Chapter 239: Industrial City Abito (1)
Before the Industrial Revolution, the standard for the middle class was this:
Could the entire family make or buy new clothes at least once a year?
It's a hard concept to understand for modern people who buy at least a few sets of clothes a year, but in the days before spinning wheels and weaving machines, creating a single piece of clothing required immense labor, and as a result, the price of clothes inevitably increased.
So, whether it was wool or cotton, simply turning them into clothes resulted in huge added value.
“Why did the Industrial Revolution happen? There are many reasons, but...”
If I had to choose just one, it’s this:
“How could we make clothes cheaper, faster, and sell more of them?”
From there, steam engines, the development of iron-making technology, and other new innovations followed.
I may not be able to create a steam engine right now, but at the very least, if I could borrow the power of water-powered looms and water-powered spinning machines?
I could make clothes at least 10 times faster than others, and reduce the labor cost that makes up the bulk of the price of clothes to under 10%.
‘For the price of one piece of clothing that others sell, we could sell about 4 to 5 pieces.’
“This too is British wisdom. After all, the British Empire is right about everything except food, right?”