Clothing technology
Encyclopedia
Clothing technology involves the manufacturing, materials, and design
innovations that have been developed and used. The timeline of clothing and textiles technology
includes major changes in the manufacture and distribution of clothing
.
From clothing in the ancient world
into modernity the use of technology has dramatically influenced clothing and fashion
in the modern age. Industrialization brought changes in the manufacture of goods. In many nations, homemade goods craft
ed by hand have largely been replaced factory
produced goods on assembly line
s purchased in a by consumer culture. Innovations include man-made materials such as polyester
, nylon
, and vinyl
as well as features like zipper
s and velcro
. The advent of advanced electronics has resulted in wearable technology being developed and popularized since the 1980s
.
Design
is an important part of the industry beyond utilitarian concerns and the fashion
and glamour
industries have developed in relation to clothing marketing
and retail
. Environmental
and human rights
issues have also become considerations for clothing and spurred the promotion and use of some natural materials such as bamboo
that are considered environmentally friendly.
, specialized and technologically advanced equipment, and production line
s for the mass production
of textiles. Globalization
and advances in trade increased sourcing of metrials and competition for wares across borders. The swadeshi movement
in India
was an effort to counteract the economic control and influence that British factories exerted over the one-time colony. Concerns have also been raised over the use of so-called sweat shops.
Clothing lines based on famous designers have been featured and advertised in magazines and other media. Branding
and marketing
are features of the advertising age
. Some designers have also become television and media personalities. In recent years fashion and design has also been the subject of television shows.
and constructions of sportswear
has changed dramatically over time. Swimwear used in competitions has even become a controversial issue because the expense and features of some of the suits can give athletes a significant advantage. Advances in safety features have also been developed including foam
s, synthetic and stretchable tapes, and lightweight materials with performance characteristics specially designed for various athletics pursuits have been developed.
and Fachhochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin are examples institutions focused on the business. National governments have also become involved in the business with trade rules and negotiations as well as investments such as Europe's Future Textiles and Clothing
program.
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
innovations that have been developed and used. The timeline of clothing and textiles technology
Timeline of clothing and textiles technology
Timeline of clothing and textiles technology.*Prehistory – spindle used to create yarn from fibres.* – loom.*c. 28000 BC – Sewing needles in use at Kostenki in Russia....
includes major changes in the manufacture and distribution of clothing
Clothing
Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...
.
From clothing in the ancient world
Clothing in the ancient world
The clothing used in the ancient world strongly reflects the technologies that these peoples mastered. Archaeology plays a significant role in documenting this aspect of ancient life, for fabric fibres, and leathers sometimes are well-preserved through time...
into modernity the use of technology has dramatically influenced clothing and fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
in the modern age. Industrialization brought changes in the manufacture of goods. In many nations, homemade goods craft
Craft
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...
ed by hand have largely been replaced factory
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
produced goods on assembly line
Assembly line
An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned logistics to create a finished product much faster than with handcrafting-type methods...
s purchased in a by consumer culture. Innovations include man-made materials such as polyester
Polyester
Polyester is a category of polymers which contain the ester functional group in their main chain. Although there are many polyesters, the term "polyester" as a specific material most commonly refers to polyethylene terephthalate...
, nylon
Nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...
, and vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
as well as features like zipper
Zipper
A zipper is a commonly used device for temporarily joining two edges of fabric...
s and velcro
Velcro
Velcro is the brand name of the first commercially marketed fabric hook-and-loop fastener, invented in 1948 by the Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral...
. The advent of advanced electronics has resulted in wearable technology being developed and popularized since the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
.
Design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
is an important part of the industry beyond utilitarian concerns and the fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
and glamour
Glamour (presentation)
Glamour originally was a magical-occult spell cast on somebody to make them believe that something or somebody was attractive. In the late 19th century terminology a non magical item used to help create a more attractive appearance gradually became 'a glamour'...
industries have developed in relation to clothing marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
and retail
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
. Environmental
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
issues have also become considerations for clothing and spurred the promotion and use of some natural materials such as bamboo
Bamboo textiles
Bamboo textiles are cloth, yarn, and clothing made out of bamboo fibres. While historically used only for structural elements, such as bustles and the ribs of corsets, in recent years a range of technologies have been developed allowing bamboo fibre to be used in a wide range of textile and fashion...
that are considered environmentally friendly.
