The Origins of Online fabrics

Fabric, textile, and cloth are some of the most popular terms that people use for a single thing nowadays though there is a technical and technological difference between all of these items. Textile is a term used to describe any set of interlacing threads or fibers that is usually produced in a mill or loom. There is however a wide variety of textile and it doesn't necessarily refer to what people wear. It can be geotextile or carpet or anything that is coarse or sometimes fine. The fabric on the other hand is made up of interlacing fibers through weaving, knitting or any such process that is used for making further products. A cloth is referred to as something that is the result of the processing of original fabric. As the title indicates, I will dwell on how these fancy online fabrics came to be and how they end up in such magnificent touches and colors from a handful of simple raw materials or source materials.

When we see online fabrics showing such color schemes that are captivating and equally charming, we have never an idea that these diverse groups of beautiful cloths are produced from a small number of basic fabric types and these basic fabrics are derived from an even smaller number of basic source materials that again are weaved in three or four basic weaving styles. Beginning from such humble sources, these fabrics are then processed further and there is much work done before giving it a final touch. After all, it is an industry that involves people who grow mulberry trees to rear silk-worm and people who rear sheep or goats to obtain wool from them to large factories where complex machines refine the source materials and further process it. Hand mills are also common in developing countries. All these factors are part of a long chain i.e. called textile industry. Here is a list of the three most common origins of online fabrics.

Animals:

Fabric derived from animals includes silk and wool mainly. Some fabric is also derived from hair and skin. Chinese silkworm is the chief resource of silk that is secreted from threads of the cocoons and is known for its softness. There is also a wild silk that is known as Tussah silk. 

Wool is obtained from sheeps. India and some African countries are the largest producers of wool. 

Plants:

Grass, hemp, and sisal are used in making fibers besides cotton and flax which are chief resources of making fabric worldwide. Sometimes even bark of plants is used for making fibers that yield a fascinating fabric. 

Synthetic fibers:

Polyester fiber is one of the most popular fibers nowadays that can be used in every type of clothing sometimes alone and sometimes blended with other natural fibers such as cotton. 

Aramid is used for preparing clothes that are fire-resistant and thus finds its use in fire-resistant equipment.

Acrylic is a type of synthetic fiber that can be used in place of silk as it resembles it greatly in its physical appearance and properties.

These are some of the commonest origins of all online fabrics that display a mind-boggling complexity and diversity. All these fibers whether animal or plant-based or synthetic are treated before weaving into different patterns and sometimes they are blended with other types of fibers so there are more than one type of fibers in the end-user product. After the fabric has been obtained, most of the time it is treated with chemicals or pressure and steam combined for the purpose of pleating. The printing process is also a must nowadays. This is a standard procedure that adds colorful painting or drawing to the final product. We can say it is a whole industry.