Everything about Cottons totally explained
Cotton is a soft, staple
fiber that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant (
Gossypium sp.), a
shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the
Americas,
India and
Africa. The fiber most often is spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable
textile, which is the most widely used natural-fiber cloth in clothing today. The
English name which began to be used circa 1400, derives from the
Arabic (al) qutn قُطْن, meaning cotton. In the 1800s and 1900s cotton was called "King Cotton" because of the great power it had in the economy.
Cotton fiber, once it has been processed to remove seeds (ginning) and traces of honeydew (a secretion from aphids), protein, vegetable matter, and other impurities, consists of nearly pure
cellulose, a natural
polymer. Cotton production is very efficient, in the sense that only ten percent or less of the weight is lost in subsequent processing to convert the raw cotton bolls (seed cases) into pure fiber. The cellulose is arranged in a way that gives cotton fibers a high degree of strength, durability, and absorbency. Each fiber is made up of twenty to thirty layers of cellulose coiled in a neat series of natural springs. When the cotton boll is opened, the fibers dry into flat, twisted, ribbon-like shapes and become kinked together and interlocked. This interlocked form is ideal for
spinning into a fine
yarn.
Leading cotton-producing countries
As of 2007, the ten largest producers of cotton in the world are (1)
China, (2)
India, (3) the
United States, (4)
Pakistan, (5)
Brazil, (6)
Uzbekistan, (7)
Turkey, (8)
Greece, (9)
Turkmenistan, and (10)
Syria.
The five leading
exporters of cotton are (1) the
United States, (2)
Uzbekistan, (3)
India, (4)
Brazil, and (5)
Burkina Faso. The largest non-producing
importers are
Bangladesh,
Indonesia,
Thailand,
Russia, and
Taiwan.
In
India, the states of
Maharashtra (26.63 %),
Gujarat (17.96 %) and
Andhra Pradesh (13.75 %) are the leading cotton producing states, these states have a predominantly tropical wet and dry climate.
In the United States, the state of
Texas leads in total production while the state of
California has the highest
yield per acre in the world.
Cultivation
Successful cultivation of cotton requires a long
frost-free period, plenty of sunshine, and a moderate rainfall, usually from 600 to 1200mm (24 to 48
inches).
Soils usually need to be fairly heavy, although the level of
nutrients doesn't need to be exceptional. In general, these conditions are met within the seasonally dry tropics and subtropics in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, but a large proportion of the cotton grown today is cultivated in areas with less rainfall that obtain the water from irrigation. Production of the crop for a given year usually starts soon after harvesting the preceding autumn. Planting time in spring in the Northern hemisphere varies from the beginning of February to the beginning of June. The area of the
United States known as the
South Plains is the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world. It is heavily dependent on
irrigation water drawn from the
Ogallala Aquifer.
Cotton is a thirsty crop, and as
water resources get tighter around the world, economies that rely on it face difficulties and conflict, as well as potential environmental problems. For example, cotton has led to
desertification in areas of
Uzbekistan, where it's a major export. In the days of the
Soviet Union, the
Aral Sea was tapped for agricultural irrigation, largely of cotton, and now
salination is widespread.
Genetically modified cotton
Genetically modified (GM) cotton was developed to reduce the heavy reliance on pesticides. Genetically modified cotton is widely used throughout the world with claims of requiring up to 80% less
pesticide than ordinary cotton as typically grown commercially. However, researchers have recently published the first documented case of in-field pest resistance to GM cotton. The
International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) said that, worldwide, GM cotton was planted on an area of 67,000 km² in 2002. This is 20% of the worldwide total area planted in cotton. The U.S. cotton crop was 73% GM in 2003.
The initial introduction of GM cotton proved to be a commercial and ecological disaster in
Australia - the yields were far lower than predicted, and the cotton plants were cross-pollinated with other varieties of cotton. However, the introduction of a second variety of GM cotton led to 15% of Australian cotton being GM in 2003. 80% of the crop was genetically modified in 2004, when the original GM variety was banned.
