| |
The exhibition conveys the
history and present-day situation of textile creation in
Eastern Switzerland whose diversity and quality is
unique. Apart from a look back into history, it is
today's fabrics which are the focus of particular
attention. Visitors will see healing bandages, ski-racing
suits, haute couture models,
Alinghi sails, and the latest lace bras.Flax cultivation as early as 3750
B.C.
This part of the exhibition leads visitors as far
back as the year 3750 B.C. Even at that time, flax was
cultivated and woven in the area around Lake Constance,
as several flax fabrics discovered in Pfyn near
Frauenfeld testify.
A man's annual textile
requirements in 816
Cloths made of flax and wool have been evidenced in
St.Gallen documents since the 9th century. Thus a man
called Gozbert, who made over his possessions to the
Abbey of St.Gallen in 816, received compensation which
included, among other things, the textiles necessary for
life on a yearly basis: a woollen garment, two linen
garments, six pairs of footwear, a pair of gloves, one
hat, bedlinen and, every two years, a woollen blanket.
300 kilometres of linen per year
The rise of linen production and trade in St.Gallen
can be traced back to the 12th century. It is estimated
that as early as the second half of the 14th century,
St.Gallen's linen production is was 2,000-3,000 cloths
per annum, which is tantamount to an overall length of
200-300 kilometres.
From the 16th to the early 17th centuries, the Eastern
Swiss linen trade was Switzerland's most important export
business. St.Gallen linen was sold as far afield as
Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia
and Poland. Through the Mediterranean ports, it also
reached the Maghreb, Syria, Persia, Greece, Turkey, the
Crimea and even the Ukraine.
Spinning, weaving, printing and
embroidering
In the 18th century, cotton weaving began to
supersede linen weaving. Within only a few years, the
linen stronghold of St.Gallen turned to cotton processing
with spinning, weaving, printing and hand-embroidering.
This was of crucial importance for the future of the
region.
The impulse for hand-embroidering is thought to have come
from Turkish embroideresses whom St.Gallen merchants had
noticed in Lyons. The base for embroidery was muslin.
Embroidery quickly captured the city and its environs,
and finally spread to large areas of Eastern Switzerland
and the Austrian Vorarlberg. Thanks to cotton processing,
Eastern Switzerland became an internationally competitive
and progressive producer from 1730 to 1780.
The global leader in embroidery
The Industrial Revolution was characterised by
mechanisation, increases in factory size, and the growing
significance of capital. This development made it
possible for productivity to be increased many times
over, with correspondingly lower prices.
In St. Gallen, the Industrial Revolution coincided with
the radical political changes in the wake of the French
Revolution of 1789. With Napoleon's Mediation Act of
1803, which provided the basis for modern Switzerland
and, along with it, the Canton of St.Gallen, the country
regained its internal political peace and stability.
From 1800 to 1820, the textile region of St.Gallen was
introduced to industrialisation in the shape of the
mechanisation of cotton spinning, weaving, textile
finishing and embroidery. Owing to mechanisation, the
production of embroidery took on completely new forms and
dimensions. Within a short period of time, machines and
other technical innovations made St.Gallen into the world
leader in the field of embroidery. In the 19th century,
the city became an affluent metropolis. About 100,000
people earned their living directly or indirectly in the
textile industry. The First World War and fashion's
concurrent turning away from embroidery brought
fundamental change. The number of people employed in
embroidery dropped from about 70,000 in 1910 to 6,000 in
the mid-1930s.
From textile monoculture to a
many-faceted textile region
Recovery only set in after 1945. Eastern
Switzerland's textile monoculture changed in the
direction of economic diversity. The textile economy
became one economic branch among others. New synthetic
fabrics on a mineral oil basis played an increasingly
important role. With innovative niche products of high
quality, the textile Industry succeeding in attaining the
position of a global leader. To this day, the high
quality of St.Gallen embroideries has ensured that they
remain the materials that are in greatest demand for
creations designed for the catwalks of Parisian haute
couture. Technical textiles such as fabrics for
filters, serigraphy and textile printing, or for the
development of a new type of bandage, have increased in
significance.
Despite innovations and an increase
in productivity, the number of employees has dropped. As
early as the 1960s, various firms began to move their
production plants abroad in order to cut labour costs.
Even so, 40 years later virtually all the sectors of
textile production are still represented in the textile
region of St.Gallen.
|
