess from Ancient Egyptian, Assyrian, and Persian costumes and decorations

Statue of [Sobekhotep VI](/wiki/Sobekhotep_VI), wearing the Egyptian male skirt, the _[shendyt](/wiki/Shendyt)_, from [Neues Museum](/wiki/Neues_Museum) (Berlin, Germany)

Ancient China

Main articles: History of silk and Hanfu

The earliest proof of silk making in China is at Yangshao culture sites in Xia, Shanxi, where a cocoon of bombyx mori, the silkworm, cut in half with a knife, dates to between 5000 and 3000 BC. Pieces of early looms are also found from Hemudu culture sites in Yuyao, Zhejiang, dating to about 4000 BC. Bits of silk have been found at a Liangzhu culture site at Qianshanyang in Huzhou, Zhejiang, going back to 2700 BC. Other bits have been found in royal tombs of the [Shang Dynasty] (c. 1600 to c. 1046 BC).

Under the Shang Dynasty, Han Chinese clothing or Hanfu had a yi, a narrow-cuffed, knee-length tunic tied with a sash, and a narrow, ankle-length skirt, called shang, worn with a bixi, a piece of fabric reaching the knees. Rich people’s clothes were made of silk in bright primary colors.

Painting of [Emperor Yao](/wiki/Emperor_Yao) wearing a shenyi

The [Yellow Emperor](/wiki/Yellow_Emperor) wearing a mianguan

Woven silk textile from the [Mawangdui](/wiki/Mawangdui) in [Changsha](/wiki/Changsha) ([Hunan province](/wiki/Hunan_province), China), from the 2nd century BC

The _mianfu_ of [Emperor Wu of Jin dynasty](/wiki/Emperor_Wu_of_Jin), 7th-century painting by court artist [Yan Liben](/wiki/Yan_Liben)

Ancient Burma (Pyu Period)

Main article: Burmese clothing

The Pyu culture, main in Upper Burma from early centuries CE to the 9th century, shows some of the earliest known dress and ornaments in Myanmar history. Two big archaeological sites — Hanlin and Sri Ksetra — have given important clues about Pyu-era clothing and accessories.

Sculptures from Hanlin show Pyu men wearing headwraps and sometimes crown-like headpieces, while women are shown with fancy head ornaments like those seen later in the Bagan period. Though ear ornaments are rare, big earlobes suggest heavy earrings or plugs. Jewelry like big bead necklaces appears on both men and women. Clothes are shown faintly, with garments seeming made of thin material that sticks to the body.

Sculptural evidence from Sri Ksetra shows more clearly-defined clothes. Pyu women are shown wearing sarong-like skirts, some thin and tight, others thicker and structured. Men appear in loose trousers tied with a belt or knotted sash, similar to later Bagan-era clothes. Some male figures show faintly rendered upper cloth, and both men and women wear bracelets and big ear-ornaments.

Hairstyles are usually tied at the crown in topknots or buns, matching Chinese records saying married Pyu women tied their hair into buns decorated with silver or pearls. These same Chinese accounts say Pyu people wore cotton instead of silk due to Buddhist values against killing silkworms. Rich women wore brightly colored skirts and light shawls and were often with attendants carrying fans.

Ancient Thailand

Main article: History of Thai clothing

The earliest proof of spinning in Thailand is from the Tha Kae site in Central Thailand. Tha Kae was lived in from the end of the first millennium BC to the late first millennium AD. Here, archaeologists found 90 pieces of a spindle whorl dating from 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD. The shapes of these finds show links with south China and India.

Ancient South America

Main article: Textile arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The earliest textiles in South America date to about 12,000 years ago. These textiles were found in Guitarrero Cave in Peru. It is thought they were used by settlers for things like baskets and wall coverings. Research by Edward A. Jolie suggests women were among these settlers because textile weaving is usually linked to women in culture.

Ancient Japan

Main article: Japanese clothing

The earliest proof of weaving in Japan is from the Jōmon period. This culture is known for pottery with rope patterns. In a shell pile in Miyagi Prefecture, dating back about 5,500 years, some cloth pieces made from bark fibers were found. Hemp fibers were also found in the Torihama shell mound, Fukui Prefecture, from the Jōmon period, suggesting these plants were also used for clothes. Some pottery patterns show people wearing short tops, tight trousers, funnel sleeves, and rope-like belts. The patterns also show clothes with embroidered or painted designs, though it’s not clear if this is how the clothes looked or just the style of the pictures. The pottery doesn’t show a difference between men’s and women’s clothes. This might be because clothes were more for decoration than to show social roles, or it might just be how the pottery shows them. Since bone needles were found, it’s thought people wore sewn dresses.