GM cotton acreage in India continues to grow at a rapid rate increasing from 50,000 hectares in 2002 to 3.8 million hectares in 2006. The total cotton area in India is about 9.0 million hectares (the largest in the world or, about 25% of world cotton area) so GM cotton is now grown on 42% of the cotton area. This makes India the country with the largest area of GM cotton in the world, surpassing China (3.5 million hectares in 2006). The major reasons for this increase is a combination of increased farm income ($225/ha) and a reduction in pesticide use to control the Cotton Bollworm.
History
Evidence of the use of cotton in the form of thread has been found in
Pakistan, dating to about 6,000 B.P., although it isn't clear whether the thread derived from cultivation or from wild cotton. Cultivation was underway by the time of the
Harappan civilization, which was exporting cotton to
Mesopotamia during the 3rd millennium BC. Cotton was soon known to the
Egyptians (although
linen was their primary fiber source) as well as becoming a prized trading item from
Nubia and
Meroë. The famous
Greek historian
Herodotus also wrote about Indian cotton: "There are trees which grow wild there, the fruit of which is a
wool exceeding in beauty and goodness that of
sheep. The Indians make their clothes of this tree wool." (Book III. 106)
According to the The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition:
"Cotton has been spun, woven, and dyed since prehistoric times. It clothed the people of ancient India, Egypt, and China. Hundreds of years before the Christian era cotton textiles were woven in India with matchless skill, and their use spread to the Mediterranean countries. In the 1st cent. Arab traders brought fine muslin and calico to Italy and Spain. The Moors introduced the cultivation of cotton into Spain in the 9th cent. Fustians and dimities were woven there and in the 14th cent. in Venice and Milan, at first with a linen warp. Little cotton cloth was imported to England before the 15th cent., although small amounts were obtained chiefly for candlewicks. By the 17th cent. the East India Company was bringing rare fabrics from India. Native Americans skillfully spun and wove cotton into fine garments and dyed tapestries. Cotton fabrics found in Peruvian tombs are said to belong to a pre-Inca culture. In color and texture the ancient Peruvian and Mexican textiles resemble those found in Egyptian tombs."
The earliest cultivation of cotton discovered thus far in the Americas occurred in Mexico, some 5,000 years ago. The indigenous species was
Gossypium hirsutum which is today the most widely planted species of cotton in the world, constituting about 90% of all production worldwide. The greatest diversity of wild cotton species is found in Mexico, followed by Australia and Africa.
In
Peru, cultivation of the indigenous cotton species
Gossypium barbadense was the backbone of the development of coastal cultures such as the
Norte Chico,
Moche and
Nazca. Cotton was grown upriver, made into nets and traded with fishing villages along the coast for large supplies of fish. The Spanish who came to
Mexico in the early 1500s found the people growing cotton and wearing clothing made of it.
During the late
medieval period, cotton became known as an
imported fiber in northern
Europe, without any knowledge of how it was derived, other than that it was a
plant; noting its similarities to wool, people in the region could only imagine that cotton must be produced by plant-borne sheep.
John Mandeville, writing in
1350, stated as fact the now-preposterous belief: "There grew there [India] a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they're hungrie." (See
Vegetable Lamb of Tartary.) This aspect is retained in the name for cotton in many European languages, such as
German Baumwolle, which translates as "tree wool" (
Baum means "tree";
Wolle means "wool"). By the end of the 16th century, cotton was cultivated throughout the warmer regions in
Asia and the
Americas.
India's cotton-processing sector gradually declined during
British expansion in India and the establishment of
colonial rule during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This was largely due to the
East India Company's de-industrialization of India, which forced the closing of cotton processing and manufacturing workshops in India, to ensure that Indian markets supplied only raw materials and were obliged to purchase manufactured textiles from Britain.
