Following the instituting of the National Policy in 1879, Canadian manufacturers gained a degree of insulation from global markets, leading to a rapid increase in the number of cotton mills.

[1] In general, the Quebec cotton industry had employed children since the 1880s, but legislation and a large working population resulted in a slow shift toward greater predominance of adults by the 20th century, many of whom were unmarried women.

[1] Canada's textile industry suffered considerably during the Great Depression, resulting in layoffs and shifting the balance of employees for the first time to a majority of men.

In 1948 the economic situation changed dramatically as tariffs between western nations were greatly reduced, and Dominion Textile was exposed to strong competition from the United States and Britain.

In 1967 FLQ member Jean Corbo died when a bomb detonated prematurely in an attempted attack on a Dominion Textile plant in Montreal.

In the 1980s the textile industry was again changing, as General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) provisions came into effect that opened the business to competition from low wage developing economies.

Many of its products were once household names in Canada, such as the Texmade bedding line, Caldwell towels, and Penman's underwear.