Natural products have been used for thousands of years to make clothing. The Egyptians and Romans of antiquity used flax fibres to make linen fabrics. Leather, which is tanned animal hide, was a favourite material even in the Stone Age, as a material for making shoes and belts. It has been only in recent decades that inexpensive petroleum-based synthetic fibres have predominated over leather. In the recent past, however, a return to traditional natural fibres has become particularly apparent.

Unlike cotton, the stems of other textile plants are further processed: for example, flax, hemp and jute. Global production of such bast fibres, however, is much less – around 2 million tons annually. After the bast fibres have been separated, their further processing is similar to that for cotton. Yarn is spun from the individual fibres, which is then processed to textiles. Their areas of use, however, are different: bast fibres are used primarily as so-called technical textiles for industrial applications, and not so often to manufacture clothing.

The capability for cotton to cover the enormous international demand for textiles continues to decline. In 1990, 19 million tons was internationally available, which amounted to a share of 49%. Although 20 million tons was available in 2000, this amounted to a share of only 40 %, since the international market for all fibres had grown. Currently, cotton has a share of 31%.