Fibres and filaments are the basic raw material of the textile trade. They fall into two broad groups: natural and man-made.

Natural fibres
These can be subdivided into three main classes according to the nature of their source: vegetable, animal and mineral.
Vegetable fibres are based on cellulose, the structural material of the plant world, and include the most famous of all textile fibres, cotton, along with flax, hemp, jute and others.
Animal fibres are protein based and examples include wool, cashmere, camel hair and silk.
Mineral fibres are of limited importance in the textile trade. Asbestos is the most useful fibre in this class, which can be made into special fireproof and industrial fabrics.

Man-made fibres
The term man-made is used to refer to any fibre that does not occur in nature, although the material from which it is composed may occur naturally. Man-made fibres are usually split into two distinct classes, according to the fibre-forming substance from which they are made: natural polymer fibres and synthetic fibres.

Natural polymers
These are made from naturally occurring materials such as wood and rubber. They are manufactured by conversion to a molten solution which can be extruded into fibres and filaments.

Synthetic
Typically, these are petrochemical derivatives which are synthesised to form fibrous chemical chains. Molten chemical is extruded through spinerettes to form filaments which can be cut into fibres.