Where Do Natural Fibers Come From?

Fiber is a threadlike material that can be found in a natural or manmade form. Natural fibers derive from various animals, plants and can even be produced by insects. These fibers have been in use since prehistoric times and are currently produced today. The most common natural fibers used are linen, wool, silk and cotton. They have been woven together to create fabrics for clothing and other items. A natural protein fiber, called wool, was discovered before 10,000 B.C.E. and woven into cloth by 1900 B.C.E. Wool comes from predominantly sheep but is also found in other animals such as, llamas, alpacas, camels and goats. Tribes in North Europe spun wool using a crude spindle, which is a stick with a stone or clay ring connected to the end to make yarn. They also made wool into cloth by weaving the thread in a criss cross style. Some humans 8,000 years ago had domesticated sheep specifically for the production of wool and other uses. In 4,000 B.C.E. the city of Babylon also known as the “Land of Wool”, had bought and sold woolen cloth which was important to their society. Over the years spinning and weaving machines were constantly improved like the spinning jenny built in 1767 with many spindles placed side to side allowing it to operate 120 spindles at once. Weaving wool became more machinery based rather than using the traditional manual weaving (“History of Wool”, n.d.). In order to create the fiber wool, there is a process of cutting the hair from the animal which is usually done manually by shearing specialist. After cutting, the sheared wool is cleaned and brushed to straighten out the fiber strands by hand. The wool is then placed into a carding machine where it goes through many bristled rollers and roved. The carding process separates the wool into small pieces and cooled in spools at the end of the machine. Soon the wool is spun into yarn and woven into cloth. Before this machinery process, many women known as spinsters took on the task of turn wool into cloth manually. Wool is commonly used to create sweater garments and coats for cool weather (“History of Fibers”, n.d.). The Fiber repels water well and fabric feels dry in damp or wet weather. A downside to wearing wool is that it attracts moths and carpet beetles that feed on the fabric.