Fibers

Natural fibers may be derived from many sources, including animals, vegetables, and minerals. The use of such fibers extends back beyond recorded history, archaeological evidence indicating that wool and flax had begun being woven into fabrics by the sixth century BC. Man-made fibers, however, which are fibers chemically and structurally altered to an appreciable extent during their production, were not developed until after the Industrial Revolution. The earliest of these fibers, including rayon and acetate, were comprised of the same cellulose polymers found in many natural fibers, though in a drastically modified form. Later man-made fibers, such as nylon and polypropylene, were created through purely artificial means and came to be classed in a separate category of fibers known as synthetics.