The next period was the Japanese Yayoi period (c. 1000 BCE to c. 300 CE), when rice farming began. This changed communities from hunter-gatherers to agrarian societies, greatly affecting clothing. Chinese writing from that time says clothes better suited for farming started being worn: for example, an unsewn piece of fabric wrapped around the body, or a poncho-type garment with a hole for the head. This same writing also says pink or red makeup was worn, but also that people of all ages and genders behaved similarly. However, this is debated because Chinese documents might have had cultural biases. There is a Japanese belief that the Yayoi period was peaceful before Chinese influence began to use clothes to show age and gender.

From 300 to 550 AD, the Yamato period lets us see clothing styles from artifacts of the time. The tomb statues (haniwa) especially show that clothing styles changed from what Chinese accounts said from the earlier age. The statues usually wear a two-piece outfit: an upper piece with a front opening and close-cut sleeves for men and a pleated skirt for women. Silk farming was brought by the Chinese by this time, but because silk was expensive, only certain classes or ranks could use it.

The next periods were Asuka (550 to 646 AD) and Nara (646 to 794 AD) when Japan developed a more unified government and started using Chinese laws and social rankings. The new laws required people to wear different styles and colors to show social status. Clothes became longer and wider, and sewing methods were more advanced.

Classical period of the Philippines

Main article: Fashion and clothing in the Philippines

Classical Filipino clothing changed with cost and fashion, showing social standing. The basic clothes were the bahag (loincloth) for men, and a sarong-like garment—called malong or patadyong or tapis, depending on the area—worn by both men and women. But more fancy clothes, lihin-lihin, were added for public and formal events—blouses and tunics, loose smocks with sleeves, capes, or ankle-length robes. The textiles they were made from varied in value: abaca, abaca with colored cotton thread, cotton, cotton with silk thread, silk, imported printstuff, and fine abaca woven almost as thin as silk. Also, Antonio Pigafetta mentions both G-strings and skirts of barkcloth.

Untailored clothes didn’t have special names. Pandong could mean a lady’s cloak or any natural covering, like banana trunk growth or a birth caul. In Panay, the word kurong, meaning "curly hair", was used for any short skirt or blouse; and some better ones made of imported chintz or calico were just called by the cloth’s name, tabas. Also, the wraparound skirt the Tagalogs called tapis was barely seen as a skirt: Visayans just called it habul (woven stuff) or halong (abaca) or even hulun (sash).

The usual male head covering was the pudong, a turban, though in Panay both men and women also wore a head cloth or bandana called saplung. Commoners wore pudong of rough abaca cloth wrapped only a few turns, so it was more of a headband and called pudong-pudong — like the crowns and diadems on Christian images later called. A red pudong was called magalong, and was a sign of braves who had killed an enemy. The most fancy pudong, only for the bravest, was made of pinayusan, a thin abaca gauze selected for whiteness, tie-dyed deep red in fine patterns like embroidery, and polished to a silky shine. Such pudong grew longer with each brave act: real heroes let one end hang loose carelessly. Women usually wore a kerchief, called tubatub if pulled tight over the whole head; but they also had a wide-brimmed hat called sayap or tarindak, woven from sago-palm leaves. Some were signs of rank: in 1521 when Humabon’s queen went to hear mass during Ferdinand Magellan’s visit, she was led by three girls carrying one of her hats. A headdress from Cebu with a deep crown, used by both sexes for travel on foot or by boat, was called sarok, which actually meant "to go for water".^{[better source needed]}

Classical Greece and Rome

Main articles: Clothing in ancient Greece and Clothing in ancient Rome

Fabric in Ancient Greece was woven on a warp-weighted loom. The first picture of weaving in western art is from a terracotta lekythos (narrow-necked jug for oil) from around 540 B.C.E., showing two women weaving at a warp-weighted loom. The warp threads, running vertically to a bar at the top, are tied together with weights at the bottom to keep them tight. The woman on the right moves the shuttle with the weaving thread across the warp. The woman on the left uses a beater to push the already-woven threads together.

Clothes in classical antiquity often used wide, unsewn pieces of fabric, pinned and draped on the body in many ways.

Ancient Greek clothes were made of lengths of wool or linen, usually rectangular and fastened at the shoulders with decorated pins (called fibulae). Common clothes were the peplos, a loose robe for women; the chlamys, a cloak for men; and the chiton, a tunic for both men and women. Men’s chitons reached the knees, while women’s reached the ankles. A long cloak called a himation was worn over the peplos or chlamys.

