British Imperialism and its Legacies: Textiles & Fashion Industry

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Glasgow Museums has a collection of items in European Dress and Textiles, Glasgow History, and World Cultures that relate to the impact of international trade, colonisation, the British Empire and globalisation on the textiles and fashion industry.

For thousands of years fibres and dyes to make textiles, as well as processed yarns, threads and cloth, have been traded internationally. Britain's early textile industry was predominantly focused on wool and linen for domestic and export markets in continental Europe. But with the expansion of trading routes and colonisation from the 1600s to early 1900s, textiles became a major industry, especially in Glasgow and Lanarkshire, Paisley and Renfrewshire, and the Vale of Leven and Dunbartonshire. For example, James Templeton & Co., carpet manufacturers based in Glasgow, imported much of their raw materials such as cotton and wool from throughout the British empire.

Under colonisation and the British Empire textiles became a global industry, fuelled by a growing and regular demand for short-lived new fashions. Raw materials were grown in the colonies, many by enslaved labourers, shipped back to Britain to be spun and woven into cloth, which was then sold both at home and abroad, frequently back to areas where the raw materials had been exported from. British monopolies grew, often safeguarded by laws that protected machinery and the information about specific industrial processes being exported or shared abroad. British merchants and industrialists extracted natural resources, introduced non-native crops, such as cotton, which destroyed native habitats, decimated local native industries, for example, Dhaka muslin, and exploited workforces, especially in the Americas and Asia, in pursuit of profit.

The effect of colonisation and Empire has had a lasting effect on the textile and fashion industry. Globalisation has grown and with it, inequalities. Factory Acts improved working conditions for textile workers in Britain, but they increased costs. As a result, British companies now generally outsource production to countries with cheaper labour, poor regulations and little enforcement. The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 may have ended chattel slavery throughout the British Empire, but modern slavery is endemic throughout the textile industry today. Meanwhile, the processes used to make textiles and produce clothing, together with the gross over-consumption by the Global North, are a major contributor to global warming and the climate emergency.

Broader term

British Imperialism and its Legacies: Industry and profits of Empire

Narrower term

British Imperialism and its Legacies: Imported Manufactured Textiles and Dress

British Imperialism and its Legacies: Cross-Cultural Design Influences on Textiles and Dress

British Imperialism and its Legacies: Exported Manufactured Textiles and Dress

British Imperialism and its Legacies: Imported Textile Fibres and Dyes for Textiles and Dress