The History behind the Beauty 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.