Clothes. We slip them on every day, barely thinking about it. Yet, they represent humanity's earliest and most enduring technological achievements. When you pull on your shirt in the morning, you're donning a piece of advanced technology, honed over millennia.
In ancient times, our ancestors twisted plant fibers and animal hairs into threads, creating the first rudimentary textiles. This marked a major technological leap. Fast-forward to the 1700s, the textile industry in England hit its stride. Over a third of the country's workforce — 1.5 million people out of 4 million — were women, tirelessly spinning fibers into thread. Textiles had become central to human existence.
The weaving cloth was laborious. A single garment could take weeks to produce, making clothing a prized possession. Hence, the term "heirloom" finds its roots in the "loom", a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. Then came the Industrial Revolution. This watershed moment in history had textiles at its heart. Cotton mills sprang up, power looms clattered, and the once time-consuming process of cloth production became swift, marking a significant technological upheaval.
The original Luddites, remembered today for their opposition to technology, were weavers. They feared the machines would steal their livelihoods, and in a way, they were right. Yet, they also signaled the final phase of technological advancement — when it fades into the background, taken for granted. Today, we seldom view our clothing as technology, though it truly is.
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