The Textile of the Future.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 4, 1 February 1906, Page 77

The Textile of the Future.

Certain advantages of ramie as the textile of the future are set forth in the Indian Textile Journal, which claims that ramie has the following advantages • — that it is many times stronger than cotton, flax, hemp, and the like ; that it has a very strong staple, from 3 in. to 9 in. ; and that it is easily grown, as it acclimatises itself in almost any zone where agriculture is possible. It crops in some latitudes as many as four times per year. Further, it is beautifully lustrous, more after the nature of silk 111 appearance, and it does not rot, giving it great advantages for many purposes, such as fishing lines, nets, sail-cloths, boot and saddlery thread, tarpaulins, rick-cloths, tents, hose, shop blinds, boot linings, and other requirements necessitating exposure to damp. It is non-elastic, and therefore is invaluable for machinery tapes ; mixed with wool, it imparts non-shrinking possibilities to that article.