Where Do Clothes Come From?

by Chris Butterworth, Lucia Gaggiotti (Illustrator)

The sequel to Lunchbox: The Story Of Your Food looks at the processes involved in making the clothes we wear. It traces the journey of a bale of cotton from the field where it was harvested to the factories where it is cleaned, carded and combed, dyed, spun into thread, then woven into cloth and made into a pair of jeans. It also shows how wool is turned into a jumper, artificial fibres created for a football kit, a party dress made out of silk, plastic bottles recycled into a fleece, and how latex from rubber trees becomes a pair of wellies. This fascinating book on technological processes succeeds in being young, child-centred and friendly, but also packs in an enormous amount of information.

Genres: Nonfiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2015

About the author

CHRIS BUTTERWORTH is the author of more than seventy nonfiction books for children on such diverse subjects as influenza, Antarctic exploration, and Ancient Egypt. "A sea horse looks as magical as a mermaid," she says, "but sea horses really exist. We need to know as much as we can about them, so we can protect them."

Reviews

[Sarah Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

5yo and I found this fascinating. Good illustrations to help with some of the more complex language and ideas.

[Becs · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no question that this book is beautifully illustrated; I'm not just talking about pictures either. This little picture-filled book has lots of really clever little diagrams too and so much colour is crammed into the pages.

Ideally, this book needs to be aimed at a slightly older than audience than the average picture book mostly because of some of the language used - there are a few more complex words for little children which will be lost on those just starting on reading/writing and some block text which is harder for new readers to break up. What I really love though is that the author hasn't over simplified the descriptions of how clothing is made and where it comes from - this book is going to therefore come in handy more than for just one quick read with your little ones.

Ostensibly, this book is split into different clothing types after a few pages of the making clothes process - this takes you through the cotton harvesting process straight on to milling/loom/dying jeans stage which I actually enjoyed reading as an adult! There is quite a lot of information, again for a picture book, on each page so again I feel this is better suited to those already starting to read aloud with you so it's not too over-whelming. It does really work though, it's not overly crammed and I feel like children will take something away from it.

I especially like how the illustrations and text have included some child-friendly examples by using a football kit, party dress or wellies as examples that kids actually come across so they can relate to where these things have come from. Even more so, the small section on recycling of old materials was great and a good conversation point for families.

Overall, a good book filled with colour and good content - just be mindful of the age range you might want to read this with.

This book was provided to me by the publishers in exchange for an honest review; this in no way influenced my opinions.

[Thehappymeerkat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book for free from the publisher in return for a review. The following is my honest opinion on this book:

Have you ever wondered where you clothes come from, what materials they are made of and how exactly those materials are created? Well now you can find out with this wonderfully illustrated children's book.

This book is a little shorter and a touch wider than A4 in size and quite thin at 32 pages. But inside those pages is a lot of information both written and illustrated in a way that would appeal to many adults as well as children. After the introduction you are given double page spreads of different materials. Each section starts with asking what is your football kit, jeans, wellies, jumper, etc made of. There is then an explanation of how that material is made going all the way back to the raw materials such as jeans being made of cotton plants and jumpers coming from sheep's wool. I say many adults might enjoy this as I certainly learned more about the process of creating the rubber for wellies and although I knew fleece comes from plastic bottles I didn't know how they turned into threads to be spun into fleece outfits!
The back of the book has a brief section about recycling clothes. Although this is only brief it also shows the important message of behind recycling and the different ways you can do it, whether it's giving clothes away or cutting and reshaping them to make something new.

What I like about this book is that it is mainly visual. There is some description but the focus is on the pictures and they are not only fun but easy to understand and follow. It's certainly a book I would have loved to read when I was a child, I was always fascinated by how things are made. The book is aimed at young children and I'm sure many adults will enjoy taking a sneak peek at this book too. Easy to read, fun illustrations and a great way to learn something too.
(Pictures of the cover and some of the pages can be seen on my website)

[Mrs Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where Do Clothes Come From?

Thank you to the publisher Walker books for my ARC (Advance Review Copy) which was sent to me free with no obligation to review.

This book is aimed at children aged between 5 and 7 years old and so is a little too old for my eldest child at the moment but is certainly being put away for when he turns 5.

I'll be honest that I had no idea where some of the fabrics that we take for granted actually come from such as polyester and nylon or how wellies are actually made but the book clearly explains all of this and despite the book being aimed at children, I have actually learnt something too.

I already knew where cotton, wool and silk came from and roughly how they are made into clothes but the book also explains these too and is incredibly informative with colour illustrations throughout.

My son doesn't understand the book yet but we have read it together and it did hold his attention for the first part of the book. This is a really good book to explain where clothes come from and how they are made and also explains the importance of recycling.