The effect of the production of natural fibres on the nature and the economical environment.
A: What are natural fibres?
• These are fibres produced by plants and animals.
• It can be spun into filaments, thread or rope.
• Woven, knitted, matted or bonded, they form fabrics that are essential to society.
• It does not include modern man-made artificial and synthetic fibres such as rayon, nylon, acrylic and polyester.
B: Examples of natural fibres:
Plant fibres:
Abaca
Coir
Cotton
Flax
Hemp
Jute
Ramie
Sisal
Animal fibres:
Alpaca wool
Angora wool
Camel hair
Cashmere
Mohair
Silk
Wool
C: Type of Fibres that are produced:
Vegetable Fibres: (cellulose)
- Seed hairs: Cotton, Kapok
- Bast fibres: Jute, Kenaf, Flax, Hemp, Ramie
- Leaf fibres: Sisal, Henequen
- Leaf sheath: Abaca, Banana
- Fruit fibres: Coir (coconut hair)
Animal Fibres: (protein)
- Wool: Sheep, Camel, Goat, Llama
- Silk: Silkworm
Interesting Chinese legend:
In about 2700 B.C., the wife of the Chinese emperor was studying silkworm cocoons.
She dropped one into a bowl of hot water, and a tangle of fine thread came away.
She wove a robe for the emperor out of silk threads.
The Chinese kept the secret of silk-making for many centuries.
D: Advantages of natural fibres:
How do we measure commercial acceptance?
Long-lastingness
Fibre strength
Skin friendliness
Biodegraded ability
Renewable nature
Cost of natural fibre
Cotton: (example)
Cotton is one of the most widely used Natural Fabrics and has been demanded throughout the ages, owing to the following merits:
Can be easily woven.
Highly absorbent
Cool fibre
Wear resistant
Reflects light
Dries quickly
Soft and breathable
Cotton a...
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...1990 – less than 3 percent ofAmericans worked on the land
Reason: Automation
What are the problems that need to be addressed?
The biggest problems about the production of natural fibres are:
The exploitation of labourers.
Child labour.
The cost of products on the market.
Most of our local natural fibres are exported.
Unfortunately, the addressing of the first two problems will increase the cost of products.
How can these problems be addressed?
The government or the agricultural union should get involved to deter employers from exploiting employees.
Strict implementation of the law against child labour.
South-Africa should encourage our local natural fibre production and manufacturing.
More jobs can be created if local processing and manufacturing are encouraged.
Automation of manufacturing methods should be implemented and improved.
...hese materials were used because they could be easily found at a low price compared to Hemp fiber and silk. Hemp fiber and silk were used at first but then the Chinese realized there are greater uses for this material. Therefore they started to use the worn fishnet, bark and cloth.
Labor’s rights, this issue have been bothering many worker since the 19th century and can still be a problem today. As John L. Lewis has said in his speech “I repeat that labor seeks peace and guarantees its own loyalty, but the voice of labor, insistent upon its rights, should not be annoying to the ears of justice or offensive to the conscience of the American people” (John L. Lewis), which under his words meant that labor is something that can be done right and peacefully but it needs rules and benefits that come with those rules which labor asks for and when labor asks for those rules and benefits it shouldn’t be taken like some annoying kid’s demands but more as something that needs to be done and done with a right mind set. Labor today consists of a man or woman going to work, working their hours, and finally getting paid for those hours at the end of the week, at least a minimum of $7.50 an hour (United States Department of Labor), but before it wasn’t like that before many workers would get paid very poorly even thought they would work for a lot of hours and they wouldn’t get benefits from their work or safety when working such as in the mines like the mine workers, but one man stood up for them and his name was John L. Lewis (John Llewellyn Lewis, Encyclopedia).
Then the cotton has to be spooled and set in a machine with many other spools and be weaved into the machine by hand, and then the clothes need to be sewn out of the fabric. In conclusion, I have gone over my reaction to the movie “Cotton Road”. I discussed the topics of Prices, Forced Work and Process. The movie also shares the perspectives of multiple people involved in the “Cotton Road” from the growing of the cotton to the transportation to China, and the transformation from raw cotton to clothing products. I am just shocked to see what happens and the hardships that occur in this movie.
...pay a consequence. There are laws already on the books about hiring illegal workers and the government needs to consistently enforce them (Barbour 72).
Kevlar Aramid Fiber is a synthetic (man-made) material known as a Polymer. A polymer is a chain that is made up of many similar molecular groups, better known as ‘monomers’ that are bonded together. ‘Monomers’ are made up of fourteen Carbon atoms, two Nitrogen atoms, two Oxygen atoms and ten Hydrogen atoms. A single Kevlar polymer chain could possibly have anywhere from one to five million monomers bonded together.
Clothes, bandages, medical supplies, carpets, blankets, and many other common materials and supplies that we use daily are made from cotton. Hundreds of materials that we wear, sleep on, and walk on daily use cotton. Everyone in the world uses cotton in some way every day. Cotton contains very unique qualities which have made it into an extremely useful crop for hundreds of years all over the world. Cotton stands atop all charts as the most used fiber plant in every country. It held a very influential place in the economic system and influenced many world trade markets. Cotton known by its famous nickname of “King Cotton” in the U.S. was the driving factor behind the widespread and lucrative American slave trade in the Atlantic. Before and
Smith, J. 2009. Making Cotton King. World Trade, July 1, 82. http://www.proquest.com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/ (accessed January 6, 2010).
material, cotton and building material. And that could also be the reason why they don’t want to
Cotton is manufactured for different reasons such as meeting people's basic wants and needs, distributing to achieve foreign exchange, or manufacturing textiles for exports. Cotton is a good cash resource for millions of farmers. Moreover, around 70 countries compete in producing cotton, and the top three countries in producing cotton are the United State, China, and Britain.
Woodhouse, T. F. (1929). Artificial Silk or Rayon (2nd ed.). Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd.
Goal: pacify and secure a stable and predictable work force for modern capitalist industry (today, workers are no longer needed, so need to regulate even more efficiently)
The strengths of the book come from its’ accessibility. The book is easy to follow and provides readers with a great deal of information about the production of mass-manufactured clothing. As well as brings awareness to its’ many issues which we inadvertently take part in when we purchase such products. The book is well written and thoroughly researched but does have its’ share of weaknesses.
While the price of cotton textiles decreased by 90%, the output had grown to cover the demand at affordable prices. Now, cotton will be gotten from Brazil, Egypt, southern United Sates and all this meant a...
Weaving is a common thread among cultures around the world. Weaving is a way of producing cloth or textile. Today we have machines that weave large-scale textiles at cheap prices. Production of cloth by hand is rarely engaged in today’s Westernized societies. Not many people are thinking about how the fibers are actually constructed to make their clothes. However, in other cultures across the world the tradition of weaving still exists. By comparing three cultures that continue weaving as a part of their tradition we can see similarities and the differences between them. The reasons that each culture still weaves vary, as do the methods and materials. The desired characteristics of the cloth also vary around the world as each culture values different aesthetics.
The textile manufacturing industry is one of the biggest industries in the world that is currently worth nearly three thousand trillion dollars. The industry is constantly growing with the wants from consumers around the world. In order to meet and satisfy these wants from customer, “Development in the textile and clothing industry has focused on technological and cost aspects. Emphasis has been placed on keeping the price of the final product low and increasing efficiency in production.” (Niinimaki & Hassi, 2010, p. 1876) At the same time, with this expansion of the textile manufacturing industry and its consumption, pollution, climate change, fossil fuel and raw material depletion, and water pollution and shortage are constantly occurring