Production
The advent of industrialization included factoriesFactory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
, specialized and technologically advanced equipment, and production line
Production line
A production line is a set of sequential operations established in a factory whereby materials are put through a refining process to produce an end-product that is suitable for onward consumption; or components are assembled to make a finished article....
s for the mass production
Mass production
Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
of textiles. Globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
and advances in trade increased sourcing of metrials and competition for wares across borders. The swadeshi movement
Swadeshi movement
The Swadeshi movement, part of the Indian independence movement, was an economic strategy aimed at removing the British Empire from power and improving economic conditions in India by following the principles of swadeshi , which had some success...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
was an effort to counteract the economic control and influence that British factories exerted over the one-time colony. Concerns have also been raised over the use of so-called sweat shops.
Clothing lines based on famous designers have been featured and advertised in magazines and other media. Branding
Brand management
Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand.The discipline of brand management was started at Procter & Gamble as a result of a famous memo by Neil H...
and marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
are features of the advertising age
Advertising Age
Advertising Age is a magazine, delivering news, analysis and data on marketing and media. The magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930...
. Some designers have also become television and media personalities. In recent years fashion and design has also been the subject of television shows.
Sports
The designDesign
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
and constructions of sportswear
Sportswear
Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons....
has changed dramatically over time. Swimwear used in competitions has even become a controversial issue because the expense and features of some of the suits can give athletes a significant advantage. Advances in safety features have also been developed including foam
Foam
-Definition:A foam is a substance that is formed by trapping gas in a liquid or solid in a divided form, i.e. by forming gas regions inside liquid regions, leading to different kinds of dispersed media...
s, synthetic and stretchable tapes, and lightweight materials with performance characteristics specially designed for various athletics pursuits have been developed.
Education
Computer design is used in the production of clothing. Corporate and business training to address accounting, trade, and finance issues has also become a significant part of the trade. Courses and programs at Universities specialize in these fields. the Beijing Institute of Clothing TechnologyBeijing Institute of Clothing Technology
Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology is a university in Beijing, China. It was founded in 1959 as the Beijing Institute of Textile Technology and was later renamed as the Beijing Institute of Chemical Fiber Technology in 1961...
and Fachhochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin are examples institutions focused on the business. National governments have also become involved in the business with trade rules and negotiations as well as investments such as Europe's Future Textiles and Clothing
Future Textiles and Clothing
The Future Textiles and Clothing initiative is a European Technology Platform initiative to improve the competitive situation of the European Union in the field of textiles....
program.
See also
- polypropylenePolypropylenePolypropylene , also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications including packaging, textiles , stationery, plastic parts and reusable containers of various types, laboratory equipment, loudspeakers, automotive components, and polymer banknotes...
- rayonRayonRayon is a manufactured regenerated cellulose fiber. Because it is produced from naturally occurring polymers, it is neither a truly synthetic fiber nor a natural fiber; it is a semi-synthetic or artificial fiber. Rayon is known by the names viscose rayon and art silk in the textile industry...
- Smart shirtSmart ShirtSmart shirts, or clothing made from smart fabric, have been made by several companies, including, Numetrex, Adidas, Alphyn Industries, Sensatex, SmartLife and Zephyr Technology. The Numetrex bra uses Zephyr electronic modules and silver coated electrodes to pick up a person's heart rate and...
- Gore-TexGore-TexGore-Tex is a waterproof/breathable fabric, and a registered trademark of W. L. Gore and Associates. It was co-invented by Wilbert L. Gore, Rowena Taylor, and Gore's son, Robert W. Gore. Robert Gore was granted on April 27, 1976, for a porous form of polytetrafluoroethylene with a...
- Smart fabric
- Zephyr TechnologyZephyr TechnologyZephyr Technology Limited is a privately owned company specializing is remote monitoring of people's physiology and biomechanics. Smart fabrics are used for physiological sensor electrodes designed into elastic straps or clothing. Bio-mechanical sensing is used so that doctors can understand what a...
- SuperFabricSuperFabricSuperFabric is a cut and abrasion resistant material, and a registered trademark of Higher Dimension Materials, Inc. As a technical fabric, SuperFabric is created with a base fabric such as nylon, polyester, neoprene, crepe, etc. and is overlaid with tiny, hard guard plates in a specific pattern...