About cotton

Cotton was cultivated by the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization in the 5th millennium BC / 4th millennium BC. The Indus cotton industry was well developed and some methods used in cotton spinning and fabrication continued to be used until the modern Industrialization of India. Well before the Common Era the use of cotton textiles had spread from India to the Mediterranean and beyond.

Cotton is a soft, staple fibre that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa. The fibre most often is spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile, which is the most widely used natural-fibre cloth in clothing today.

Cotton shrubs can grow up to 3.0 m (9.8 ft) high. The leaves are broad and lobed, with three to five (or rarely seven) lobes. The seeds are contained in a capsule called a boll, each seed surrounded by fibres of two types. These fibres are the commercially interesting part of the plant and they are removed by a process called ginning. At the first ginning the longer fibres, called staples, are removed and these are twisted together to form yarn for making thread and weaving into high quality textiles. At the second ginning the shorter fibres, called linters, are removed, and these are woven into lower quality textiles including the eponymous Lint.

Organic cotton

Organic cotton is cotton that is grown without chemical fertilizers, insecticide or pesticide. Organic agriculture uses methods that are ecological, economical, and socially sustainable and denies the use of agrochemicals and artificial fertilizers. Instead, organic agriculture uses crop rotation, the growing of different crops than cotton in alternative years. The production of organic cotton is more expensive than the production of conventional cotton. Organic cotton is produced in organic agricultural systems that produce food and fibre according to clearly established standards. Organic agriculture prohibits the use of toxic and persistent chemical pesticides and fertilizers, as well as genetically modified organisms. It seeks to build biologically diverse agricultural systems, replenish and maintain soil fertility, and promote a healthy environment.

Poly Cotton

Cotton - poly fabric is a made combining strands of Cotton and Polyester. This blend is usually quite comfortable by combining the natural effects of Cotton for softness and moisture absorption with the no-iron crispness of polyester. Usually whichever fibre content is listed first will be the dominant fibre meaning in a Cotton poly mixture it would be 51% cotton and 49% polyester.