ANY MATERIAL COMPOSED OF FIBRES IS A TEXTILE, AND THIS DEFINITION covers an extremely wide range of products in everyday use. Worldwide, over 35 million tonnes of textile fibre is consumed annually, ending up not only as clothing, upholstery, bed linen and carpets, but also in such items as ropes, seat belts, nets, road stabilisation mats, drainage pipes and tents. It is not surprising that, wh...