The toga of ancient Rome was also an unsewn piece of wool cloth, worn by male citizens and draped around the body in different styles, over a simple tunic. Early tunics were two simple rectangles joined at shoulders and sides; later tunics had sewn sleeves. Women wore the draped stola or an ankle-length tunic, with a shawl-like palla as an outer garment. Wool was the main fabric, though linen, hemp, and small amounts of expensive silk and cotton were also worn.

Ancient Europe

Neolithic Age

Fabrics in European neolithic cultures were made from flax and bast fiber. The first wool textiles appear in the Late Neolithic period.

Bronze Age

Bits of wool fabric from the Bronze Age and Iron Age have been found in salt mines in Hallstatt Austria. The fabric bits were leftovers from rags used in the mines. These rags were pieces from worn-out clothes.

The Bronze-age fabrics were rough—partly because the sheep of that time had coarse wool. The wool had a lot of kemp (guard hairs). The weaves included both simple plain weave and more complex twill weave. Twill-woven fabrics hang better than plain-woven ones. The fabric colors were natural or dyed.

Iron Age

Iron-age fabrics were finer than Bronze Age ones. The spun thread was very even and thin. Some Iron Age fabrics also had striped patterns woven in. The finer fabric is thought to be because of better sheep breeds with finer wool and less kemp.

Celtic clothes from the La Tène period, third century BC

Other Iron Age fabrics from northwestern Europe have been found on bodies saved by the wet and acidic conditions of peat bogs. A Danish copy of clothes found with such bodies shows woven wool dresses, tunics and skirts. These were mostly plain and held together with leather belts and metal brooches or pins. Clothes were not always plain, but had decorations with different colors, especially at the ends and edges. Men wore breeches, possibly with the lower legs wrapped for protection, though Boucher says long trousers have also been found. Warmth came from woolen shawls and animal skin capes, probably worn with the fur inside for comfort. Caps were worn, also made from skins, and hair was styled carefully, from braids to elaborate Suebian knots. Soft leather shoes protected the feet.

Patterns and ways to copy examples of clothes from this time show the skills, tools, and knowledge of the makers of that era.

Medieval clothing and textiles

The history of Medieval European clothing and textiles is very interesting today. Scholars have written books and yearly articles about this topic.

Byzantium

Main articles: Byzantine dress and Byzantine silk

The Byzantines made richly patterned cloth for wealthy people and simpler cloth for everyone else. By the time of Justinian, people wore long tunics instead of the old Roman toga. Rich people added extra garments like the dalmatic and cloaks.

Early medieval Europe

Main articles: Early medieval European dress, Anglo-Saxon dress, and English medieval clothing

European clothing changed slowly between 400 and 1100. Different groups like the Franks, Anglo-Saxons, and Visigoths had their own styles. Invading peoples often wore short tunics with trousers, while Roman-influenced groups kept longer tunics. Wealthy people imported silk and could afford special fabrics, while most people wore simple wool clothes.

High Middle Ages and the rise of fashion

Main articles: 1100–1200 in European fashion, 1200–1300 in European fashion, and 1300–1400 in European fashion

In the 12th and 13th centuries, clothing was simple and similar across Europe. Most people wore the same basic styles as before. The 13th century brought improvements in wool dyeing and the use of linen for undergarments. Crusaders brought back fine silks from the Levant. By the mid-14th century, fashion began to change quickly in Europe, with new tailoring techniques and styles like two-colored garments.

Renaissance and early modern period

Renaissance Europe

Main article: 1400–1500 in European fashion

Wool was the most common fabric for everyone. People also used linen and hemp. Wool came in many types, from rough to soft. It was very important for trade, especially in England, and was sold across Europe. Wool was often dyed bright colors like red, green, gold, and blue.

Silk weaving was common near the Mediterranean by the 1400s. Rich people in Europe wore silk clothes with shiny designs from China. These designs often had flowers like pomegranates and artichokes. They spread from places like Istanbul and Bursa to cities such as Florence, Genoa, Venice, Valencia, and Seville.

As people got richer in the 1400s, even middle-class workers began to wear more stylish clothes, though not as fancy as the rich. Different countries started to develop their own clothing styles.

Early Modern Europe

Main articles: 1500–1550 in Western European fashion, 1550–1600 in Western European fashion, 1600–1650 in Western European fashion, and 1650–1700 in Western European fashion

By the 1500s, clothing styles varied between places like the Low Countries, Germany, Scandinavia, and those in England, France, and Italy. But they all began to adopt more formal styles from Spain.

People in Germany liked detailed designs in their clothes. Black became a popular color for special events. A new type of lace called bobbin lace appeared in Flanders in the mid-1500s. This period also saw the rise of large, fancy ruffs around the neck, sometimes needing wire to keep their shape.

