The textile industry is one of the world's most established industries. Its roots go as far back as 4500 B.C., when the first flax fabrics were made. The first weaving loom was actually a tree branch – horizontal to the ground, it held vertical rows of threads (warp threads) which were interlaced with horizontal threads (weft threads) to form a very rough cloth.
Since that time, several inventions and developments took place, such as the cotton gin to remove seeds from cotton fibres, the spinning frame to make yarns, the mechanical loom to make woven fabrics, and the flat knitting frame to make knitted fabrics. Machines have become more efficient, but current manufacturing is still based on those early inventions.
Today, textiles touch our lives in every way imaginable. They are essential to dozens of sectors, including medicine, transportation, construction, and fashion and apparel. In addition to traditional products such as clothing and home furnishings, textiles are used in life-saving and leading-edge products, including flame retardant suits, bomb suits, artificial arteries and synthetic skin. New military textiles are being developed that will make soldiers virtually invisible! The Canadian textile industry is now one of the country's most innovative and technology-driven sectors, making investments of more than $3 billion in new plants, equipment, and process research and development over the last decade.
Today's textile industry is also a key player in the Canadian economy. There are 49,387 Canadians directly employed by the industry, working as designers, managers, engineers, accountants, technicians and technologists. The products that they make are used in over 150 different industries and are sold worldwide. At over $3 billion, exports of Canadian textile production are at record levels, an impressive increase from less than $1 billion in 1989.
The future is bright for Canada's textile industry. And with groundbreaking innovations in fibre and fabric technologies, Canada is sure to remain on the forefront of the technological revolution.