The advent of the
Industrial Revolution in Britain provided a great boost to cotton manufacture, as textiles emerged as Britain's leading export. In
1738 Lewis Paul and
John Wyatt, of
Birmingham England, patented the Roller Spinning machine, and the flyer-and-bobbin system for drawing cotton to a more even thickness using two sets of rollers that travelled at different speeds. Later, the invention of the
spinning jenny in
1764 and
Richard Arkwright's
spinning frame (based on the Roller Spinning Machine) in
1769 enabled British weavers to produce cotton yarn and cloth at much higher rates. From the late eighteenth century onwards, the
British city of
Manchester acquired the nickname
"cottonopolis" due to the cotton industry's omnipresence within the city, and Manchester's role as the heart of the global cotton trade. Production capacity was further improved by the invention of the
cotton gin by
Eli Whitney in
1793. Improving technology and increasing control of world markets allowed British traders to develop a commercial chain in which raw cotton fibers were (at first) purchased from colonial plantations, processed into cotton
cloth in the mills of
Lancashire, and then re-exported on British ships to captive colonial markets in
West Africa,
India, and
China (via
Shanghai and
Hong Kong).
By the
1840s, India was no longer capable of supplying the vast quantities of cotton fibers needed by mechanised British factories, while shipping bulky, low-price cotton from India to Britain was time-consuming and expensive. This, coupled with the emergence of American cotton as a superior type (due to the longer, stronger fibers of the two domesticated native American species,
Gossypium hirsutum and
Gossypium barbadense), encouraged British traders to purchase cotton from plantations in the
United States and the
Caribbean. This was also much cheaper as it was produced by unpaid
slaves. By the mid 19th century, "
King Cotton" had become the backbone of the southern American economy. In the
United States, cultivating and harvesting cotton became the leading occupation of
slaves.
During the
American Civil War, American cotton exports slumped due to a
Union blockade on
Southern ports, also because of a strategic decision by the Confederate Government to cut exports, hoping to force Britain to recognize the Confederacy or enter the war, prompting the main purchasers of cotton,
Britain and
France, to turn to
Egyptian cotton. British and French traders invested heavily in cotton plantations and the Egyptian government of
Viceroy Isma'il took out substantial loans from European bankers and stock exchanges. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, British and French traders abandoned Egyptian cotton and returned to cheap American exports, sending Egypt into a
deficit spiral that led to the country declaring
bankruptcy in
1876, a key factor behind Egypt's annexation by the
British Empire in
1882.
During this time cotton cultivation in the
British Empire, especially India, greatly increased to replace the lost production of the American South. Through tariffs and other restrictions the British government discouraged the production of cotton cloth in India; rather the raw fiber was sent to England for processing. The Indian patriot
Gandhi described the process:
- English people buy Indian cotton in the field, picked by Indian labor at seven cents a day, through an optional monopoly.
- These cotton are shipped on British bottoms, a three weeks journey across the Indian Ocean, down the Red Sea, across the Mediterranean, through Gibraltar, across the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic Ocean to London. One hundred per cent profit on this freight is regarded as small.
- The cotton are turned into cloth in Lancashire. You pay shilling wages instead of Indian pennies to your workers. The English worker not only has the advantage of better wages, but the steel companies of England get the profit of building the factories and machines. Wages; profits; all these are spent in England.
- The finished product is sent back to India at European shipping rates, once again on British ships. The captains, officers, sailors of these ships, whose wages must be paid, are English. The only Indians who profit are a few lascars who do the dirty work on the boats for a few cents a day.
