Description du sujet de thèse

Subject: "Chemistry-Pollution-Textile: Do Textiles Kill?"
(ChiPoTex)

The textile sector is the pillar of the "industrial revolution" that began in the 18th century, first in England and then spread with varying degrees of vigor across the European continent and North America. This "revolution" was based on the cultivation and processing of a natural fiber (cotton) cultivated in the Americas and Asia and processed and consumed in Europe (Chassagne 1987). At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, the mechanization of spinning mills and the introduction of a new energy source (steam coal) led to unparalleled industrial growth and globalization. A "clean fiber," lightweight and easy to handle compared to others such as wool, hemp, or linen, cotton was valued for its flexibility and ability to fix dyes.
The sudden disruption of European supplies linked to the American Civil War prompted the expansion of production sites in Asia and Africa. The textile sector remains the leading provider of jobs in the territories of European industrialization. It is the source of family fortunes and often paternalistic business dynasties (Mastin 2011, Daumas 1999), but which, at least those that have survived for centuries, demonstrate a remarkable adaptability to procure raw materials, invent new ones, resist competition from low-wage countries, and find new markets and suppliers (Roberts 1996).
The sector's strength lies less in the substitution of capital for labor (the often female workforce is inexpensive) than in its ability to innovate and forge alliances with the chemical industry. These alliances explain the transition from natural fiber to artificial fiber (addition of non-natural fibers) and then to synthetic fiber (manufacture of fibers by chemical processes), which first imitate the capabilities of natural fiber and then surpass them (Fibranne in the 1930s or Tergal in the 1950s, for example). Textile production is undoubtedly one of those that has experienced the most complete cycle of innovation, starting from technical, process and product innovations (mechanization alliance with chemistry), to those of sales practices (mail order which revolutionized distribution in the middle of the 20th century) or entrepreneurial alliances and cartels (Barjot 1994). Provider of high profits, the sector is also very sensitive to the vagaries of the international economy and it knows how to be innovative. The first major alliances between chemistry and textiles were established in the 1920s-1930s. The Second World War, the occupation of French territory, supply difficulties, German levies, and state collaboration consolidated these alliances around ambitious projects such as France-Rayonne (Pack 2024). From 1945 onward, the closure of colonial outlets linked to independence and the prospect of the Common Market forced the French textile industry to make further adjustments. Concentration, outsourcing, or pressure on wages in regions with a single textile activity were no longer enough to maintain margins. The first site closures, precursors to a quiet deindustrialization, showed that the crisis in the sector was structural. The alternative to bankruptcy was investment and innovation. The French government supported the alliance between textiles and chemicals through the textile plans that made Marcel Boussac's fortune until the 1973 financial crisis and his bankruptcy in the 1980s. Few French companies survived the Asian competition, and those that did specialized in highly specialized textiles. The composition of fibers was no longer natural at all; French textiles had become highly specialized and technical.
These transformations, and in particular the growing intertwining with the chemicals sector, are studied in two recent history theses: that of Victorien Pliez at the University of Lyon 2 and that of Émilie Pack at the University of Valencienne. Their research provides new material for reconstructing the chronology of the artificialization of textiles and analyzing its implications. They complement a history of French textiles that is already extensive but pays little attention to the externalities resulting from product transformations. The thesis will have to both analyze the impact of chemical fiber manufacturing processes on the environment and specify to what extent the manufacturers who create these new fabrics have been interested in the threats they represent for human health. The project therefore has three facets: economic and social history (of textile workers, employers, and management), environmental history (study of the fiber life cycle and recycling possibilities), and public health history (the effect of fabric artificialization on health).
Three regions that more or less successfully transitioned to artificial or synthetic textiles in the 20th century—Rhône-Alpes, the former home of silk, and the East and North, former territories of wool and cotton—will be studied for the period from the 1920s (the first surge in artificial textiles) to the 1970s (the global economic crisis and structural crisis in the textile industry - Chevalier 1991). Several cases, such as that of the Boussac group, whose archives are held at the National Archives of the World of Work in Roubaix (ANMT), and which was undoubtedly one of the most innovative in the 1950s, will complement the research. The environmental effects of the sector's transformations will be clarified by analyzing the substances used to manufacture the most widespread fabrics (such as Fibranne and Tergal). Taken from archives or museums, the samples will be analyzed by the CEA (Orsay), which will specify their potential toxicity to health and study their decomposition process (environmental impact). Research into the manufacturing processes and composition of fabrics will undoubtedly be fraught with pitfalls because companies jealously guard their manufacturing secrets. This resistance will have to be overcome by mobilizing the departmental archives of the main textile sites (Épinal, Lille, Lyon) and the national archives (AN Pierrefitte for the funds of professional organizations, ANMT in Roubaix, Service des archives économiques et financière de la France -SAEF- for public policies), textile museums and the documentation of technicians and companies that manufacture and market these fabrics (such as the catalogs of La Redoute or Damart, for example). Professional documentation will be consulted primarily at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the ANMT (National Institute for the Study of Textiles), and municipal libraries. A survey of textile companies is also planned to supplement this data on the effects of textile artificialization on the environment and public health since the First World War.
The doctoral student in contemporary history recruited for this project will be part of the multidisciplinary team formed since the beginning of the Pollutex project, including J.-P. Renault and S. Devineau, already mentioned, as well as Sarah Person, a chemist and doctoral student funded by Pollutex who has been working for a year and a half on samples of yarns manufactured since the 1920s. Hosted at the IRHiS, he/she will be responsible for reviewing the archives and studying the documentation on the artificialization of the sector. The work is pioneering because while the effects of the alliance of textiles and chemistry have been analyzed in terms of the diversity of fibers and fabrics placed on the market, no research analyzes the impact of the profound transformations in the composition of fabrics on the environment or the health of their recipients, whether clothing, curtains, wall hangings and other armchairs and cushions, then carpet coverings, etc.

Contexte de travail

- Attached to the Northern Historical Research Institute (IRHiS), UMR 8529, at the University of Lille (France)
The Northern Historical Research Institute is a joint CNRS research unit focused on the history of Northern European societies. The institute was created on January 1, 2006, following the merger of three teams of historians and art historians: the Center for Research in Art History for Northern Europe, the Center for Research on the History of Northwest Europe, and the Center for Studies and Research on Knowledge, Arts, Technology, Economies, and Societies. In 2008, the IRHIS comprised 58 lecturer-researchers, 3 researchers, 2 engineers, 81 doctoral students, 3 CNRS technicians, and 2 administrative staff. - Co-supervision:
Jean-Philippe Renault (DR) CEA Paris-Saclay and Stéphanie Devineau (MCU), UMR 3685 NIMBE Chemistry laboratory

Contraintes et risques

RAS

Informations complémentaires

Desired profile: a good level of a Master's degree in history or a multidisciplinary Master's degree, experience consulting archives, an interest in economic and social history, as well as the history of pollution and public health (contemporary France and Europe), and an interest in the intersection of disciplines, particularly humanities and social sciences and chemistry. Completing the doctorate requires travel to various archives and documentation centers in France starting in October 2025.

Application
Send a CV and a one-page cover letter to beatrice.touchelay@univ-lille.fr
An interview with the team will be organized after pre-selection of applications four weeks after the call for applications is published.

Keywords
Industrial History, Textiles, Synthetic Textiles, Pollution, Public Health, Chemistry