Final MGMT 1035: Week 10 Flashcards
Cotton and Textiles
How can the manufacture of a t-shirt be controversial?
due to how cheap it was, not leading to profits and poor labour conditions
Why was Europe not ideal for growing cotton?
climate, instead, they used wool, leather, and linen
How did silk and cotton make its way to the west?
through war and trade
Silk Road
How did Herodotus, Greek Historian, describe cotton?
“ wool exceeding in beauty and goodness that of sheep.”
Who invaded India for their cotton and basically stole it?
Alexander the Great
How did cotton make its way into Europe?
Silk Road
What was Columbus’s encounter with cotton in the Bahamas?
He was impressed by the vibrant colours and looted a large quantity of the cloth to take back to Spain.
Why was cotton more common in Europe?
comfortable, cheap, and stands up to washes
(It is inexpensive comparable to wool goods)
Where was cotton originally grown in America?
Florida by the Spanish and later in Virginia
How did cotton and tobacco influence the expansion of slavery in Virginia?
- In Virginia, cotton expanded the existing slave economy built on tobacco.
Both cotton and tobacco required a large, inexpensive workforce to produce.
Who introduced an extensive program of slavery?
The British; solidifying the notion that a cotton economy could not exist without slavery.
Who was the source of more than half of Britains cotton?
India, 95%
What did India want in exchange of their dyed cotton?
Gold
Which companies actions changed the nature of the cotton business in India?
East India Company -> example of mercantilism and colonial systems can do to colonial economies
Who had the the secrets of dying cotton? (advanced cotton business)
India
What was a restriction of cotton?
Cotton had to be combed to remove the seed and spun into thread to be turned into cloth
- Thread needed to be loomed to create the cotton fabric
Spinning Jenny?
1764
spun cotton into thread, able to spin mutiple threads at once key developments in the industrialization of textile manufacturing
England
Who invented the Spinning Jenny?
James Hargreaves (1764)
Richard Arkwright
devised a simple but remarkable spinning machine by adding water powered system –> stronger thread
Replacing the work of human hands, the water frame made it possible to spin cotton yarn more quickly and in greater quantities than ever before
angry mob destroyed his factory
Who said “one person could do the work of many”?
Richard Arkwright
POWER LOOM?
steam power allowing them to have powerful looms in every step of the. Way and operating on large scale
Who patented a powered loom in 1785 which was improved over the following years to allow faster weaving of more thread?
Reverend Edmund Cartwright
After the elimination of slavery in the United States what replaced slave labor?
share cropping
In the early period of the Silk Road silk was rare reserved for only the wealthy in Europe. Why was this the case?
The manufacture of Silk was a Chinese state secret which made it expensive.
Which two prominent women were mentioned as influencing the shift to Fast Fashion firms like Zara and H&M?
Kate Middleton and Michelle Obama
What problem did the Cotton Gin solve?
mechanized removal of cotton seeds
This device, introduced in 1846, revolutionized the garment industry.
sewing machine, during industrial revolution
Francis Cabot Lowell’s contribution to the textile industry was…
To introduce cotton mills to America
In the Empire of Cotton article Beckhart notes that “The United States more than any other country had elastic supplies of the three crucial ingredients that went into the production of raw cotton” What were they?
labor, land, and credit
How did World War Two change the fashion business?
People became accustomed to standard sizes.
fabric restrictions and a focus on functional clothing
The fire that killed 146 garment workers in 1911 took place in…
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
New York
What city was known as the birthplace of industry
Manchester, England
the cotton capital of the world in a place that doesn’t produce cotton ?
Making Britain and England
Factory Act (1833)
banned children from working in textile factories under the age of nine; no one obeyed the regulation since they weren’t enforced
What was considered the adult age to work “normal hours”
14 (9 to 13 limited to nine hours a day and 48 hours a week)
Lowell, Massachusetts, names in honour of
Francis Cabot Lowell
Decline at LOWELL
poor wages, workers went on strike, laws weren’t enforced
What replaced slavery in Britain?
sharecropping; they let the slaves live there and they let them share the crop of the cotton
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire New York (March 25, 1911)
Event: A fire destroyed the factory, killing 146 garment workers (123 women, 23 men) due to locked doors meant to prevent theft.
Victims: Oldest was 43-year-old Providenza Panno; youngest were 14-year-olds Kate Leone and Rosaria Maltese.
Outcome: Families received compensation, but owners relocated to areas with no wage or regulation requirements.
Rana Plaza Factory?
in Bangladesh; 1,134 dead and many dies from the collapse of the building
What countries were the earliest earliest hubs for textile trade?
