C̶o̶t̶t̶o̶n̶ Flax (thanks hector)

[Faelanira 3]

    Alternate clothing material to wool, decreases the amount you perspire and shields you from the sun. Would be needed to travel through deserts safely and for doing work in the summer near the equator. Flax fiber would also be used to make canvas, which would replace the sugary paper we have now.

[Hector49er 31]

While Cotton sounds like a nice idea at first, Linen would be more appropriate. Until the Invention of the Cotton Gin by Eli Whitney cotton was very expensive to produce. The reason for the expense is because cotton is full of tiny seeds that must be removed before the cotton can be used. This process is VERY labor intensive and would not be my first choice for a fiber to process by hand. Once it is processed it is a pain to spin because it tends to have a very short fiber length. Linen on the other hand could be processed the same way that jute is ALREADY processed, by soaking and beating. Since it is a stalk there are no seeds to remove and the fibers are much longer and simpler to spin.

 

The reason that Linen is more expensive right now than cotton is because of modern technology. The production of textiles from cotton has been completely mechanized and therefore is much quicker and requires fewer workers, lowering cost. Linen is more difficult to mechanize because the very process of rendering the fibers useful is now sadly more difficult than running a bunch of cotton through a gin.

 

To sum up, I believe Linen to be much more practical and appropriate to the theme of TFC than cotton. It would also be MUCH easier to implement because the fiber can be produced through the barrel soaking method exactly as jute fibers are already produced.

[Faelanira 3]

Linen does seem better for everything I suggested upon me actually reading about it. So yes screw cotton, flax is the way to go. It is also doesn't stick to you when it's wet which is important for evaporative cooling because if it's stuck to your skin and it evaporates the air that is now cooler is behind you because you're walking away, as apposed to linen which is not sticky when wet (TIL) which cools a layer of air not there with cotton textiles between you and your clothing, a layer of air you take with you. So yes knowing the science behind evaporative cooling I should have done more research into textiles because I own a cotton shirt and it sticks to me when it's wet (duhr).

[Hector49er 31]

Happy to help.

[Guest Elagn]

Cotton could also be added in. Truthfully, machines to extract the seeds were made by native americans long before europeans even knew the americas existed. Their problem was that they had trouble with the type of cotton that the Europeans grew in commercial quantities. Eli Witney realy just took the original NATIVE AMERICAN design and slighty adapted it for the newer strand of cotton. I have always hated how he gets soo much credit for that in history classes. But, back to TFC, cotton could also be added, as they would have at least somewhat different climates.

[MGXII 4]

I like the general idea of there to be more crops with a function that isn't food like jute.

[TonyLiberatto 364]

What about Hemp?

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

I believe flax is planned because linen is such a prolific material, used in everything from clothing to canvas. Because clothes will affect how well you survive in different climates, linen will contrast wool. Wool will help you survive in the cold and linen will help you survive in the heat.

 

I'm using linen this way because linen is what clothes were made of in Ancient Egypt