The History of Rags

Who would have thought that the business of recycling is an old idea and not a new concept as many of us think. The history of recycling textiles started with the invention of paper. It is believed that the Egyptians used a material named “tapa” which was made with figs, daphne and the inner bark of paper mulberry to create paper. Later, the Chinese invented the spinning wheel therefore the creation of woven clothes. Ts’ai Lun is credited for the invention of making paper with waste from textiles using rags in AD105.
http://www.paperonline.org/history/history_frame.html

Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450 and used paper made out of linen rags to print the Bible. This paper was called cloth parchment. Previously he had used parchment paper to print the Bible and it would take the skin of 300 sheep to print just one book.
http://www.conservatree.org/learn/Papermaking/History.shtml/

According to the Salvation Army’s website, in the 17th century in England, a man named Benjamin Law, used old clothes, re-spun them and made them into yarn to be used again into new clothes. Later in the 20th century also in England, the term “Rag and Bone Man” was given to men who would take old stuff and clothes in exchange for different items. These “Rag and Bones Men” would drive their horses and carts around the cities collecting stuff and the old clothes to be used as “Mungo and Shoddy”.

“Rag and Bone Man is a british phrase for junk dealer”. (Wikipedia). The rag part of the name was given to them because they collected old rags to make paper and more textiles; the bone part of the name was given because they collected bones to make glue. (I imagine the bones where from animals such as pig, chickens, turkeys, etc.).

The definition of Mungo is the process of turning old clippings from tailors and combined them with shredded wool and turning them into a new type of yarn.
Shoddy’s definition is the process of taking old shredded rags and re-spun them into another type of rag called Shoddy.
http://www.maggieblanck.com/Land/Shoddy.html

There are some interesting results if you do a search for Rag and Bone Man in the internet. One of them is about David Beckam, the famous soccer player from England, being the son of a Rag and Bone Man.

In 1690, the first paper mill in Philadelphia used rags to manufacture paper. In the 1600’s the creation of newspapers started what was called “the rag wars”. Newspapers were used to communicate political information, therefore, the demand for newspapers increased and the supply for rags decreased and several countries instituted laws that prohibited rags from being taken out of their countries and so, the smuggling rag business made a lot of people rich during this time.
http://www.conservatree.org/learn/Papermaking/History.shtml/

Today, according to the Council for Textile Recycling, about 75,000 tons of textile waste, is recycled each year into raw materials for many industries, including the rags that our company sells. An approximate 20% of these materials becomes wiping and polishing cloths.

Our industry is contributing to reusing waste material to be incorporated into our daily lives, by utilizing these “rags” in any type of business that requires polishing, wiping, staining, painting, cleaning and many other uses. For all your “rag needs” go to:
htpp://www.ragsforindustry.com