Cloth can be made from natural fibres or man-made ones. Examples of natural fibres are cotton, wool, and silk. Examples of man-made fibres are nylon, rayon, and polyester.
The first clothes, were worn at least 70,000 years ago and maybe much earlier. They were probably made of animalskins and helped to protect early humans from the weather. At some point, people learned to weaveplantfibers into textiles.[1]
There are many sources of animal fibers. They include:
Wool refers to the hair of the domestic sheep or goat. It is different from other types of animal hair because each strand is coated with scales and lanolin. Wool is commonly used for thick clothing. Examples include:
Alpaca wool, vicuña wool, llama wool, and camel hair. They are generally used to make coats, jackets, ponchos, blankets, and other warm coverings.
Cashmere, the hair of the Indian cashmere goat, and mohair, the hair of the North African angora goat, are types of wool that are known for their softness.
Angora refers to the long, thick, soft hair of the angora rabbit.
Sea silk is an extremely fine, rare, and valuable fabric. It is made from the silky filaments or byssus secreted by a gland in the foot of pen shells.
Silk is an animal textile made from the fibres of the cocoon of the Chinese silkworm. It is spun into a smooth fabric which is soft. Around four-fifths of the silk made is made up of cultivated silk.