THE WOOL

It is thought that already during the Stone Age, some 10,000 years ago, the inhabitants of Asia Minor used sheep not only for food, but also for their wool, which they used to make clothes and shelters. In China and in Egypt felts made from wool were already common, before tools such as shears were invented and used. During the Iron Age, with the introduction of cutting utensils, wool was sheared from the sheep, instead of it being strapped.

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THE COTTON

Certainly, the most important and widespread vegetable textile fibre, cotton derives its name from the Arabic al-qutu. Known for more than five thousand years (as testified by the finds uncovered at Mohenjo-Daro, in current Pakistan and Tehuacan in Mexico), depicted in antique Egyptian hieroglyphics (3.000 AC-30 AC), quoted by Herodotus in the V century AC and widely known to the Aztecs in America during the Pre-Columbian period, which reached Europe during the Middle Ages but affirmed itself only in 1600.

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THE LINEN

Flaxseed (or linen seed), in Latin linum usitatissimum, used for the production of linen, is considered to be the oldest textile fibre and has been cultivated by the peoples of the Mediterranean for some ten thousand years. The first processing of the fibre into yarn dates back to 8,000 AC, and the finding of the mummies in the tombs of the Egyptian pyramids confirm the use of this noble fibre by the ancient Egyptians.

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THE SILK

According to tradition, the birth of silkworm breeding is due to the Chinese empress Xi Ling Shi, wife of the Yellow Emperor, who lived during 27th century BC. Also known as the Lady of the Silkworms, it was she who discovered the special characteristics of this insect.

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VISCOSE

Viscose is an artificial textile fibre that has a silk like sheen, the reason for which it is also defined as "artificial silk”. The story of its production starts in 1845, the year in which the first compound of soluble cellulose that could be made into filaments was discovered.

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ANIMAL FIBRES - CAMELID

Cammel, Llama, Alpaca and Vicuña

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ANIMAL FIBERS

Mohair, Yak, Angora, Cashgora and Cashmere

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VEGETABLE FIBRES

Kapok, Hemp, Juta, Ramie, Sisal e Coconut

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