- The cloth is finally sold back to the kings and landlords of India who got the money to buy this expensive cloth out of the poor peasants of India who worked at seven cents a day. (Fisher 1932 pp 154-156)
In the
United States, Southern cotton provided capital for the continuing development of the North. The cotton produced by enslaved African Americans, not only helped the South, but also enriched northern merchants. Much of the southern cotton were transhipped through the northern ports. Profits from the cotton shipping provided some of the funds for the Francis Cabot Lowell's
Lowell Mills. In another example, a merchant named Anson Phelps invested his profits from cotton shipping into iron mines in Pennsylvania and metalworks in Connecticut. Much of the development of northern industry was made possible by the cotton provided by the enslaved African Americans of the South. It also fostered the
market revolution.
Cotton remained a key crop in the southern economy after
emancipation and the end of the civil war in
1865. Across the South,
sharecropping evolved, in which free black farmers worked on white-owned cotton plantations in return for a share of the profits. Cotton plantations required vast labor forces to hand-pick cotton fibers, and it wasn't until the 1950s that reliable harvesting machinery was introduced into the South (prior to this, cotton-harvesting machinery had been too clumsy to pick cotton without shredding the fibers). During the early
twentieth century, employment in the cotton industry fell as machines began to replace laborers, and as the South's rural labor force dwindled during the First and Second World Wars. Today, cotton remains a major export of the southern United States, and a majority of the world's annual cotton crop is of the long-staple American variety.
Pests and weeds
fertilizers and
insecticides, although a very small number of farmers are moving toward an
organic model of production and organic cotton products are now available for purchase at limited locations. These are popular for baby clothes and
diapers. Under most definitions, organic products don't use
genetic engineering.
Historically, in North America, one of the most economically destructive pests in cotton production has been the
boll weevil. Due to the
US Department of Agriculture's highly successful
Boll Weevil Eradication Program (BWEP), this pest has been eliminated from cotton in most of the United States. This program, along with the introduction of genetically engineered "
Bt cotton" (which contains a bacteria gene that codes for a plant-produced protein that's toxic to a number of pests such as tobacco budworm, cotton bollworm, and pink bollworm), has allowed a reduction in the use of synthetic insecticides.
Mechanized harvesting
Most cotton in the United States, Europe, and Australia is harvested mechanically, either by a
cotton picker, a machine that removes the cotton from the boll without damaging the cotton plant, or by a cotton stripper, which strips the entire boll off the plant. Cotton strippers are used in regions where it's too windy to grow picker varieties of cotton, and usually after application of a chemical
defoliant or the natural defoliation that occurs after a freeze. Cotton is a perennial crop in the tropics and without defoliation or freezing, the plant will continue to grow.
Cotton continues to be picked by hand in
developing countries such as
Uzbekistan.
Competition from synthetic fibers
The era of manufactured fibers began with the development of
rayon in France in the 1890s. Rayon is derived from a natural cellulose and can not be considered synthetic, but is requires extensive processing in a manufacturing process and led the less expensive replacement of more naturally derived materials. A succession of new synthetic fibers were introduced by the chemicals industry in the following decades.
Acetate in fiber form was developed in 1924.
Nylon the first fiber synthesized entirely from petrochemicals, was introduced as a sewing thread by DuPont in 1936, followed by Dupont's
acrylic in 1944. Some garments were created from fabrics based on these fibers, such as women's
hosiery from nylon, but it wasn't until the introduction of
polyester into the fiber marketplace in the early 1950s that the market for cotton came under threat. The rapid uptake of polyester garments in the 1960s caused economic hardship in cotton exporting economies, especially in Central American countries such as
Nicaragua where cotton production had boomed tenfold between 1950 and 1965 with the advent of cheap chemical pesticides. Cotton production recovered in the 1970s, but crashed to pre-1960 levels in the early 1990s.
Beginning as a self-help program in the mid-1960s, the Cotton Research & Promotion Program was organized by U.S. cotton producers in response to cotton's steady decline in market share. At that time, producers voted to set up a per-bale assessment system to fund the program, with built-in safeguards to protect their investments. With the passage of the Cotton Research & Promotion Act of 1966, the program joined forces and began battling synthetic competitors and re-establishing markets for cotton. Today, the success of this program has made cotton the best-selling fiber in the U.S. and one of the best-selling fibers in the world.
