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Textile fibers are normally broken down into two main classes,
natural and man-made fibers. All fibers which come from natural sources
(animals, plants, etc.) and do not require fiber formation or
reformation are classed as natural fibers. Natural plant and animal fibers have provided the raw materials to
meet our fiber needs. No matter which climatic zone humans settled, they
were able to utilize the fibers of native species to make products such
as clothes, buildings, and cordage.
Natural fibers from vegetable fibers are obtained from the various parts of the plants. These fibers are classified into three categories depending on the part of the plant from which they are extracted. Those three categories are bast or stem fibers (jute, mesta, banana etc.), leaf fibers (sisal, pineapple, screw pine etc.) seed fibers (cotton, coir, old palm etc.) Many of the plant fibers such as coir, sisal, jute, banana, pineapple, and hemp find applications as a resource for industrial materials.
When it comes to the sustainability of clothing, natural fiber clothing is generally more sustainable than synthetic fibers which require high energy use and crude oil (source). Additionally, because natural fibers are plant materials, they decompose quickly. Because synthetic fibers are essentially plastic, they are not quickly biodegradable.
Properties of natural fibers depend mainly on the nature of the plant, locality in which it is grown, the age of the plant, and the extraction method used. Natural fibers are good sweat absorbents and can be found in a variety of textures. Cotton fibers made from the cotton plant, for example, produce fabrics that are light in weight, soft in texture, and which can be made in various sizes and colors. Clothes made of natural fibers such as cotton are often preferred over clothing made of synthetic fibers by people living in hot and humid climates.
The use of natural fibres for textile materials began before recorded history. The oldest indication of fibre use is probably the discovery of flax and wool fabrics at excavation sites of the Swiss lake dwellers (7th and 6th centuries bce). Several vegetable fibres were also used by prehistoric peoples. Hemp, presumably the oldest cultivated fibre plant, originated in Southeast Asia, then spread to China, where reports of cultivation date to 4500 bce. The art of weaving and spinning linen was already well developed in Egypt by 3400 bce, indicating that flax was cultivated sometime before that date. Reports of the spinning of cotton in India date back to 3000 bce. The manufacture of silk and silk products originated in the highly developed Chinese culture; the invention and development of sericulture (cultivation of silkworms for raw-silk production) and of methods to spin silk date from 2640 bce.