In the 1700's, England was the world's leading colonial power. England's colonies also provided a market for manufactured products. The manufacture and export of various cloths were vital to the English economy in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Before the Industrial Revolution, textiles were produced under the putting-out system, in which merchant clothiers had their work done in the homes of artisans or farming families. This was called the "cottage industry." Production was limited by reliance on the spinning wheel and the hand loom; increases in output required more hand workers at each stage.
In the early 1700s, there was great demand for cotton cloth. The demand for cloth was so great that people could not supply enough cloth to satisfy demand. Invention dramatically changed the nature of textile work. In 1733 John Kay invented the Flying Shuttle, which made weaving very much faster. …
