England was the leader of wool & cotton…

…sales in 1800. Production had moved from a “cottage industry” (small shops with each step being separated & run by different people) to “mass production” (where a man & his son could run all operations under one roof). Invention of mass production looms allowed for mass production export & trade of fabrics.. especially to the fledgling United States.

(photo: Northrop High Production Loom in the Draper Corporation in Massachusetts, USA.) Draper, by the way, is still in business! It is where Silhouettes gets many of our historic materials for constructing costumes).