Domestic v Factory System Industrial Revolution
Benefits of the domestic system:
- Each product is unique.
- Each individual craftsperson could use their own ideas - work at your own pace.
- Fit into own time.
- Pride in workmanship.
- Convenient - no travel - with family.
Benefits of the factory system:
- Standardized product - does not matter which one you buy they all are going to be the same.
- Easy to make.
- Designed by those who researched the products (design experts).
- More complicated products.
- Last longer, stronger.
- More efficient tools.
- More goods in less time then domestic.
- Lower prices.
Domestic System
- The domestic system was before factories even existed.
- Textile making was done in homes and took long periods of time.
- Anyone who would want something made would ask and receive personally.
- The domestic system was good because it allowed workers to work at their own pace and in the comfort of their own home.
- However, its weakness' were that production was very slow and couldn't clothe the fast growing population.
The domestic system
In 1750, people made cloth by hand at home in the countryside.
The making of the wool clothes was as followed;
- They would start off by cleaning the wool after it had been sheared from the sheep. Carding of the wool – this was brushing it to separate the fibres. If a comb was used, this method was used to make the fibres parallel.
- The cleaned and carded wool would then be spun by spinsters.
- This was frequently done by young girls.
- The finished product of the spinsters was called yarn. the yarn would then be woven by a skilled weaver using a handloom. The finished product would then be sold to a clothier.
- The domestic system was simply not providing the amount of supplies people needed.
- So, the construction of mills and factories were made in the early 1800s.
- The factories would provide the land with faster production and better quality of products, with the help of machinery.
- The factories were desperate for workers. Men, women, and even children as young as age 5 were being put to work in factories, mills, coal mines and more.
- There was very low pay and hardly any breaks. Some families couldn't even afford food.
Inside a factory