Why was cotton important during the industrial revolution?
1 Answer
Cotton is a versatile crop, and easier to turn into clothing than wool or linen; the expanding population and prosperity of the Industrial Revolution greatly increased the demand for it.
Explanation:
The natural fibers responsible for clothing include leather, wool, flax (linen) and cotton. Cotton was native to India and Central America, but was difficult and expensive to cultivate until Eli Whitney's cotton gin (in 1803) radically decreased the effort required to separate seeds from the natural fiber.
Linen and wool have their advantages too, but linen remains more expensive to process than cotton is, while wool was harder to clean.
Before the early 19th Century, cotton had been an expensive import to Europe, but it is a comfortable fabric to wear next to your skin and easier to clean without losing its texture or fading. It is also cooler to wear. With the invention of the Cotton Gin, the availability of cotton suddenly increased at a time when the population and the prosperity of Europeans and North Americans started to grow.
Weaving mills and powered looms made linen and wool cheaper too, but the sheer versatility of cotton and the many industrial uses for it has made the demand for cotton products increase enormously. Cotton seed oil also had numerous new applications.
A modern consumer can check and see what applications cotton has in his or her own life, as compared to wool or linen. Underwear, t-shirts, and shirts -- cheaper socks and bed-linens, tougher fabric for pants that can be machine-washed, rather than dry-cleaned. Canvas, bandages, books and paper are more likely to contain more cotton than any other fabric, and cotton oil can be found in many cleaning products.
