Ariadne’s Threads: Fibers and Their Raw Materials  

Today’s sayings and mythological traditions, such as “the thread of life” or “not losing the red thread” reveal the great importance of thread in people’s everyday lives. It is the raw material used to produce textiles. For centuries, threads were spun in village spinning rooms and either sold or processed further on the local loom. However, what are threads made of and how are they made? How are they intertwined with asymmetrical dependency? 

The vast majority of textiles are made from threads, i.e., yarns and twists, using surface-forming techniques. An exception are the bark pulp materials, whose fibers are already connected through their growth on the tree. To obtain a flat textile, the bast needs to be peeled from the bark and shaped into the desired piece of textile through various steps such as moistening, pulling apart, and beating. 

Threads or yarns and twists have been made over thousands of years, initially from plant and later also from animal fibers. An overview of the various raw material suppliers reveals their global diversity (fig. 1 – 21). Controlling access to these raw materials and their processing is still used today to establish asymmetrical dependency relationships. 

Fiber extraction requires comprehensive knowledge of the raw material sources and their properties. Processing plant stems into yarn, such as flax or nettles, requires a complex process. After harvesting, the stems must first be dried, roasted, and broken. Only then can the fibers be removed from the stem and processed further. On the other hand, the processing of most animal fibers ‒ except silk ‒ to produce yarn is simpler: after the animals have been sheared, the hair is cleaned, degreased, and combed. Then, it is ready for spinning. Nomadic people were and are dependent on this non-stationary and, therefore, location-independent form of yarn production. The production of silk, on the other hand, is highly complex. It requires not only precise knowledge of the process and continuous care of the caterpillars but also special climatic conditions for them and for the mulberry trees, their food, to thrive. Therefore, silk fabrics were a rare and expensive luxury product for many centuries. 

Fig. 3: Flax (photo: Updesh Raj, 2021, Free Unsplash license 2024).

The yarns and threads required for textile production are ultimately created by spinning the individual fibers into threads. The fibers are continually twisted together so that they form a stable thread. It is a lengthy process that only produces a limited amount of thread or yarn per person per day. For example, it took much time to produce enough yarn to weave a garment. For thousands of years, spinning sticks, then spindles and whorls were the most essential tools for spinning. They could be used regardless of location, which made them ideal everyday companions. 

Fig. 6: Kapok Tree Bombax Ceiba Pentandra (photo: Subroto Indonesia, 2023, Shutterstock-ID: 2374097511, license 2024).

Since around the 9th century CE, people in India have used charkhas, wheels lying on the ground. Their use accelerated the spinning process and increased the quality of the products. These charkhas arrived in Europe from the 13th century onwards and were further developed into spinning wheels that could be worked on while sitting upright. The continually increasing demand for textiles and fabrics led to another innovation in the 18th century: the invention of a spinning machine, the Spinning Jenny. This development is now seen as the beginning of the industrial revolution in the Global North. 

Since the beginning of the 20th century, numerous synthetic fibers have been added to the fibers made from natural raw materials. They are manufactured industrially from organic raw materials, such as wood fibers (viscose), or inorganic raw materials, such as water, carbon, and air (nylon). The increasing use of synthetic fibers for textile production conserves the resources of natural fibers. However, the asymmetrical dependency relationships that have often been linked to textile production to this day will not be dissolved, as the case studies in this exhibition show.  

Fig. 10: Sisal (photo: febry0205, 2019, Shutterstock-ID: 1515727004, license 2024). 

Fig. 13: The Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) is a large, even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of Mongolia. The Bactrian camel has two humps on its back (photo: P. Tungittipokai, 2019, Shutterstock-ID: 1565249488, license 2024). 

Fig. 16: White llama (photo: D. Barnes, 2019, Free Unsplash License 2024). 

Fig. 19: Vicuña (photo: M. Lima, 2024, Free Unsplash License 2024). 

Fig. 20: Yak (photo: Purrett Photography, 2020, Shutterstock-ID: 1755255848, license 2024). 

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Further Reading

Schenek, Anton, 2006. Lexikon Garne und Zwirne: Eigenschaften und Herstellung textiler Fäden. Frankfurt am Main: Deutscher Fachverlag.