Administered by the Cotton Board and conducted by Cotton Incorporated, the Cotton Research & Promotion Program works to greatly increase the demand for and profitability of cotton through various research and promotion activities. It is funded by U.S. cotton producers and importers.
Uses
Cotton is used to make a number of textile products. These include
terrycloth, used to make highly absorbent bath
towels and
robes;
denim, used to make
blue jeans;
chambray, popularly used in the manufacture of blue work shirts (from which we get the term "
blue-collar"); and
corduroy,
seersucker, and cotton
twill.
Socks,
underwear, and most
T-shirts are made from cotton. Bed sheets often are made from cotton. Cotton also is used to make yarn used in
crochet and
knitting. Fabric also can be made from recycled or recovered cotton that otherwise would be thrown away during the spinning, weaving, or cutting process. While many fabrics are made completely of cotton, some materials blend cotton with other fibers, including
rayon and
synthetic fibers such as
polyester.
In addition to the
textile industry, cotton is used in
fishnets,
coffee filters,
tents,
gunpowder (see
Nitrocellulose),
cotton paper, and in
bookbinding. The first Chinese
paper was made of cotton fiber.
Fire hoses were once made of cotton.
The cottonseed which remains after the cotton is ginned is used to produce
cottonseed oil, which, after refining, can be consumed by humans like any other
vegetable oil. The
cottonseed meal that's left generally is fed to livestock. During slavery, cotton root bark was used as an
abortifacient, that is, a
folk remedy to provoke abortion.
Cotton linters are fine, silky fibers which adhere to the seeds of the cotton plant after ginning. These curly fibers typically are less than 1/8 in, 3mm, long. The term also may apply to the longer textile fiber staple lint as well as the shorter fuzzy fibers from some upland species. Linters are traditionally used in the manufacture of paper and as a raw material in the manufacture of
cellulose.
Shiny cotton is a processed version of the fiber that can be made into cloth resembling
satin for shirts and suits. However, its hydrophobic property of not easily taking up water makes it unfit for the purpose of bath and dish towels (although examples of these made from shiny cotton are seen).
The term
Egyptian cotton refers to the extra long staple cotton grown in Egypt and favored for the luxury and upmarket brands worldwide. During the U.S. Civil War, with heavy European investments, Egyptian-grown cotton became a major alternate source for British textile mills. Egyptian cotton is more durable and softer than American Pima cotton, which is why it's more expensive. Pima cotton is American cotton that's grown in the south western states of the U.S.
In South Asia, cotton is widely used in mattresses, which are the most common type of mattress used in that region.
The international cotton trade
The United States, with sales of $4.9 billion, and Africa, with sales of $2.1 billion, are the largest exporters of raw cotton. Total international trade is $12 billion. Africa's share of the cotton trade has doubled since 1980. Neither area has a significant domestic textile industry, textile manufacturing having moved to developing nations in Eastern and South Asia such as India and China. In Africa cotton is grown by numerous small holders. Dunavant Enterprises, based in
Memphis, Tennessee, is the leading cotton broker in Africa with hundreds of purchasing agents. It operates
cotton gins in Uganda, Mozambique, and Zambia. In Zambia it often offers loans for seed and expenses to the 180,000 small farmers who grow cotton for it, as well as advice on farming methods.
Cargill also purchases cotton in Africa for export.
The 25,000 cotton growers in the United States are heavily
subsidized at the rate of $2 billion per year. The future of these subsidies is uncertain and has led to anticipatory expansion of cotton brokers' operations in Africa. Dunavant expanded in Africa by buying out local operations. This is only possible in former British colonies and Mozambique; former French colonies continue to maintain tight monopolies, inherited from their former colonialist masters, on cotton purchases at low fixed prices.
Cotton is an enormously important commodity throughout the world. However, many farmers in developing countries receive a low price for their produce, or find it difficult to compete with developed countries.
