Introduction to geotextiles Although skins, brushwood, and straw–mud composites have been used to improve the soft ground for many thousands of years, it is not realistic to refer to these as ‘geotextiles’. The important factor that separates them from modern geotextiles is that they cannot be made with specific and consistent properties. When modern polymers were developed in the mid 20th century, it became possible to create textiles with designed forecastable performance and to produce them in large quantities with statistically consistent and repeatable properties.
This Complete Textile Glossary is intended to be a convenient reference for textile terminology.
Although it covers all types of textile terms broadly, its special emphasis is on manufactured
fibers - what they are, how they are made, and how they are used.
The first two editions of this dictionary were published under the title Man-Made Fiber and
Textile Dictionary by the former Celanese Corporation to provide a source for employees.