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Textile Engineering

Chemical Engineering

Textile engineering applies mechanical, chemical and materials engineering to the manufacture of fiber, yarn and fabric, spanning the machinery of spinning and weaving, the chemistry of dyeing and finishing, and the nonwoven and technical-textile processes used well beyond clothing, in composites, medical materials and industrial filtration. Cotton remains the most widely used natural fiber, accounting for about ninety percent of all natural fiber used in the textile industry, and the field's shift from household craft to mechanized industry took place chiefly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Origin Year
1884 1
Core Concern
Turning fiber into fabric at industrial scale, and the machinery, chemistry and process control that make weaving, knitting, dyeing and finishing repeatable and precise. 1
Core Principle
Turn fiber into yarn and fabric through spinning, weaving or knitting, then finish it through dyeing and chemical treatment, applying mechanical and chemical process control at every stage from raw fiber to finished cloth. 1
Connections

Associated With

Cotton Gin, Inventions

Field end of a technology member entity grouped under this field

Flying Shuttle, Inventions

Field end of a technology member entity grouped under this field

Jacquard Machine, Inventions

Field end of a technology member entity grouped under this field

Invented the Jacquard loom, a landmark of programmable textile machinery.

Knitting Machine, Inventions

Field end of a technology member entity grouped under this field

Nylon, Materials

Nylon's introduction as a fiber for hosiery and apparel from 1940 reshaped the textile industry's materials base.

Source Nylon (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Power Loom, Inventions

Field end of a technology member entity grouped under this field

Ring Spinning, Inventions

Field end of a technology member entity grouped under this field

Sewing Machine, Inventions

Field end of a technology member entity grouped under this field

Spinning Jenny, Inventions

Field end of a technology member entity grouped under this field

Spinning Mule, Inventions

Field end of a technology member entity grouped under this field

Water Frame, Inventions

Field end of a technology member entity grouped under this field

Includes

Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Source Richard Arkwright (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Source Samuel Slater (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Sources
1. Textile Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundation
  • History section
    The Philadelphia Textile School, one of the first dedicated US textile engineering programs, was founded in 1884.
  • Lead section
    Textile manufacturing or textile engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric.
  • Processing of cotton paragraph, cotton-share sentence
    Cotton remains the most widely used and common natural fiber making up 90% of all-natural fibers used in the textile industry.
View the Source
A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954Includes: Joseph Marie JacquardView the Source
Nylon (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: NylonView the Source
Samuel Slater (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Samuel SlaterView the Source
Richard Arkwright (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Richard ArkwrightView the Source
Frequently Asked Questions

Is textile engineering the same as fashion design?

No. Fashion design is concerned with the aesthetic design of garments and collections. Textile engineering is concerned with turning fiber into fabric at industrial scale, the machinery, chemistry and process control behind spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing and finishing. A textile engineer might never design a garment at all, working instead on the mills and chemical processes that produce the cloth a fashion designer later uses.
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