Unquestionably, fibre yielding plants are second only to the food plants in their usefulness. Primitive tree dwellers and cavemen lived by hunting and foraging over fruits, seeds and roots that nature provided. Wool and hides provided the first clothing to these predecessors of modern man. Long before recorded history, however, primitive man had turned his attention to plant fibres, not only for tying and thatching but eventually for weaving lighter, cooler and more pliable fabrics than skins and hides.

Ropes of various kinds have been identified in the Egyptian tombs that are estimated to be nearly 4000 years old. In addition, craftsmen have been shown making ropes in tomb paintings dating from 500 BC. Palm leaf fibres were found among 12000-year-old artifacts during the Tehuacan Valley excavations in Mexico. A beautifully crafted net, made from Apocynum bast fibres, dating as far back as 5000 BC has been discovered in the Danger Caves, Utah, USA. Fragments of woven flax fibres have also been unearthed in the ruins of Swiss lake dwellings, nearly 10000 years old.

The art of spinning and weaving was founded in the Stone Age. Perhaps the earliest and simplest form of baskets were made by tying together the ends of a number of stout branches of willows (Salix spp.) and then weaving more slender flexible branches in and out until a conical basket was formed. The primitive basketmaker invented many of the stitches or weaves seen in the modern textiles. The knowledge of weaving gained by the basketmaker was further applied in the manufacture of matting or weaving better cloth from finer material discovered with time. As time progressed, finer materials were discovered and the skill perfected, which was later used for weaving better cloth.

Before weaving fabrics, fibres must be spun into yarn - a continuous twisted thread made up of interlocking fibre strands. Originally, a yarn was prepared entirely by hand. Distaff and spindle were the first hand tools used for spinning purposes, this further led to the invention of a familiar spinning wheel during the Middle Ages. Today's automated power spinning machinery also uses the same principle.