“STRATFORD EVENING POST” WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, JUNE 15, 1925. A TEXTILE REVOLUTION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume LV, Issue 90, 15 June 1925, Page 4

“STRATFORD EVENING POST” WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, JUNE 15, 1925. A TEXTILE REVOLUTION.

The manufacture of artificial silk, which threatens to become a formidable competitor of wool and cotton, had stimulus given to it by the recent boom in wool, for spinners were encouraged to take ujn the new textile, and having done so, they found it remarkably, adapted to the manufacture of fabrics. Artificial silk has obtained a firm footing in the textile industry, and become a competitor with New Zealand’s staple product which cannot lightly be disregarded, more especially as being made from wood pulp there is no likelihood of shortage of the raw material. It is just forty-seven years since Hilaire do Chardonet, the father of the artificial silk industry, made his first experiments in a laboratory in Paris. But the making of artificial silk did not become stand-

arclised until live or six years ago. For all that, it is the only industry in Europe that can show a steady increase in output since 1919, and it is moving ahead at the moment so last tiiat it tiireatens to put the silkworm out or business altogether and to have a very detrimental influence upon, the industries for the growing or wool and cotton. According to the latest English figures, the total output ill the world lor 1924= was b2,797 tons. 01 this a quarter was produced in the United States, and one-sixth in England. Germany «s in third place, Italy is fourth, and France is lifth with an output ol oniy oOOU tons. All told, there are now seventy-nine linns in the world making artiiicial silk, with ninety-seven nulls. There is no longer any opposition to the new fibre. Lyons has surrendered and three-fourths of the artificial silk in France is now being made in the Lyons district. One Lyons manufacturer who hud 2du looms on real silk eighteen months ago, now has 200 of his looms on the artiiicial product, and all the best French weavers are using more or less of the new yarns. Bradford, the centre of the woollen trade; Manchester, the centre of the English cotton trade, and Tokio, an original home of the silk trade, are all sympathetically welcoming the advent of artificial silk. That well-known financial and commercial authority, the Wall Sti'eet Journal, states that in England the number of cloths containing aretificial silk has doubled in the last twelve months, and goes on to say:—“There are stupendous possibilities in artificial silk, ft is the first artificial fibre that has ever been invented. The textile industry is the second in the world. It is inferior to nothing hut food products. At present, half of the artiiicial silk is being used in stockings and jumpers alone. What will be the demand when it comes into general use?” Already in Germany, Italy and Austria the artificial product has como, to a large degree, into general use. It is used for shoe laces, suspenders, garters, underwear, dress trimmings, artifical flowers, imitation fur, imitation aigrettes, dolls’ hair, etc. Some textile men are saying that it will revolutionise the whole textile industry ; others, that it will find a field between cotton and silk; and a few that it will stimulate the cotton

trade by producing new effects. The new product lias its weak and its strong points. It is only four-tilths as strong as cotton and half as strong as real silk ■ it lacks elasticity • it lacks warmth and resilience, as compared with wool • it is brittle and difficult to weave. But on the other hand, it has points of superiority a.s well. It is the only continuous fibre ; it is not so ( liable to catch dirt and dust] it is lustrous and takes colors beautifully. In several respects, ills the best of all the fibres, and that fact is now being generally admitted. The Bradford manufacturers in their campaign against the wool vendors have, we fear, got a trump card in artificial silk, but whilst they may use it for the time being to depress the market, the intrinsic value of wool, because of its warmth and durability,

is such that it will never be superseded, and so long as the markets are properly regulated it should always be able to command a substantial and satisfactory price.