Textiles

Textiles

The term textile refers to a flexible material that is made up of a combination of fibers. The generic term textiles includes fibres, yarn, textile surfaces such as fabrics and finished products such as clothing.

In the textile processing industry, the terms fabric and cloth are used, often synonymous with textile. However, there are subtle differences in the meaning of these words. All materials made from fibers are called textiles. Fabric or cloth, on the other hand, is a material that forms a (textile) surface by weaving, warp-knitting, knitting or other ways of combining fibers.

Textiles are used in many ways, but mainly in clothing. They are also used in the household in the form of carpets, poster furniture, curtains, etc. Tents, airbags, filters, nets and geotextiles. Textiles are also used in the medical and hygiene sectors and are now also used in conjunction with resin as fiber-reinforced plastic in sailboats and airplanes.

The textile industry uses machines to produce textiles on a large scale, which are made usable in textile finishing. In Germany, the Textile Labeling Act (TKG) regulates the designation and labeling of textiles. Fibers as raw materials for textiles are divided into the two main groups of natural fibers and artificial or man-made fibers. Textile surfaces can be produced using various processes.

Textile production is an important craft. Not least due to industrialization, this has reached an undreamt-of quality. Nevertheless, the basic principles in Weber, for example, are not fundamentally different today from those of antiquity. The earliest references to textiles are carved depictions of Venus figures draped in fabric, dated to around 20,000 BC. are created.