Cotton is the most commercially important seed fiber. Last week, I wrote about its production and the types of cotton. This week, we’ll focus on the common uses of cotton.
“The fabric of our lives” is more than just the cotton slogan. It really does permeate almost every area of our lives. In 2004, cotton was used in approximately 50 percent of apparel in the United States. Cotton is so popular for clothing because it feels so good against the skin, especially in humid conditions. According to Cotton.org, most cotton apparel is for men and boy’s clothing, primarily jeans (The Mister has a strong preference for Wranglers), shirts, and underwear.
Cotton is an easy care fiber. It is actually stronger when it is wet! Cotton can withstand strong detergents and doesn’t need any special care during the washing and drying process. However, there are two things to note: 1) Chlorine bleach weakens cotton and should not be used for regular laundering, and 2) sunlight causes white and pastel cottons to yellow and all cottons degrade. Both of these things took me by total surprise. I’d been bleaching my whites to make them white and discussion forum conventional wisdom encourages us to use sunlight to “naturally” bleach our stained and yellowed cottons.
In addition to clothing, cotton is very important as a household “linens” fabric. Cotton towels are the most absorbent and sheets/pillowcases are available in a variety of thread counts (the higher the number, the tighter the weave because there are more threads per inch). The long-staple cottons (see last week for definitions) are the most durable and are more expensive than Upland cotton.
Finally, in addition to clothing and household linens, cotton is used in draperies, curtains, upholstery fabrics, slipcovers, rugs, and wall coverings. Cotton also is used outside of the home in medicine and industry.
Next time, we will take a look at flax.
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