The History of French Antique Textiles

It was during the Roman Empire days that silks were being imported from East
to Europe. Also, it was on the 11th and 12th centuries were the religious
conquest of Middle East and the Crusades spurred into France the flow of
Eastern goods.

The fledgling French textile companies were responsible in giving sources
of inspiration to the colors and design of the Eastern yard goods. The next
few centuries saw the French textile industry experienced a spurt of growth
fuelled by the demand from the French Royalty. The growth was also party due
to the court demands from the King and teh papal based in Avigon, France.

It was on the mid seventeenth century when France was one of the major
importers that imports foreign produced cloths. Though France's textile
industry had rapidly grown, there has been a great competition where in
goods in Italy and in the Far East were popular in producing cloths as well.
Then, that was the time when King Louis XIV established new laws that were
designed to lessen foreign yard goods imports and to promote silk industry
of France by improving the quality of goods produced. In this case it will
increase French Textiles export.

The laws that were established by King Louis XIV were designed to improve
and regulate the quality of French's cloths and silks. Regulations framed
by the people related to the technical aspects of silk production. They
quantified the exact fiber content, the permitted number of errors in the
course of a production run and also the number of threads in a warp or a
weft.. Furthermore, these new regulations made an industry division from
various regions in France. With these new King Louis' it resulted in a
positive way where in both the quantity and the quality of silks in France
were increased.

Unfortunately, it was also during the time of King Louis XIV that another
law was established and passed to protect the silk industry from being
competed. In this case, it prevents printed cloths from being manufactured
and sell. Needless to say, this restrictive law was finally lifted in the
mid seventeenth century.

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