Did you ever wonder how that gown ended up in your possession or what kind of textile material it is composed of? When did people discover that fibers from plant, animals and even insects could be fashioned into something more useful, more versatile and more glamorous cloth? The use of natural fibers in apparels may have started way back thousands of years ago but the exact date is unknown as historians realized that countries that came to explore these fibers guarded their discoveries with all their might.

Flax is generally considered to be the oldest natural textile fiber and the use of it into weaving dates back to the Egyptian dynasties where flax were woven into linen and sewn as shrouds used in burying their pharaohs. Flax is grown in temperate and sub-tropical regions such as Russia, France, Belgium, Spain, Egypt, and among others.

Cotton, which is often spun into yarn or thread, is a native to the Americas, Pakistan, Africa and India. It has been spun, woven and dyed to clothe the ancient people of India, Egypt and China. Because cotton is highly absorbent, it is generally used in making bath towels, robes, blue jeans, socks, underwear, most T-shirts, bed sheets and yarn for knitting and crochet works. In addition to garment manufacturing, cotton is also used in fishnets, coffee filters and oil from cotton seeds.

Silk are produced by insects but the most popular of it is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm. Because of its absorbency, it is used mainly during warm season and its low conductivity keeps the skin warm during winter. Silk is widely used in making lingerie, ties, blouses, formal dresses, parachutes, comforter filling, and among others.

Wool, which is largely produced in Australia followed by New Zealand, is a textile fiber obtained from the hairs of animals such as sheep, goats, camel and rabbits. Wool is primarily used in the production of blankets, horse rugs and saddles, carpets and in some heavy machineries and radio speakers. It is also used as a cloth diaper covers because of its hydrophobic characteristics that repel water and the interior of the wool is used as a covering for wet diapers because of its ability to attract water thus the outer portion remain dry. Today, wool remains the most versatile such that its quality has never been duplicated by man-made or synthetic fiber.

Although in the recent years, fibers have been synthetically-made but the quality of natural fibers have never been surmounted or equaled. Natural or artificial, the competition has brought a positive effect to the consumers as they are given an option to choose from.

All of us, may be in a rush to redefine our looks, and in this respect our apparel plays a major role. With each new day, creativity is taking its own turn to create astonishingly beautiful and innovative apparel that most of us wish to lay our hands on. Wearing highly creative or embellished apparel becomes a costly affair for many. The solution to this problem is to buy the best wholesale apparel. Previously, people would just shop for simple clothes such as a pants, shirts, sweaters, but now they look for clothes that will define their style statement. They dress themselves up attempting to keep up with the fashion trend of the moment.

A survey has shown that the total supplies of a reputed sportswear company, has increased by around 35 million between the years 1980 and 2002. It is evident that there is a remarkable increase in the retail business of apparel, thereby increasing wholesale apparel business as well. Earlier, the traditional traders used to buy apparel wholesale, and then sell them to the the big shops. Unfortunately, the business of the wholesale apparel dealers has sharply declined, with the advent of the giant shopping complexes and malls.

Malls and shopping complexes conduct direct business with the factories that manufacture apparel and buy on a wholesale basis from these manufacturers. The manufacturers enter into contracts with the malls, which require them to supply apparel to the malls as specified by them. Therefore, the middlemen have no role to play. This is one of the reasons behind the huge profits made by the shopping malls, in spite of selling their items at a discounted price.

These malls display a huge variety of clothing of numerous brands, both national and international, such as, business suits for men and women, teenage wear, and sports wear. The shopping complexes buy apparel on a wholesale basis. In other words, these shops buy the apparel at almost half the price that we pay for them so a greater profit is being made by the malls and the shopping complexes. In the tech- savvy world of today, even wholesale apparel business has started following a new trend, that is, trading through the internet. Wholesale dealers have chosen to sell apparel through websites. Several websites are available for easy, reasonable and affordable shopping. Many of these dealers sell accessories, bags, shoes, etc along with a variety of apparels.