 | Cotton is a natural fiber taken from the cotton plant. Cotton plants are perennial plants grown as annuals of the genus cotton [gossypium], a close relative of the hollyhock family that has beautiful flower blooms. Seedlings emerge from the soil within one to two weeks after planting. In about four to six weeks, flower buds known as squares, begin to appear.
Attractive yellow or pinkish red flowers give way to small green bolls. (A boll is a segmented pod containing 32 immature seeds from which the cotton fibres grow.) Cotton bolls open 50 to 70 days after bloom, to show raw cotton fibres the sun. When the cotton is fully dried and fluffed, you know it is harvest time.
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After the cotton is picked, it is transported to a cotton gin, where the lint is separated from the cottonseeds. A thorough cleaning process removes the trash, sticks and other foreign matter and the lint is compacted into bales (or lint that is packaged for market) for textile mills to pick up.
Meanwhile the cottonseeds also go through processing. Any remaining lint on them from the previous processing is removed, but not thrown away. This lint is usually very short, but can be used to make a variety of products such as toiletries, film, paper, medical supplies, candlewicks and twine. The seed then makes its way to the huller where the outer shell, or hull, is used for livestock feed or other industrial uses. Oil is extracted from the remaining part of the seed to be used in snack foods, baking oils, salad dressings, cosmetics, rubber, soap and more. The kernel is then dried and ground to produce a protein filled livestock feed called cottonseed meal.
Now for the main story - the journey of cotton fibre from the field to your wardrobe. When the fibre arrives at a textile mill, the bales are first opened and laid out. The carding system next pulls the fibres so they can form a thin web that is twisted into a thin, untwisted rope called sliver. Combing removes the shortest fibres as well as any remaining impurities. After this, the sliver is twisted to make it stronger and sent through a roving machine that winds the sliver around spools.
The cotton is now ready to be spun into yarn.
Once the cotton fibres have been spun to yarn, they are ready for fabric forming. There are two ways to get fabric from yarn: weaving and knitting.
Weaving makes fabric by interlacing two or more sets of yarns at right angles. There are three basic weaves, with numerous variations, and cotton can be used for all of them. Knitting, on the other hand, uses a series of needles to interlock loops of yarn in many variations. Finally, the fabric is born, ready for any kind of processing and myriad end products. |