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A thread through time

Land & Environment

What did the industry take from the land and water?

Dammed rivers, exhausted cotton soils, dye-stained mill races, and microplastic fibers: the material history behind the cloth.

6 stories across 4 chapters

  1. Before 1600 · Before the Loom

    Innovation

    Cotton on the Mesa

    Ancestral Pueblo and Hopi weavers, and a fiber grown in the desert for centuries before Europeans arrived.

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    A Hopi weaver at a vertical loom hung against a stone house wall, Moenkopi, Arizona. The Hopi are among the Pueblo nations descended from the Ancestral Pueblo communities that wove cotton on the Colorado Plateau.
    George Wharton James, "Male Hopi weaver at Moenkopi, Arizona," c. 1898. California Historical Society Collection, USC Digital Library (CHS-4619). Public domain.
  2. Tragedy

    The Long Walk and the Trading Post

    1863 to the 1930s: how conquest, confinement, and federal policy reshaped Diné weaving.

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    Diné (Navajo) captives under armed guard at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, during the internment at Bosque Redondo that followed the Long Walk.
    U.S. Army Signal Corps, "Navajo Indian captives under guard, Fort Sumner, New Mexico," c. 1864-1868. Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA 028534); U.S. National Archives (NAID 148727588). Public domain.

  3. 1950–1980 · The Polyester Dream

    Impact

    The Cost of 'Miracle' Fibers

    How synthetic clothing became a source of microplastic pollution.

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    A DuPont trade booklet of dyed Dacron polyester and Antron nylon swatches-the synthetic palette sold to American mills and garment makers.
    E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, "Dacron & Antron Colour Story," fabric sample booklet. Science History Institute, via Wikimedia Commons. No known copyright restrictions.

  4. 1980–2005 · The Great De-Industrialization

    Material Culture

    Ghosts of the Mill Town

    What remains in the buildings the looms left behind.

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    The Loray Mill in Gastonia in 2013, during its conversion from a shuttered mill into apartments and shops.
    Upstateherd, "Loray Mill, Gastonia, NC" (2013). Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

  5. 2020–Present · The Circular Reckoning

    Impact

    The New York Fashion Act

    A major U.S. attempt to legislate apparel supply chains—still unpassed.

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    A worker pushes a cart of fabric bolts between delivery trucks in Manhattan's Garment District, April 1973.
    Dan McCoy, "A frequent sight in midtown Manhattan's famous Garment District (between Broadway and Eighth Avenue)," April 1973. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NAID 549867). Public domain.
  6. Innovation

    Mycelium, Brewed Protein, and the Next Fiber

    Early attempts at cloth grown in trays and tanks rather than fields.

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    A sample of leather-like material grown from fungal mycelium.
    ThamaraGroenleer, "Mushroom leather" (2022). Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

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