This has led to an international dispute:
On 27 September 2002 Brazil requested consultations with the US regarding prohibited and actionable subsidies provided to US producers, users and/or exporters of upland cotton, as well as legislation, regulations, statutory instruments and amendments thereto providing such subsidies (including export credits), grants, and any other assistance to the US producers, users and exporters of upland cotton.
On
8 September 2004, the Panel Report recommended that the United States "withdraw" export credit guarantees and payments to domestic user and exporters, and "take appropriate steps to remove the adverse effects or withdraw" the mandatory price-contingent subsidy measures.
In addition to concerns over subsidies, the cotton industries of some countries are criticized for employing child labor and damaging workers' health by exposure to pesticides used in production. For example, cotton production in
Uzbekistan has been described as one of the most exploitative industries in the world. The international production and trade situation has led to '
fair trade' cotton clothing and footwear, joining a rapidly growing market for organic clothing, fair fashion or so-called 'ethical fashion'. The fair trade system was initiated in 2005 with producers from
Cameroon,
Mali and
Senegal.
Organic cotton
Organic cotton is cotton that's grown without insecticide or pesticide. Worldwide, cotton is a pesticide-intensive crop, using approximately 25% of the world's insecticides and 10% of the world's pesticides. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 20,000 deaths occur each year from pesticide poisoning in developing countries, many of these from cotton farming. 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 use of insecticides is prohibited; organic agriculture uses natural enemies to suppress harmful insects. The production of organic cotton is more expensive than the production of conventional cotton. Although toxic pollution from synthetic chemicals is eliminated, other pollution-like problems may remain, particularly run-off. Organic cotton is produced in organic agricultural systems that produce food and fiber 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.
Critical temperatures
Favorable travel temperature range - no lower limit: 25 °C (77 °F)
Optimum travel temperature: 20 °C (68 °F)
Glow temperature: 205 °C (401 °F)
Fire point: 210 °C (410 °F)
Autoignition temperature: 407 °C (765 °F)
Autoignition temperature (for oily cotton): 120 °C (248°F)
Cotton dries out, becomes hard and brittle and loses all elasticity at temperatures above 25°C (77°F). Extended exposure to light causes similar problems.
A temperature range of 25 °C (77 °F) to 35 °C (95°F) is the optimal range for mold development. At temperatures below 0°C (32 °F), rotting of wet cotton stops. Damaged cotton is sometimes stored at these temperatures to prevent further deterioration.
British standard cotton yarn measures
1 thread = 54 inches (about 137 cm)
1 skein or rap = 80 threads (120 yards or about 109 m)
1 hank = 7 skeins (840 yards or about 768 m)
1 spindle = 18 hanks (15,120 yards or about 13.826 km)
Properties of cotton fibers
| Property |
Evaluation |
| Shape |
Fairly uniform in width, 12-20 micrometers; length varies from 1 cm to 6 cm (½ to 2½ inches); typical length is 2.2 cm to 3.2 cm (8 ⅞ to 1¼ inches). |
| Luster |
low |
Tenacity (strength)
Dry
Wet |
3.0-5.0 g/d
3.3-6.0 g/d |
| Resiliency |
low |
| Density |
1.54-1.56 g/cm³ |
Moisture absorption
raw:conditioned
saturation
mercerized: conditioned
saturation |
8.5%
15-25%
8.5-10.3%
15-27%+ |
| Dimensional stability |
good |
Resistance to
acids
alkali
organic solvents
sunlight
microorganisms
insects
|
damage, weaken fibers
resistant; no harmful effects
high resistance to most
Prolonged exposure weakens fibers.
Mildew and rot-producing bacteria damage fibers.
Silverfish damage fibers. |
Thermal reactions
to heat
to flame |
Decomposes after prolonged exposure to temperatures of 150˚C or over.
Burns readily. |
Further Information
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