The origins of the union lie in the men's hand weavers' society formed in Copenhagen in 1873.
The decline of handloom weaving led it, in 1884, to begin accepting both industrial weavers and women as members.
[1] In its first decade, the union grew very slowly, frequently organising strikes which it struggled to fund.
In 1892, it created a strike fund, and began negotiating wage agreements with employers, and in 1895 it changed its name to the "Danish Textile Workers' Union".
In 1898, it signed a national agreement with the new Textile Manufacturers' Federation, and that year it also became a founder member of the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO).