Editing v0.34:Textile industry

The '''textile industry''' involves making [[thread]], [[cloth]], [[clothing]], [[bag]]s, [[rope]]s and [[craft]]s out of [[plant fiber]], [[silk]], [[wool]], and, to a limited extent, [[hair]]. A textile industry is one way to keep your dwarves clothed and happy (their starting clothing will slowly [[wear]] away, and high-value replacements boost happiness), and can be a very lucrative option as a [[wealth]] industry, especially if the goods are high quality. The best choice for textile trade goods are dresses and robes because they have the highest base [[value]]. A textile industry is also important for healthcare: cloth and thread are needed for bandages and suturing respectively, although the necessary materials can normally be acquired via [[caravan]]s too.

See also the [[Leather#Leather industry|leather industry]], which can provide an alternative source of clothing.

[[Farming#Above Ground Farming|Above ground]] crops are a more varied and, in some cases, valuable commodity. However, they are more difficult to establish, as you must rely on plants [[plant gathering|gathered]] on your map or [[seed]]s and plants brought in by human and elven [[caravan]]s. They do have the advantage of growing in all seasons. The counterpart to pig tails underground is [[rope reed]] above ground, a widely distributed crop that can similarly be brewed or processed into thread. [[Blade weed]] is similarly widely available and can be used to make emerald dye, as is [[hide root]], used to make redroot dye (at half the value of the others). The highest-value and most difficult to acquire dye is [[sliver barb]], a black dye-producing crop that only grows in [[evil]] areas; it is never available from caravans or from embark, and must be pulled from the earth itself via plant gathering, often under the risk posed by [[weather|evil weather]].

[[Wool]] is a textile material obtainable by [[shearing]] one of a small number of creatures at a [[farmer's workshop]]: [[sheep]], [[llama]]s, and [[alpaca]]s. These animals can be sheared once every few months; as they also produce [[milk]], they are versatile animals that can supplement your textile industry. There is currently a bug that causes only one thread to be created from a stack of wool. [[Troll]]s can also be sheared by their master [[goblin]]s, explaining how many goblin thieves and besiegers come dressed in troll fur items that are fully wearable but cannot be otherwise obtained.

[[Hair]] is another textile material that comes from animals, but is only obtained by [[butcher]]ing certain animals such as [[horse]]s, [[yak]]s and [[grizzly bear]]s, as a byproduct of the [[meat industry]]. Hair is quite limited; it can only be made into (dyeable) [[thread]], and cannot be made into proper cloth or clothing. As such, it is mostly useful as cheap [[suturing]] material for dwarven [[healthcare]].

 

Wool has only half the value of crop based thread. The same goes for hair of the more common and domestic animals, but the increasingly wild and rare animals listed under '[[Value#Material_multipliers]] - animals' have more valuable hair.

Raw [[silk]] is harvested from spider webs created by [[phantom spider]]s, [[cave spider]]s, [[brown recluse spider]]s, and [[giant cave spider]]s. The first three kinds of spiders are [[vermin]] that will leave behind [[web]]s in the fortress or forests, which can be collected by the automatic "collect webs" job at a [[loom]]. This silk is worth half as much (6☼) as plant based textile. The vermin spiders can bite dwarves and although their bites are non-lethal, the dwarf in question will be very woozy for a while afterwards. Note that [[cat]]s kill spiders mercilessly, so if you want to use them for textiles, "vermin breeding chambers", or at the very least locking up your cats, are necessary precautions.

Giant cave spider silk thread (and what you produce from it) is worth only twice as much (24☼) as easily available pig tail thread (12☼). For low-quality production, skillful dyeing adds more value than a better material (a no-quality dye adds 20☼, masterful dyeing adds 240☼ to the value). Note, however that the material multiplier is incorporated into the thread, cloth, and finished good values; the actual difference in final value for a masterful robe is up to 1052☼. This makes giant cave spider [[silk farming]] a lucrative project once your textile industry matures.

The raw materials for a textile industry can be acquired via trading, as caravans bring large amounts of [[cloth]] and some thread, dye, and finished clothing, and can bring more if you ask. If you have the wealth for it, you can simply buy caravan cloth in bulk and then refine it to your needs. Caravan trading is enough to clothe even the largest fortress in adequate clothing, but you shouldn't rely on it for wealth. One can also gather the necessary plants from above ground, but this has a low overall yield, depends heavily on where you embarked, and is unpredictable.

Once you have the basic materials, you are ready to process them into thread. Crops, wool, and hair use two [[job]]s under [[plant processing]] at a [[farmer's workshop]]: you either {{k|p}}rocess the pig tails or rope reed, or {{k|S}}pin the wool or hair. Making thread out of silk is done in one step: if there are spider webs on the map, dwarves with the [[weaving]] labor enabled will gather the webs and automatically spin them into [[silk]] thread. Note, however, that this applies to giant cave spider silk as well, and that collecting it benefits from military protection.

Once the thread is sewn into cloth, it can be put to use by a [[clothier]] at a [[clothier's shop]] to create [[clothes]], the usual end product for the textile industry. Clothing is required for a mature fortress, as clothes will eventually [[wear]] away, and necessitate replacement; a highly skilled clothesmaker is a boon for any fortress.

 

If you plan to use clothing for trading, you can moderately increase its value by sewing images onto it.  Items that are [[decorate]]d in this manner are considered local for purposes of trade offerings and, depending on the quality of the decoration, an image can add significant value to an item. Note, however, that is generally more profitable to create a second piece of clothing than to decorate an existing one.

Dyeing an object is not necessary in the sense that dwarves do not demand colorful clothes, but it is an easy way to greatly increase its [[value]] if you have a skilled [[dyer]]. Both thread and cloth can be dyed, but dyed objects cannot be redyed - the coloration is permanent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Theoretically, the most valuable non-artifact/non-adamantine clothing item is worth '''3064'''. It would  be a masterful giant cave spider silk robe, made from masterful giant cave spider silk cloth masterfully dyed with dimple/silver/emerald dye. It would be worth 2344: ((33 * 4 * 12) + (10 * 4 * 12) + (10 * 4) + (1 * 20 * 12). The embroidery would be masterfully designed using masterfully-dyed giant cave spider silk cloth, adding 720: (10 * 4 * 12) + (1 * 20 * 12). Note, however, that the second piece of cloth would have likely been worth more as a second robe than as a decoration on the first.