Cotton Fabric

Cotton is a soft fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to the tropical and subtropical regions of both the Old World and the New World. The fibre is most often spun into thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile. Cotton Fabric is noted for its versatility and its natural comfort. Cotton cloth has been used since primitive ages dating back to about 3000 B.C. Today, the main uses of cotton is in the form of garments, home furnishings, and industrial cloths.

Cloth made of cotton is more comfortable, durable and suitable to resist all kinds of weather. The comfort quality of the cotton is due to its twisted or coiled shape. It traps air within the fabric structure and help for a thermal insulation process, resulting protection from heat in summer and cold in winter.

For the fabrics strength, absorbency quality, capacity to be washed and dyed, cotton has become the principal clothing fabric of the world. It is obtained from a bushy plant scientifically known as Gossypium. The fruit (boll) part of the plant is used to make cotton fabric. There are four main types of cotton namely American Upland, Egyptian, Sea Island and Asiatic.
In the world production of cotton, China is the leading followed by United States, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Turkey and Greece. Today, production of cotton is one of the major factors in world prosperity and economic stability.

Process of creating the Cotton Fabric

Cotton fiber undergoes several process to reach the stage of final cloth. The processes are as mentioned below:

Ginning
Ginning is the method of separating the cotton fibers from the seedpods, and sometimes with the sticky seeds. This is done in the cotton field with the help of machines.

Spinning
Spinning is the succeeding step to ginning. This process involves the making of yarn from the cotton fiber. The cotton yarns are made of different thickness in this stage.

Weaving
Weaving is the most important process in the making of cotton cloth. In this process, two yarn is placed to make warp and weft of a loom which successively turn them into a cloth.

Fabric finishes and treatments
After weaving the cotton fabric passes through different processing stages till it reaches to the state of final product. The stages are mentioned below, but it is not necessary for the fabric to undergo all the process for e.g. grain bags cloth are used unbleached.

• Singeing - This process burns off the fibers sticking in the goods.
• Desizing - This process involves removing the size material from warp yarns in woven fabrics.
• Scouring - The cleaning part of the fabrics are involved in this process.
• Bleaching - The fabrics are bleached here to make it more whiter and lighter.
• Mercerizing - In this process, the fabric is immersed in alkali to make it more strong, shining, durable, shrink free and stretch free.
• Dyeing - This process involves the changing of the fabric color by the treatment with a dye.
• Finishing - In this process, the fabric is treated with some chemicals or other useful agents to make it qualitatively more better, for e.g. cotton is made sun protected by treating it with UV protecting agent.

Characteristics of Cotton Fabric

• It is soft and comfortable.
• It has good strength.
• It is easy to handle and sew.
• It drapes well.
• It is flame retardant.
• It is machine-washable and dry-cleanable.
• It is hydrophilic, which means that cotton have excellent absorbing capabilities. Garments made of cotton absorb perspiration, thus keeping one more comfortable.
• Cotton wrinkles easily. To resist this, cotton is being blended with many other natural or synthetic fibers.
• The blending of cotton also gives a bouncy and elasticity property to the cotton.
• 100% untreated cotton fabric has pleasant matte luster.
• It is hypoallergenic, which means it has a low tendency to cause allergic reactions.

Uses of Cotton Fabric

• Cotton Apparel / Garments - Garments made of cotton are very soft, comfortable and weather friendly. They are either 100% or blended with some natural or synthetic fibers. Normally all types of garments are made of cotton fabrics; formal, casual and even industrial clothing.
• Cotton Home Furnishing - Cotton home furnishing is preferred because of the fabrics strength and durability characteristics. A good example of cotton home furnishing is rugs or durries, draperies and curtains, bedding products, etc.
• Cotton Handbags and Luggages - Due to strength, cotton handbags and luggages are more widely preferred. The heavier cotton fabric is used in these kind of products.
• Cotton Canvas - Medium to heavyweight cotton fabric is used in range of canvas products like shoes, tents, tarpaulins, etc.
  Apart from these, cotton fabrics are also used in medical and surgical products, bookbinding cloths and tobacco cloths.