Traditional Fiber Processing in Greece

Fiber processing is one of the most time-consuming components of creating a textile. Depending on the fiber, it may require cultivation of plants or the raising of animals, specialized tools, and hours of hand labor. The following is a brief overview of the fibers used and how Greek villagers and shepherds carried out these tasks.

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The Fibers

There are four fibers that were traditionally processed in the regions of Greece covered by this research: linen, cotton, wool, and goat hair. By the 1970s, widely-available and relatively inexpensive, mechanically spun cotton thread had replaced most locally grown, hand-processed cotton.

Linen, which requires a great deal of labor, was only being produced on a very limited scale by a few remaining villagers.

Goat hair is a strong, but rough fiber, used to produce items that needed to be durable and long-lasting, such as rope, saddlebags, floor coverings and roof coverings for shepherd huts, and the amazingly weather-proof shepherd’s cape.

This leaves wool as the main fiber being used, mainly by shepherds, who when asked why they continued to do so, said, “We have the wool so we must use it.”

The wool they refer to comes from the local variant of the Valachian-Zackel breed type, a small hardy sheep that can survive on the sparse grazing found on the uncultivated, brush-covered slopes of the mountains, on the grazing under olive trees, and in the fallow fields. This sheep produces a fairly coarse fiber most suitable for blankets, bags, and outerwear. But with processing can be used for sheets and garments, such as sweaters and underwear.

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The Processes

Each of these four fibers require different processes and tools to convert the raw material into usable textiles.

Here is a brief listing of the stages a fiber goes through on the way to becoming cloth.

Each of these processes will be discussed in detail in upcoming posts. Sign up here to get these in your inbox as they are published.