By the 1600s, there was a big difference between the simple styles liked by Protestants in England and the Netherlands and the more elaborate styles of French and Italian courts.

Needlelace became very popular during this time, with designs that copied scrolling flowers. France began making lace to avoid buying it from Italy.

Mughal India

Main articles: Mughal Empire and Muslin trade in Bengal

Further information: Economic history of India

The Mughal Empire, from the 1500s to 1700s, was a major center for international trade. India made a lot of cotton clothes, including different colored fabrics and very fine muslin. The cotton industry was very important for India’s trade. Indian cotton was popular all over the world, from the Americas to Japan.

Bengal, especially around Dhaka, was the main place for cotton and silk production. Bengali textiles were sold in Europe, Indonesia, Japan, Central Asia, and Africa. Indian textiles played a big role in trade across the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, and West Africa. In Europe, Indian cotton and silk became very important for fashion.

Women in the Mughal Empire paid close attention to their appearance. They wore long, loose clothes with sleeves and added extra layers in winter. They liked using perfumes and jewelry, which showed both religious meaning and personal style.

Pre-Colonial North America

Main article: Textile arts of indigenous peoples of the Americas

Native people in North America made clothes from natural materials like cotton, agave fibers, and animal skins. When Europeans arrived, they brought sheep, and beaver pelts became very valuable for their warmth. The trade in beaver pelts was one of the first big businesses in colonial North America.

Enlightenment and the Colonial period

Main articles: 1700–1750 in Western fashion and 1750–1775 in Western fashion

In the 1700s, people wore fancy clothes for special events and simpler clothes for everyday life. Rich fabrics and detailed designs were popular, especially in France. Men wore jackets, vests, and trousers that sometimes matched, starting the idea of a suit.

Women’s dresses changed a lot. In the 1730s and early 1740s, skirts were puffed out with small hoops. Later, skirts were supported by larger frames called panniers, which could be very wide. Fashion became very fancy, but then ideas about simpler, more practical clothes grew. This led to new styles, including popular British tailoring.

Women also started wearing more cotton dresses from India, and by the end of this time, simple white cotton dresses called muslin became fashionable.

The Great Male Renunciation

The Great Male Renunciation (French: Grande Renonciation masculine) is a term for a big change in fashion from the late 1700s. Back then, rich men in Western countries stopped wearing bright colors and fancy patterns. These styles were then used for women's clothes instead. Men started caring more about how well clothes fit and the quality of simple fabrics.

A British psychologist named John Flügel gave this change its name in 1930. This moment is important in clothing history because it shows when men began choosing simpler styles over very fancy ones.

Industrial Revolution

Main article: Textile manufacture during the British Industrial Revolution

20th-century developments

The 20th century brought new ways to use textiles and create fibers made by people. Factories started using computers to control their machines.

Workers in clothing and textile factories in the United States joined together for better working conditions.

Schools and universities, like University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Iowa State University, and Smith College, began teaching and collecting items about the history of clothing and textiles. Some high school libraries also started collections about this topic.

New styles of living led clothing makers to create clothes that were stronger, more flexible, and lasted longer. They used new ways of weaving and knitting, changed the fibers, or treated the fabrics after they were made. Since the 1960s, fabrics could be treated to resist stains, flames, wrinkles, and tiny living things. New ways of dyeing let people color fibers that were hard to color before.

After the invention of plastics, people could make fibers that were not found in nature. These synthetic fibers could be made with exact sizes and shapes. Fibers created between 1930 and 1970 include nylon, PTFE, polyester, Spandex, and Kevlar. Clothes makers began using these new fibers, often mixing them with natural fibers. These synthetic fibers could be knitted and woven like natural ones.

In the early 1900s, factories kept improving machines from the Industrial Revolution. In the 1960s, these machines began using computer controls, which made them work better. In 1983, a company showed the first computer-controlled, electronic, Jacquard loom. In 1988, the first patent in the United States was given for a robot that could move things quickly. These changes meant that workers needed to know how to use computers as well as machines. New technology also included machines that could match colors and check the quality of the fabrics automatically.

21st century

In 2015, a leader at Google talked about a dress Jennifer Lopez wore in 2000. Many people were excited about this dress, which helped Google improve how people search for pictures online.

During the 2010s, many people began caring more about how making clothes affects the Earth. Often, the ways clothes are made were not kind to the planet.

Some countries are trying to reuse old clothes to help the Earth, but it is still hard to do this for everyone. Many clothes are thrown away instead of being reused. Big clothing companies are now trying to use materials that can be recycled because people want this.

In 2013, selling textiles and clothes around the world was worth $772 billion. In 2016, the biggest countries selling clothes were China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Hong Kong, Turkey and Indonesia.