[1] Cottage industry is an industry where the creation of the products and services is home-based instead of factory-based. These products and services tend to be unique and distinctive, but this also makes it hard for the producers to compete with larger factory-based companies. Workers in cottage industries usually work part time from home and usually involve tasks such as sewing, lace-making, and household manufacturing.
[2] Before the Industrial Revolution, business operators would travel around buying materials to deliver to the people who would create the product. They would then collect the goods and sell them or ship them to another market. This type of industry was common when much of the population was engaged in agriculture and provided a source of additional income during the winter months when there was little to no work available for farming. The business operators that helped to facilitate the selling of products are also the ones who helped enable the Industrial Revolution to take place in Western Europe.
[3] The Industrial Revolution was the transition to the new manufacturing processes. During the transitions, production methods changed from items being handmade to being created by machines. New products and production processes were being developed and improved, including the transition from using wood to other bio-fuels to coal. The first type of product to use modern production methods was textiles
[4] The transition from cottage industry to the Industrial Revolution created an unprecedented impact on the overall economy. Some economists, such as Robert E. Lucas, Jr., argue that the true impact of the Industrial Revolution was "for the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth…Nothing remotely like this economic behavior is mentioned by the classical economists, even as a theoretical possibility." However, there are others who argue that, even though the economy's overall growth in productive powers was unprecedented, the living standards for the majority of the population did not have significant growth until the late 19th and 20th centuries. In fact, the workers living standards declined under early capitalism: for example, real wages in Britain only increased 15% between the 1780s and 1850s.
[5] Although there is much debate about the official start of the Industrial Revolution among historians, they do agree that it was the most important event in the history of humanity since animals and plants were domesticated. The First Industrial Revolution later evolved into a Second Industrial Revolution with more progress occurring technologically and economically.
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