Where Does My T-Shirt Come From?

7-9 min read
12 pages
5+

Where do T-shirts, sweaters, and dresses come from? This gentle nonfiction picture book follows thread from a cotton plant, a flax field, or a factory, then on through the loom, the tubs of dye, and the sewing machines, until the boxes are sent off to the store. Along the way, children meet the designers, workers, and big machines that make the clothes in their closet.

Look in your closet. There’s a T-shirt, a sweater, a dress… Did you know each one came a long, long way to get to you? Long ago, your T-shirt was growing in a field!

What is thread made from? Lots of it grew on a plant! Cotton plants grew white puffs, fluffy as clouds. People picked them to make thread.

Flax made thread, too. It had thin stems and blue flowers. Cotton grew its fluff in pods, but flax hid its threads inside its stems! Those threads made strong cloth that felt cool in summer.

And lots of thread never grew at all! It was made in a factory from oil—the dark kind from deep underground, not cooking oil.

All of it—cotton, flax, and factory fluff—was combed and twisted into long, long threads. Then came the loom—a giant machine! Some threads ran up and down. Others zipped across: over, under, over, under.

And there was cloth! Cloth came in all kinds. Some was thick and tough, for jeans. Some was thin and light, for a blouse. Some was soft and fuzzy, for a sweater.

Next, the cloth took a bath! It was dipped into giant tubs of color—red, blue, yellow. Then it was dried, pressed flat, and wound into big, fat rolls. Off they rode to the sewing factory.

Who decided what your clothes would look like? Designers! They drew T-shirts, dresses, and jackets. Then they made patterns—paper shapes, one for every piece. A pattern went on the cloth, and snip, snip! Out came a front, a back, two sleeves, and little pockets.

Workers sat at sewing machines and stitched the pieces together. The needle hopped up and down, fast, fast, fast. Careful hands kept the cloth straight. Now it all looked like real clothes!

Then came the little extras. In went zippers and buttons, and a tag that told the size. Sometimes a flower or a star was stitched on, just for fun.

Last, workers checked everything. Were the stitches straight? Were the loose threads snipped off? Were the buttons on tight? Yes! So the clothes were folded, packed into boxes, and sent off to the stores. Somewhere, someone would find a brand-new favorite.

So now you know. Every shirt you wear came a long, long way. Its thread grew in a field or came from a factory, long before you put it on.

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Where Does My T-Shirt Come From?

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