Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-03-05
NEW FABRICS
BY Frederic J. Haskin

textile manufacturers become popular IN LulS
country.
The Germans have achieved some remark
able results in the textile line by proceed
ing upon the assumption that almost any
vegetable product, from a dandelio1 to a
parsnip, can be turned into clothing if neces-
sity demands it. During tie war, necessity
did. The German supplies of wool anG cot
ton became exhausted; they were unable to
smuggle their new supplies through the
blockade, so there was nothing left for Ger
man chemists to do but to produce something
new in the way of fabrics
An exhibit Of these novelties, ground out
under the exigencies &C war, was recently
held by the bureau of foreign and domestic
commerce here, and was widely attended by
American textile manufacturers 1t includ-
ed samples Of overcoatings, table colths, pa
per, sport Jackets, sweaters, underwear,
stockings and socks, worsted and many
other mems and women's garments-an -ade
from various vegetable products heretofore
scorned being of little value. Nettles,
hops, willow bark, pine needles, cornstalks
and asparagus are merely few of the things
represented in the materials.
Instead of being brittle and fragile and
impractical for windy weather, as might be
supposed, the new vegetable fabrics are soft
and serviceable and guaranteed to with
stand the toughest gale. The German I'M
derwear, made from China grass, is said to
be better than that made Of pure wool or
wool and cotton, as it prevents the garments
from shrinking 1t is also declared by tex
tile experts to be of better wearing quality.
A large variety of clothing sources isl
something absolutely new in the history of
our civilization. Tt is revolutionary-fo
ever since men decided that they looked bet
ter in clothes they have been MAXIM, them
from the same old products, which are WOOL
silk, cotton and flax. Archac illogical records
show that the arts of spinning and weaving
were in late stage of development as far
back as 1900 B. c., which is as far back as
the matter can be traced, and that these four
brics were we'll known then.
The Four Sources
In other words, all tEat we wear our
frocks and frock coats, our neckties and
stocks and laces and frilIs and furbelows -
comes from only these four sources, that
were discovered far back when the race WIS
young.
Our wool supply is obtained chiefly from
the pellage of sheep, while small quantity
is also obtained from the hair of certain
goats Cashmere and Mohair, for example)
| as we'll as from the hair of camels. The
earliest clothmakers tapred the same sources
for their wool.
All of our raw silk is provided for US by
obliging caterpilIars, which secrete the SUBJ
stance in their glands and spin it into CO.
coons or cases in which they make their
change from worm to moth. And the
Mongolians had the silk worms we'll trained
for this purpose centuries ago.
Cotton, obtained from the seed pod Of the
cotton plant, was also we'll understood by the
| ancients, while early history records the use
of rich linens made from flax.
In recent years, but two other sources
have been added to these four. American
manufacturers have succeeded in producing
rough textiles, such as burlap, from the jute
plant, and American chemists, after much ex-
Fermentation, have been able to produce
artificial silk.
Then the Germans began their expert
Thnca
menced really some years before the war
and the first successful vegetable fabrics
were brought to this country as early as
1914. But it was the war, which for the
time being eliminated the four big textile
staples from the market, that gave them
their chance
According to a statement of the bureau of
foreign and domestic commerce, the new
vegetable fiber industry was established at
Fuerstenberg, Germany, 1912. During the
first year in which the plant was operated it
confined it's activities merely to the manu-
facture and sale of fibers-the raw product
I'm 1913 spinning machinery was set up,
and since then the spinning Of yarn from
these tibers has been carried on on an ever-in-
creasing scale. In the eigh1 years of it's ex-
istence the products of this concern have
covered a wide range of vegetable fbers, in
Guiding China grass, Australian seaWeed
jute, old jute rags and shoddy worstel yarn.
A number of others were worked up during
the war and extensively used IN the CoXtllo
industry. Some of these fibers were bandon-
ed after the war, owing to the fact that the
supply in Germany was not sufficient to
warrant their permanent use.
Cloth from Grass
1.-THE vegetable fiber derived from China
grass is known as soliGonia. 1t is similar to
ramie, which is known and used in the
United States. The German fiber company, |
by means Of a special process, produces a
long, fine, soft and curly fiber. 1t looks
very much like wool and mixes readily with
that product, thus opening a wide field for
it's use in the wooden industry. Solidinia |
gained a wide use on account of shortage Of
wool during the war. AS a substitute for
linen, so1idonia has been used in Germany
for the manufacture of table linen Of beauty
and strength 1t has also been used for ma
chine betting. Hosiery mills and underwear
mills have produced from it stockings which
are difficult to tear; unshrnkabIe underwear
and sporting jackets Of fine quality and
strength.
"The German wooleE mills have also
manufactured an army cloth which, compos-
ed of rs per cent wool and 25 per cent
so1idonia, surpasses, it is asserted, in tensile
strength any pure wool cloth. Women's
clothing and mems clothing of half solidonia
and half wool or sIoddy cloth is likewise
proving highly successful.
"Another fiber from which has beer OBJ
tanned splendid results" the bureaus report
continues, els the fiber known as posdonia
also a vegetable product It is derived
from seaweed dredged in Australia and wash
ed in sweet water. Brought to Germany, the
fiber is subjected to a chemical treatment to
soften it and make it resilient. the original