I don’t really know how to search for it, but I listened to some guy give a talk (on the radio) about how the power loom made textiles so cheap that the batted felt and knitted wools which most of the populace wore (but could never be washed because they would disintegrate) were discarded for washable clothes. This, the speaker claimed, was the turning point in the life expectancy rates, which had been stuck at about 20-35 years of age for centuries. Being able to wash the bugs and germs out of clothing raised the average lifespan to about 50 in less than ten years.