Have you ever wondered how the t-shirt you are wearing, or the wooden chair you sit on, actually got to you? Nearly everything you own travelled through a simple journey with three big steps.
Three big steps
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Raw material | A natural material is grown or dug up, such as cotton or wood |
| 2. Made | Workers and machines turn the raw material into a finished product |
| 3. Sold | The finished product is sent to a shop, where a customer buys it |
From cotton field to t-shirt
A t-shirt does not start life as a t-shirt at all — it starts as a cotton plant growing on a farm. The fluffy cotton is picked, then spun into thread and woven into cloth. The cloth is cut into pieces and sewn together to make a t-shirt. Finally, the finished t-shirts are sent to a shop, where you can buy one.
Put the steps of making a t-shirt in order:
- Cotton is grown on a farm
- Cotton is spun into thread and woven into cloth
- Cloth is cut and sewn into t-shirts
- T-shirts are sent to a shop
- You buy the t-shirt
From tree to chair
A wooden chair follows a similar journey. A tree is grown and cut down for its wood. The wood is cut into planks and shaped by a carpenter or a machine into the parts of a chair. The finished chair is then delivered to a furniture shop, ready for someone to buy and take home.
Match each raw material to the finished product it can become:
- Cotton
- A t-shirt
- Wood
- A chair
- Wheat
- A loaf of bread
- Wool
- A jumper