History of Clothing Material

Introduction

Clothing is a general term coined for all the various types of materials worn on the body. During ancient times people lived in forests and did not wear clothes. Afterward, to protect the body from different harsh environmental conditions such as heat in summer, cold in winter and rainy seasons, etc., they started wearing clothes. Neanderthals (extinct species and an extremely important part of human evolution) were the first humans who started wearing clothes.

In ancient times, humans were not knowledgeable enough to weave clothes and thus used to wear bark, big leaves from trees, animal skin and fur to cover themselves. They even used bones, skulls, and skin of dead animals to cover their bodies. It helped them prevent adverse weather conditions to affect.

No official record is available regarding when humans started to wear clothes. According to some reports, humans may have started wearing clothes approximately one million years ago. Even with no official records, there is plenty of evidence showing clothing trends in prehistoric times. Environment, culture, and external factors are the various factors that influenced the clothing styles and the cloth used in older civilizations.

History of Fabrics and Textiles

When the cultivation of crops began and people started to group into different agricultural communities, they began to weave twigs and grass into mats and baskets. They also used different materials such as vines, animal fleece, and hair and twisted them into long strands eventually weaving fabrics out of them.

Around 30,000 years ago people started using animal skin for clothing. Wool was used around 4000 BC in Egypt. Cotton was discovered in Pakistan around 3000 BC. Silkworms were domesticated to produce silk around 3000 BC in China.

The early Indians wore fabrics made of cotton. Cotton was cultivated in the regions near the river Ganga. In ancient Egypt, cotton and flax both were cultivated near the river Nile. Like cotton, flax is also a plant that gives natural fibres and is about 36,000 years old. Thus in Egypt, both cotton and flax were used to make fabrics.

History of Clothing Material

As in earlier days, stitching was not known, so people used to drape fabrics around different parts of their bodies. Many different ways were used to drape fabrics around the body. Even today clothes like saree, dupatta, dhoti, etc., are unstitched pieces of cloth that are draped around the body.

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Revolution was brought when a sewing needle was invented. With the help of a sewing needle, people went on to stitch clothes out of all the available fabrics. The extraction of fabric and weaving them was first started in the Middle East during the late stone age. The weaving of fabrics began around 100,000 to 50,000 years ago. Knitting (which is still popular today) was introduced around 6500 BC.

Since then stitched clothes have undergone several variations. Clothes of different designs, patterns, shapes, and colours exist today because of the changes it has gone through since ancient times. Today's fashion and textile industries are one of the biggest industries in the world. Apart from natural fibres and animal skin which were initially used, artificial fibres such as nylon, polyester, etc., are also used to develop different kinds of clothes in replacement to natural fibres.

Types of Fabrics

Fabrics are of two types Natural and Artificial −

Natural fabric is a cloth material which is made from natural fibres obtained from either plants or animals.

Following is the list −

Cotton

• It was first found in Pakistan in 3000 BC.

• Each fibre is made up of 87-90% of cellulose.

• Cotton fabric clothes are highly comfortable and can be worn during any climatesummers, springs, etc.

Silk

• It was first found in China.

• It is obtained from silkworm cocoons and is a natural protein fibre composed of fibroin.

• It is one of the costly fabrics which are used to make heavy dresses, sarees, traditional wear, etc.

Wool

• It was first found around 400-300 BC.

• It is obtained from fur-bearing animals such as sheep, yak, goats etc., and it contains majorly proteins with small amount of lipids.

• They have the ability to store heat in them and hence are used in making winter wear such as sweaters, scarfs, warm socks, etc.

Artificial fabric is a cloth material made by artificial sources and they are synthesized by humans in factories.

Following is the list −

Rayon

• Invented in the year 1846 in the USA and was artificially prepared in factories.

• It was given the name 'Rayon' in the year 1924.

• It is less costly as compared to naturally available silk and is used in making sportswear, jackets, blankets, sheets, etc.

Nylon

• It was first made in 1935.

• It is produced from petroleum and is similar to silk and is referred as silk-like thermoplastic.

• Majorly used for women's clothes, swimwear, raincoat linings, windbreakers, etc.

Polyester

• Discovered in the year 1930 by W.H. Carothers.

• This type of fabric is made from plastic and is very affordable.

• It is used to make jackets, pants, hats, pillow covers, bed sheets, etc.

Conclusion

• People started wearing clothes to prevent adverse weather conditions to affect them.

• Initially, early humans started wearing barks and big leaves of trees since they were not knowledgeable enough to weave clothes.

• Environment, culture, and external factors are the various factors that influenced the clothing style and cloth used in older civilizations.

• People formed agricultural communities and began to weave twigs and grasses into fabrics.

• Vines, fleece, and hair were twisted into long strands eventually weaving fabrics out of them.

• In earlier days, stitching was not known thus people used to drape fabrics around bodies as clothes.

• With the invention of the sewing needle, people started to stitch fabrics and thus wore stitched clothes.

• Apart from natural fabrics and animal skin, today man-made fabrics are also available to be worn as clothes.

FAQs

Q1. Who were the first humans to sew clothes? Where did they live?

Ans. The Neanderthals were the first humans to sew clothes. They used animal skin to sew clothes. Neanderthals used to live in Eurasia about 400,000 to 40,000 years ago. They are extinct now but are a very important part of human evolution.

Q2. What is spinning and how is it done?

Ans. Spinning is a process of making yarn from numerous fibres. Here, the fibres are interwoven into a yarn with the help of a charkha or spinning wheel. All the fibres from a cotton plant are taken and woven into a yarn. Yarns are woven together to form fabrics.

Q3. In earlier days, which was the common material used for clothing?

Ans. In earlier days, leather, barks, leaves of trees, etc., were used for clothing.

Q4. About what time were sewing needles developed?

Ans. Sewing needles were developed about 50,000 years ago.

Q5. In India what was the material initially used to develop fabrics? Where it was grown?

Ans. Initially cotton was used to develop fabrics and worn as clothes by draping it around the body. It was grown along the banks of river Ganga.