China, Turkey, and India -> Silk Road
How has the textile industry influenced the world?
international business and cultural trends
What was major catalyst for establishing the world’s first international commercial highway: the Silk Road
Chinese silk
Industrial Revolution
England 1700s, colonial power
What factors made it ideal for England to be the location for industrialization?
ports, population, water, and coal supply
“cottage industry”
where materials were brought to homes and collected after the textiles were finished; was largely unproductive
Key inventions in textile industry?
o Hargreaves’ “spinning jenny” for faster thread production.
o Arkwright’s water frame to improve thread quality.
o The Boulton and Watt steam engine, which increased production speed.
* These innovations allowed Britain to dominate the textile industry until the late 1780s.
1800s - sewing machine
who brought textile machinery to America?
Samuel Slater
“fast fashion”
roots are back in the 1800s, constantly evolving production system designed to bring trends to market quickly at affordable prices
How did U.S. and European companies cut costs?
outsourcing labour
fast fashion has significant drawbacks?
unjust labor practices and substantial environmental waste
What war disrupted the global cotton supplies?
Civil War in April 186
How many slaves gained freedom from the Civil War?
4 million
The Civil War prompted experiments with non-slave cotton in places like…
Egypt, Brazil, India, and Union-controlled areas
What did the end of the Civil War highlight in trade?
growing global interconnections in trade, where changes in one region affected markets worldwide
caused panic in markets like Liverpool and Bombay due to sudden shifts in cotton supply
During the Civil War, the South’s cotton embargo backfired, leaving bales to rot. Meanwhile, India, under British rule, increased cotton production by 70% in the 1860s.
How did they reconstruct cotton production after the end of slavery fro new labour systems ?
wage labour and sharecropping
Free Labour: cotton capitalists focused on reconstructing cotton production using free labor rather than slaves
Who banned cotton exports to force British recognition but was soon blocked by a northern blockade?
Confederacy
What business model has Amancio Ortega Gaona developed?
fast fashion model
Where did Zara and Inditex originate?
Galicia, Spain
What makes the Inditex fast fashion model unique?
responding quickly to changing customer demands instead of relying on preset fashion seasons or high-profile designers
What is likely to slow down the growth of Inditex sales and store openings?
increasing adoption of Inditex’s fast fashion model by competitors.
silk garments were primarily reserved for…
wealthy aristocrats and government elites due to their high cost and limited supply.
How has Ancient Chinese silk was a major catalyst for establishing the world’s first international commercial highway:
Silk Road
Silk was in high demand in the Roman Empire due to
was seen as a luxury and status symbol
Eli Whitney’s cotton gin
increased cotton production by separating seeds faster, allowing the U.S. to produce fifty times more cotton
reduced labour
What resources did England import from its colonies in the Americas and Asia, and what finished products did it export in return?
England imported resources like silk, tobacco, sugar, gold, and cotton from its colonies while exporting finished products such as textiles and metalware.
What was the impact of the decline in cotton exports to Europe during the early 1860s?
This caused the “cotton famine”, severely affecting industries dependent on cotton.
Cities like Manchester (UK) and Alexandria (Egypt) experienced significant economic disruptions.
What did observers like Herman Merivale note about the wealth of cities like Manchester during the industrial era?
Manchester was built on the toil and suffering of enslaved workers.
From what measure was cotton seen as the “greatest industry?
employment, value of output, and profitability
What served as a turning point in recognizing the need for state intervention to protect global trade networks
Civil War,
Who lacks Fair Trade Certificates?
China; they were produced in accordance with Fairtrade International’s rigorous environmental, economic and social standards
Which country increased its cotton production by replacing food crops during the U.S. Civil War?
Egypt
Which factor drives the low cost of modern fast fashion?
Reliance on low-wage, exploited labor
What tactic did the British use to make Indian textiles less competitive?
Imposing tariffs and import duties
What was one of the socio-economic impacts of the British ban on Indian textiles?
Weakening of indigenous craftsmanship
Which country was home to the first H&M store?
Sweden
What was a key reason for the global rise of cotton production in the U.S. South?
Availability of fertile land and forced labor
abundant in the production factors of land, labour, and credit
Which practice emerged during colonial rule to weaken local economies like India’s?
Import-export imbalances
Which historical period saw the rise of ready-made clothing?
Industrial Revolution
The earliest trade hubs of textiles can be found in ancient
China, Turkey, and India.
The primary driving factors for a company’s success in the textile industry
operate efficiently and securing contracts with clothing marketers for their products
How have fashion trends influenced the textile industry throughout history?
From the linen and animal skin worn by Pharaohs in Egypt to the luxurious purple silk of the Byzantine Empire
