The Textile Museum of Borås () is a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

history in Borås, Sweden.

History

Historically a textile and fashion industry was centered at

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 114,556 inhabitants in 2024. It is widely known for being a textile city, home to worldwide brands and companie ...

and the area of Sjuhäradsbygden in southern

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Vä ...

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County () is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1,616,000 amounts to 17% of S ...

. Sweden's textile industry began to build up in the early 19th century. Decline of the Swedish textile industry from the 1950s resulted in reduced employment leading into the mid-1970s. The Textile Museum in Borås started in 1972 in the premises of a former textile factory, Åkerlunds Bomullsspinneri AB. That plant had dated to 1898 and was designed by English

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Philip Sidney Stott (1858–1937). In 2012, the museum was closed after it was decided to gather Borås' textile operations in the same building. In May 2014, the museum was reopened in new premises in the Simonsland neighborhood in the former premises of Svenskt Konstsilke AB. The Textile

Museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

is a city-owned museum with two missions. It is first an industrial and mechanical museum, showing the growth of the Swedish

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. Industry process Cotton manufacturing Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, th ...

through

spinning Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

and

yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. '' Thread'' is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern ...

production, the

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

s, and the

knitting Knitting is a method for production of textile Knitted fabric, fabrics by interlacing yarn loops with loops of the same or other yarns. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done Hand knitting, by hand or Knitting machi ...

of tricot. Secondly, it is a museum of creation, showing and collecting Swedish textile design from the 20th century onward. In 2022 the museum exhibited Sweden's first unisex

folk costume Folk costume, traditional dress, traditional attire or folk attire, is clothing of an ethnic group, nation or region, and expresses cultural, religious or national identity. An ethnic group's clothing may also be called ethnic clothing or ethnic ...

, the

Bäckadräkten Bäckadräkten () is Sweden's first unisex folk costume, designed in 2022 by musician Fredy Clue and textile designer Ida Björs. The design merges elements that are traditionally considered either male or female, such as the vest that is also ...

, which was designed and produced through a collaboration with musician

Fredy Clue Fredy Samuel Lundh (born 1994 or 1995), known professionally as Fredy Clue, is a Swedish folk musician and artist from Gothenburg. Educated at the Högskolan för scen och musik, Academy of Music and Drama at the University of Gothenburg, Clue ...

and textile designer Ida Björs.

References

Other sources

*Ericson, Anders (1979) ''Stagnation, kris och utveckling: strategier och utvecklingsförlopp i svenska teko-företag'' (Malmö: LiberLäromedel)

External links

Textilmuseet website
History museums in Sweden Textile museums Museums in Västra Götaland County Culture in Borås 1972 establishments in Sweden 20th-century establishments in Älvsborg County {{Sweden-museum-stub