How Fabrics are Made

What is produced?

How is it produced?

For whom is it produced?

Cotton

Cotton fabric is made from the fluffy puffs called

cotton bolls that grow on cotton plants.

Cotton Life Cycle

Seed Seedling Young Plant Cotton Plant with Flower

Flower bolls open to reveal cotton puffs. When the plant is dry cotton puffs are ready to harvest.

Cotton is grown on cotton farms. It must be planted, watered, fertilized, protected from unwanted weeds and insects, and picked. Soil, weather, light and pests are factors that impact the quality of cotton.

Traditional cotton growing methods use a lot of pesticides which can be harmful to the environment and humans. Basic, or organic, cotton growing uses an environmental approach. It focuses on long-term prevention of pests by using natural predators that eat pests, plants that repel harmful insects planted near the cotton, and very careful monitoring of the soil and water. When insecticides are needed, they

Cotton Boll Seed

Cotton Plant Life Cycle

Flower Seedling

carefully use as little as possible to protect humans and animals, and insects that are not harmful to cotton.

Traditional cotton growing uses herbicides, which are poisons, to prevent weeds from taking over their cotton crops. Basic cotton growers plant cotton seeds deep in moist, rich soil surrounded by sand that weeds do not grow well in. They do not need to use as much water because they do not need to dilute toxins such as pesticides and herbicides.

The fiber footprint is a measure of how much impact the production of a fiber has on the environment.

Which way would you rather have cotton grown? BASIC or Conventional? Why?

Carding

Once pure cotton is harvested and extracted from the husk, fibers are then carded. Carding is an advanced brushing process that removes debris, untangles and straightens thick cotton fibers to make them easier to spin into cotton fabric.

•Land footprint: is the amount of cropland needed to produce a given quantity of cotton.

•Water footprint: measures the acre-feet of irrigation water needed to grow crops and the amount of water needed to dilute toxic concentrations of chemicals to safe levels.

•Carbon footprint: measures the area needed to store carbon emissions associated with planting, maintaining, and harvesting, irrigation, production of chemical inputs, and disposal of wastes.

Spinning

The cotton is taken to a factory where the seeds are removed and the cotton is made into yarn. Spinning wheels have been vastly modernized over the years. Most fiber spinning is now mechanized. Cotton fibers are blown into a rapidly revolving drum. As this happens, the loose cotton fibers continually adhere to the end of a strand of yarn (visualize how cotton candy is made) that is constantly being pulled out of the drum.

The cotton yarn is woven into cotton fabric. Cotton is woven on machines called looms. The looms can be adjusted to vary the texture, thickness, and pattern of cotton fabric.

The cloth is sewn and made into clothing. Cotton is used to make jeans, shirts, underwear, socks, and many other items people wear.

Polyester

Polyester clothing can be made from recycled plastic bottles.

Plastic bottles go into a machine that sheds them into little pieces.

The little pieces of plastic are washed to remove the labels.

The little plastic bits go into another machine where they are heated and come out as yarn.

Polyester thread is woven into fabric.

Clothing can be made from polyester fabric.

Silk

Silk is a fabric made from the cocoons of silk moths. Silk moths are often called “silk worms”, but they are moth caterpillars, not worms.

Silk moths lay eggs, the eggs hatch and silkworms emerge, the silk worms spin silk cocoons.

Cocoon Moth emerging from Cocoon

The silk from the cocoons is used to make silk yarn. The cocoons must be boiled in very hot water for a long time to make them unravel. This takes a large amount of energy.

Machines are used to spin the silk into yarn.

The silk yarn can be dyed any color.

The silk yarn in woven to make fabric.

Silk fabric is made into silky soft clothing.

Wool

Wool is the hair of certain mammals. Most wool comes from sheep and goats, but wool is also taken from camels. Llamas, and special rabbits.

Sheep grow a thick coat of wool in the winter. In the summer they feel like to get their haircut. This is called sheering the sheep. The wool that is sheered is used to make wool clothing.

The wool is carded. This can be done by big machines or by hand with brushes.

Carding is a mechanical process that detangles, cleans and smooths fibers to get it ready to be spun into yarn. This is done by passing the fibers between moving surfaces covered with brushes on them. It breaks up unorganized clumps of fiber and then aligns the individual fibers to be parallel with each other.

The wool fibers are spun to make yarn. Spinning is the processes by which the fibers are twisted together to form yarn.

Machines are used to weave yarn into cloth. To weave yarn into fabric, two sets of yarns, or threads, are interlaced at right angles to each other. The warp is the vertical thread, and the weft is the horizontal thread. Woven cloth can be plain (in one color or a simple pattern), or can be woven in decorative or artistic design.

Cloth is made into clothing. Clothes made from wool will not burn, they are fire-resistant. Wool fabrics clean easily. Wool also absorbs moisture and insulates against heat and cold.