Editing Industrial Revolution (section)

====Pre-mechanized European textile production====
[[File:Landauer I 014 v.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|[[Weaving|Weaver]] in [[Nürnberg]], {{Circa|1524}}]]
By 1600, [[Flemish people|Flemish]] refugees began weaving cotton in English towns where cottage spinning and weaving of wool and linen was established. They were left alone by the [[guild]]s who did not consider cotton a threat. Earlier European attempts at cotton spinning and weaving were in 12th-century Italy and 15th-century southern Germany, but these ended when the supply of cotton was cut off.

British cloth could not compete with Indian cloth because India's labour cost was approximately one-fifth to one-sixth that of Britain's.<ref name="auto" /> In 1700 and 1721, the British government passed [[Calico Acts]] to [[Protectionism|protect]] domestic woollen and linen industries from cotton fabric imported from India.<ref name="David S. Landes 1969" /><ref name="Ayers1989" /> The demand for heavier fabric was met by a domestic industry based around Lancashire that produced [[fustian]], a cloth with flax [[Warp and weft|warp]] and cotton [[Warp and weft|weft]]. Flax was used for the warp because wheel-spun cotton had insufficient strength, the resulting blend was not as soft as 100% cotton and more difficult to sew.<ref name="Ayers1989">{{Cite book
 |last1        = Ayres
 |first1       = Robert
 |author1-link = Robert Ayres (scientist)
 |title        = Technological Transformations and Long Waves
 |year         = 1989
 |url          = http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Admin/PUB/Documents/RR-89-001.pdf
 |pages        = 16–17
 |access-date  = 20 December 2012
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120301220936/http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Admin/PUB/Documents/RR-89-001.pdf
 |archive-date = 1 March 2012
}}</ref>

On the eve of the Industrial Revolution, spinning and weaving were done in households, for domestic consumption, and as a cottage industry under the [[putting-out system]]. Under the putting-out system, home-based workers produced under contract to merchant sellers, who often supplied the raw materials. In the off-season, the women, typically farmers' wives, did the spinning and the men did the weaving. Using the [[spinning wheel]], it took 4-8 spinners to supply one handloom weaver.<ref name="David S. Landes 1969" /><ref name="Ayers1989" /><ref name="McNeil1990">{{Harvnb|McNeil|1990}}</ref>{{rp|823}}