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WHAT IS COTTON?

Updated: Feb 13, 2020

Cotton is a versatile fabric. It can be used for t-shirts to dress to jeans. Cotton is considered to be one of the most important fabrics that is used everyday.


There are three types of cotton: Extra long staples, long stapes and short staple.


Extra long staples:


Characteristics:

  • Thin

  • long

  • glossy fiber

Main Uses:

  • light weight fabric

  • shirts





PROS OF COTTON:

1. STRONG

2. SOFT

3. STRETCHY

4. BREATHABLE

5. INSULATING

6. EASY TO DYE


CONS OF COTTON:

1. SHRINKS

2. WRINKLES

3. CAN STAIN EASILY - BECAUSE ITS VERY ABSORBENT

4. NOT VERY STRONG




STATISTICS:


  • The largest cotton grower in the world is China, followed by India.

  • 2.5% of the world mass is used to grow cotton

  • At the moment 25M tonnes of cotton is produced a year

  • Korea, Russia and Japan are the largest non-producing countries to important cotton








THE CONTROVERSY OF COTTON:


  • Cotton requires a large amount of water, it requires 20,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton.

  • Cotton is chemically dependant, probably the most reliant crop. It requires fertilisers, insecticides and herbicides.






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