Sweden - a brief textile history

Photo: Textile Museum Borås

The textile industry was among the first industries that became mechanical and it was the foundation of the industrial revolution during the 19th century. The spinning machines were invented in England during the 18th century and the first textile factories were built in Sweden at the beginning of the 19th century. Textile has historically been a crafts work done by women at home. Despite the textile factories arriving, crafts work done by women in their households still had an economic and cultural role to play. In Sweden, the area Sjuhäradsbygden in Västra Götaland (west parts of Sweden, where Gothenburg is located), is mentioned already in the 16th century for its textile work on wool and linen and in 1999 it represented 50% of the Swedish textile export.

The first material being industrialised was cotton. England had several good types of machinery for textile production but had banned machinery exports to protect their industry. C.H Strimberg was one of the first Swedes to establish textile factories in Sweden based on the knowledge he got from working in Copenhagen. One was established in Kullens in 1805 and one in Sjungstorp in 1813. In 1830 the factories developed thanks to machinery from Belgium that had been developed by Englishmen establishing their business abroad. The workforce was cheap since most of the workers were children under 15 years old. And in the 1940s and 1950s, Sweden could finally benefit from the machinery from England, but their advancement required adults to work in the factories instead. Due to the increase in the supply of textiles, the price of textile decreased and common people started to change their clothes more often which improved their hygiene. During the American Civil War, the supply of cotton decreased which hit the industry in Sweden in a negative way, but after the war, the industry recovered.

At the end of the 18th century machinery improved even more and from 1910 to 1936 the workers needed to produce a certain amount of textiles were reduced by half. The industry became more and more efficient. The textile factories’ workforce was dominated by women and according to statistics from the 1920s, most injuries and accidents at work happened in female-dominated industries.

In Sweden, the textile industry was mostly dominated in Norrköping, Gothenburg, Sjuhärjabygden (as mentioned above) and in Skåne (The very south part of Sweden where Malmö is located). In 1911 there were 175 textile factories in Norrköping. One of the more popular companies was Algots, founded in 1907 which produced clothes popular before and after the Second World War. In 1952 2 million clothes were produced and in 1964 4 million clothes were produced. The company went bankrupt in 1977 like many other textile companies in Sweden in the middle of the 19th century. Production costs were cheaper in low income countries and the Swedish companies couldn’t compete with the prices.

Source: Tekniska (Technical museum in Sweden)

Social and environmental consequences

The industrial revolution has in many ways been regarded as progress in human development. Suddenly we could produce more food, clothes and other items needed, providing jobs for more people and salaries making it easy for people to consume. Many people went from poor landless people or farmers to industrialised workers. Families were separated to provide a better income in the hope of a better future for the next generation. Partly that is true, the economy improved and so did the opportunities to find jobs and make a living, not to mention how an improved economy also could be used for social investments such as health care and education (in what ways economic progress however leads to social progress depends of course on culture and politics at that time). But the development also came with huge environmental and social costs. The working conditions were very poor in many of these industries and workers had no rights. The increased working-class also lead to the establishment of unions to fight for their rights, but it would take many decades before conditions were of good standards.

Environmentally, the industry has several negative impacts. Colours and other chemicals were used and more and more of them were introduced as methods developed. Often without any consideration of the potential harm to nature and humans. Viskan is a 142 km long river located through the city of Borås among other towns. The river has high levels of zinc, copper, chromium, lead and dioxins on its bottom. This is a result of the textile industry and other industries dominating the area in the 20th century. The decrease in fish population was already known in 1911 but without the industries, the city would never have grown and provided as many jobs as it did either. The issue of pollution remains today.

Source: Borås Stad

Sweden today

When looking at the history of Sweden we can easily see parallels to the textile industry abroad. Where textiles are produced close to rivers where water is accessible during poor working conditions providing poor salaries. The industries are providing jobs and economic development but do not include social and environmental costs.

Sweden still has a textile industry. In 2013 the total revenue was 121 billion SEK. 21 % of this is export and 79% is for the domestic market. 52% of the revenue is wholesale but 12% is still production. In 2013 7512 people still worked in textile production in Sweden and about 60 000 people in the industry totally.

Source: TEKO

Sweden has gone from a textile-producing country to a textile-consuming country. We buy about 14 kg of textile per person and year. Just 20 years ago that number was 10 kg textile per person and year. The largest climate and environmental impact happen during production, about 90%, and as such Sweden has moved its environmental and social costs abroad. The textile industry in Sweden today has good standards thanks to regulations, fights by unions and cultural and social shifts in what we consider to be decent industries. This revolution needs to happen in countries where the textile factories are dominating today. But that also means that the costs of clothes will increase, that we have to take care of what we have and that fewer people might be able to work with production. Higher skills to work in other areas in the fashion industry will instead be needed.

Source: Naturvårdsverket (Swedish Environment Protection Agency)

You can be a part of that transformation too by supporting unions and organisations working for the textile workers’ rights. By consuming clothes produced in ethical and environmentally friendly ways. By joining campaigns and sharing content on social media. By learning from history and increasing knowledge of the complex interlinkages between economic, social and environmental development.

It would be an insult to the workers who worked in Sweden or the cities developed around the factories to say that the textile industry in Sweden was a mistake. Not at all, it did bring development, but we could also learn from that history and develop textile industries and the fashion industry in a more sustainable way with economic models suitable for a living and thriving planet.

Photo: Släkthistoria