There are large woollen factories at Cuzco and Lima, the Santa Catalina factory at the latter place turning out cloth and cashmere for the army, blankets, counterpanes and underclothing.
Woollen cloth and buckskin are woven at Kamenz, Bischofswerda and Grossenhain, all in the northeast, woollen and half-woollen underclothing at Chemnitz, Glauchau, Meerane and Reichenbach; while Bautzen and Limbach produce woollen stockings.
The purchase of ready-made shirts, underclothing, &c., corresponds to a change in the habits of the people.
In the United States there has been an arduous struggle over this question, and combinations of merchants have sometimes compelled favourable terms. In England, though the merchant has maintained a great part of the trade with shopkeepers, the developing trade with makers of shirts, underclothing, &c., is mainly done by the manufacturers directly, and perhaps the simplification of relations by direct dealing in the cotton trade has now reached a point of fairly stable compromise.
The production of woollen goods (stockings, cloth, underclothing) forms the leading branch of this industry; but cotton and linen weaving and yarnspinning are also carried on.