Today, the small town of Mylau is a district of Reichenbach in the Vogtland region. In the past, like the Vogtland region in general, it was a centre of early industrial development and technical innovation. The textile industry was particularly influential. The information we have prepared for you on a separate page is correspondingly extensive.

The textile industry has shaped the Vogtland not only since the beginning of industrialisation 200 years ago. Even in the Middle Ages, the industry made a decisive contribution to securing the livelihood of the local population. In the town of Mylau, the development of this sector of the economy can be traced from the guilds of craftsmen, through early modern manufacturing and factories to large industrial companies, exemplary for the entire Vogtland region.

Sheep and flax were the traditional suppliers of raw fibres. From the second half of the 16th century, cotton was also used, although this had to be imported. The resulting complex trade structures and the expertise required to process cotton inevitably led to a pre-industrial division of labour.

The decisive step towards industrialisation was taken in Vogtland textile production at the end of the 18th century with the mechanisation of the spinning mill. Only in this way was it possible to counter the competitive pressure of the new, English machine-made yarns.

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Industriekultur Mylau