Textilmuseet

Thus, it is no accident that Sweden´s Textiles Museum is situated here in Borås. We conserve the riches that our ancestors built up. A visit to the museum awakens textile memories and stimulates creative urges.

The Cotton Factory of 1898
The building that houses the museum was designed in the United Kingdom by the world-famous industrial architect P.S. Stott. Since 1992, visitors have been able to study the architecture of the factory, the technology, power transmission system and the working environment as it was one hundred years ago.

Exhibitions
The museum has two permanent displays that shed light on our textile heritage. “Wardrobe 1900" shows numerous items of clothing that were designed and made in the last century. On display is also Europe´s largest collection of textile machines that are still in working order.

There are also different temporary exhibitions on display throughout the year. Contact the museum for more information.

Our large collections enable us to show fashions and furnishing fabrics from the entire 20th century. The display aims to give visitors an insight into what has been produced in the region in the past and is still, to an extent, being manufactured here. The display includes garments for all sorts of uses: coats, leisure wear, working clothes from the textile industry, costumes, dresses, underwear and clothes for special occasions. The catwalk is crowned by three wedding dresses: a black one from the beginning of the 20th century; a cream dress with a train and a made-to-measure dress of synthetic lace.

Textile fabrics come in every imaginable form, from the finest lace and smoothest artificial silk to soft woollen fabrics and coarser materials for outdoor use. Also on display are printed fabrics. There is a rich diversity of patterns during the 20th century: copies of foreign textiles in the early years, the breakthrough for Swedish design in the 1950s with daring new geometric patterns and the soft colours of textiles for export in the 1980s.

These machines include automatic spinning machines, looms of various sorts for different weaving requirements, machines for producing knitted fabrics, sewing machines of many different sorts - not to mention a scale model of a garment factory from 1949 - and numerous machines for treating and finishing textiles.

The collection was started when the museum was set up in 1972. The machines were moved to the present location, the firm of Åkerlund´s former spinning works built in 1898. We are now able to give visitors a meaningful impression of the industry that established Borås as Sweden´s leading textile centre. This includes the geographical location, the building, the machines, the products and the skills.

The machines are in operation at 12.30pm and 2.30pm tuesday-sunday. Also at 4.30pm and 6.30pm on tuesdays and thursdays. Please be advised that public tours can be cancelled on closed bookings.

Workshop
The workshop is not just for children. Let your creativity bloom in our Textile Workshop. You and your children can try your hand at all sorts of activities. We also organize educational programmes for children and youngsters.

Library and collection of objects
Also on offer are educational activities and there is a library and alså a collection of objects from the Museum of History of Borås, now situated in the Museum of Textile History [Textilmuseet].