Industrial Revolution Textile Transformation

Rise of Factories and Early Industry

New factories meant a concentration of capital and labor. The first companies were textiles. Increased production and consumption were driven by population growth, changes in agriculture, and trade volumes. This also brought changes in the structure of production and the relationship between owners and workers.

All these processes developed mainly in the textile industry. Factories represented the union of capital and labor under one roof. Workers followed a schedule and received a wage, losing the autonomy they had in agriculture. Traditional manufacturing was centralized in factories under one roof, where spinning machines operated alongside workers in various trades.

Wool vs. Cotton: Industry Shifts

Traditional wool production grew slowly and without significant technical changes. For wool producers, traders, businessmen, and artisans, competition from a new fabric called cotton, which came from outside, was unwelcome.

Because of this, Parliament enacted rules against cotton, which were later lifted. Perhaps the ban on imports of Indian cotton textiles helped develop the cotton industry in Britain.

Textile Machine Inventions

The mechanization of textile production developed over nearly a century. Despite its slowness, there were major technological changes in textile production.

• John Kay invented the flying shuttle loom. Soon, thread became scarce and expensive.
• James Hargreaves invented the Spinning Jenny. This invention strengthened dispersed rural industry. Importantly, the machines could do the work of multiple people.
• Samuel Crompton invented the Mule, a cross between the Spinning Jenny and the water frame.

The cost and size of these new looms contributed to the disappearance of domestic industry and the birth of the factory system. Spinning machines were refined over time. Eventually, thread became easier to get, leading to the appearance of the mechanical loom, invented by Edmund Cartwright.