Isn’t all cotton the same..?
photo by al-hayat
What’s all the fuss with cotton anyway?
Let’s start with the basics- where does cotton come from? Quite simply, cotton comes from a bushy plant. More technically, when an immature flower bud matures into a fruit it opens and its many seeds are covered in white hairs known as lint. As one of the world’s major textile fibres, cotton is easily spun into yarns and is a natural vegetable fibre.
Cotton is a raw material for cloth and it’s strength, durability, ability to be washed, susceptible to dyes or it’s absorbancy means that cotton has the versatility to adapt to a variety of textile products. Importantly for business shirts cotton is known for it’s breathability and ability to withstand high temperatures.
Are there different types of Cotton?
There are four main types of cotton including Egyptian Cotton, American Upland, Sea Island and Asiatic. You might not of heard of all these but that’s ok, as long as you remember Egyptian Cotton which is the cotton chosen for premium business shirts worldwide. In the word “staple” is important in the world of cotton and refers to the length of fibre. The longer the staple (or length of the fibre) the more difficult it is to not only grow but also process. So for longer staples the more expensive the cotton is!
So it’s all about Egyptian Cotton yeah?
Egyptian Cotton is highly sought after and well regarded because of its long and strong fibres. The lack of Egyptian Cotton being produced makes its more expensive and ultimately more desirable. It also means that with an abundance of American Upland cotton your Egyptian Cotton article of clothing may in fact not be 100% Egyptian Cotton. This is the trap for young players- some fabrics can claim Egyptian Cotton but they may only have a very small percentage of genuine Egyptian Cotton say 5% (not too dissimilar to advertising fruit juice you might be thinking…)
In other instances, some fabric manufacturers take advantage of a less that comprehensive definition on Egyptian Cotton and define it as any finely woven cotton which we are strongly opposed to.
Amalfi Shirts take pride in the fact that all their shirts are made with 100% Egyptian cotton.
As a side note, thread count can also be used as a measure of quality. It is simply a measure of the number of threads (combination of horizontal and vertical) in a square inch of fabric. A higher thread count can only be achieved when thread is spun very finely in order to fit a lot in a square inch.
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