The Italian raw silk trade between China and Europe, 1850-1915

De Angeli, A. (Invited speaker)

School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics

Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited or keynote talk at national or international conference

Period	15 Mar 2019
Event title	Mixing Fibres between East and West: Textiles and Materiality,16th-20th centuries.
Event type	Conference
Location	Venice, ItalyShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International

Keywords

China
Italy
Silk
trade

Documents & Links

Linking Cloth-Clothing Globally Symposium Organized by Miki Sugiura, John Styles and Giorgio Riello Supported and Funded by JSPS, Global History and Culture Centre, University of Warwick and Leverhulme Trust Textiles has been written by fibre: the histories of silk, linen, cotton, ramie and synthetic fibres have been dealt separately. Their regional as well as inter-regional technological and organizational developments have been considered mostly within a specific fibre framework. However, today’s mixing of fibres casts doubts as to whether this “fibre-by-fibre” approach is the right one for writing a history of textiles. Most textiles are in no sense “pure”, but a mixture: not only different fibres were mixed, but new types of yarns were constantly created within a fibre to mix and make new types of cloth.Whendiditallstart?Manypointstotheearlytwentiethcentury,whensyntheticfibreswerefirstdeveloped.Yet,the mixing various quality of fibres and materials has a much longer history. While the mixing of different qualities of fibres was a common and established practice in the textile industry, the introductionofnewfibrestoaregionbroughtnewchallengesandopportunities. SituatedatthefringesofEurasian continent, Western Europe and East Asia experienced a major transformation in the production of cloth from switching fromtwonaturalfibrestofourduringthesixteenthtothetwentiethcenturies.Theincreasedavailabilityofaffordableand high-quality silk fibres by the sixteenth century, as well as broader access to cotton fibre since seventeenth century accelerated the mixing practice in both regions. Mixing practices lie at the core of the expansion of consumable fashion products. The rise of mixed fabrics and products such as fustians, laces, stockings and ribbons were the result of mixing different qualities of fibre. Technological and product innovations helped the integration of these fibres. Mixing practices entered to yet another stage when Western European wool fibre and mechanically spun cotton and silk yarns were introduced to East Asia. These regions in turn became major exporters of silk and cotton products. In the midst of the competition and market diversification, both regions transited into leading producers of synthetics in the twentieth century, which intensified mixing practices even further. The conference will analyse these processes by focusing mainly on Italy, France, Britain, The Netherlands, the Ottoman Empire, Japan and China.