Types of cotton
To begin with, to understand the wide range of cotton, according to the cultivation of cotton, combined with the length of the fiber, three main varieties can be classified:
Coarse Cotton (Displaced Cotton): Also known as Asian cotton, refers to various varieties of mid-grass and grass cotton, the fibers are coarse and elastic. Such cotton fibers due to short length, fibers are coarse hard, white or residual white, less silk light, operational value and unit production is low, and then China is basically eliminated, there is no cotton production in the world.
Fine velvet cotton (the most common cotton): also known as land cotton, refers to various varieties of land cotton cotton fiber of medium fineness and length, white or milky white, with silk light, 11 ~ 100 tex (60 ~ 6) yarn can be woven English). Fine cotton accounts for 85% of the world's cotton production and is also currently the main type of cotton cultivation in China.
Long fluff cotton (the most advanced cotton): also known as island cotton, refers to the island cotton of various varieties of cotton and sea and land hybrid cotton, long fibers, fine and soft, milky or yellow colored, rich in silk light, excellent quality, is the raw material for production of cotton yarn below 10 tex. Countries that currently produce long staple cotton are mainly Egypt, Sudan, USA, Morocco, Central Asian countries and so on. China's main production base for long-staple cotton is in Xinjiang and other parts of the country. Long cotton can be divided into special and medium.
Key Factors Affecting Cotton Quality
Due to differences in cotton varieties, growing environment, growing and harvesting methods, the cotton produced also has significant differences in fiber characteristics and prices, and the most important factor affecting quality is the length of the cotton fibers as well as the harvesting method.
Think of cotton, everyone's mind will immediately appear as white fibrous spherical flowers growing on the branches of cotton fields, this white flower-like structure called cotton bell is actually the fruit of cotton trees, these are cotton flowers after pollination of cotton seeds , the hairs on cotton seeds grow from the skin of the cotton seeds, gradually fill the inside of the fruit, and finally destroy the outer appearance formed by the skin of the fruit.
Cotton fiber grown from cotton seeds can be divided into 2.5 - 6.5 millimeters of lint cotton, 1.3 - 3.3 millimeters of lint cotton and 1 - 2.5 millimeters of short staple cotton depending on from length.
In general, the longer the fiber is cotton, because the spun yarn reveals fewer fiber heads, so the fabric produced is softer, finer, suitable for making high-quality clothing, intimate beds, towels, etc., while short fiber cotton due to the spinning there are more exposed fiber heads and therefore coarser, so it is often made from hard-wearing, wash-resistant casual wear.
In addition to the length of the cotton fiber, harvesting methods also affect the quality of the cotton. Almost all high-quality cotton products are handmade from cotton, not only because hand-picking cotton can completely preserve the cotton fibers, but also because the cotton fruit ripens from the bottom of the plant, hand-picking can first harvest the cotton under the plant, after one or two months, and then re-harvest the top cotton, rather than pull the plant like machine harvesting, so not only is it easy to damage the fibers, the oil inside the machine, dust can also contaminate the fibers.
When we buy bedding, we often see merchants presenting ourselves as new Xinjiang cotton or Egyptian long-staple cotton, which has been pushing cotton vigorously in the past year or two; So we don't know everything. Below we will look at the differences between these three types of cotton.
Xinjiang cotton, Egyptian cotton and horse cotton are actually representatives of three regions, why is the cotton in these three places especially famous? Mainly due to climate problems; Cotton quality is very much related to climate, such as length, fineness, horse cloning values and so on.
Three types of long staple cotton.
Xinjiang cotton
New Xinjiang cotton is mainly divided into fine cotton and plush cotton, the difference between them is thinness and length; The length and thinness of plush cotton is definitely better than thin plush cotton. Due to the weather and the concentration of cotton producing areas in Xinjiang, compared with cotton in other producing areas in China, color, length, isofiber, strength are superior.
Therefore, the fabric woven from Xinjiang cotton yarn has good moisture absorption and breathability, good luster, higher strength, and less fabric yarn defects, but is also representative of the quality of pure cotton fabric in China at present; At the same time, the cotton from the new Xinjiang cotton was a good fluffy fiber, so the blanket was well warm.
Egyptian cotton
Egyptian cotton is also divided into fine cotton and long-staple cotton, generally we talk about long-staple cotton, Egyptian cotton is divided into many production areas, of which in the Giza 45 production area, long-staple cotton is the best quality, the production is also very small. Egyptian long staple cotton has better fiber length, fineness and maturity than new Xinjiang cotton.
Egyptian long-staple cotton is generally used to produce high-quality fabrics, mainly spun more than 80 fabrics, the fabric has a silky luster because the fibers are long, stick together well, so the strength is also very good, the dampening rate is high, so the dyeing performance is also good, the overall price { {1}} from left to right.
Horse Cotton
Horse cotton is a more fiery type of cotton, roasted for these two years, and also belongs to the long-staple cotton series, the main production areas in the United States and Peru, as the fibers are longer, so the fabric is soft, and the glowing feeling is better. However, the length of the cotton is only one aspect of quality, so Egyptian long-staple cotton is generally better.
|
Xinjiang long staple cotton |
Fiber body length 37.29mm, short fiber index (16.0mm) 6.9%, horse cloning value 4.22, maturity 0.98, impurity content 3.6%, ebb rate 5 .7%, fiber purity 86,3, fineness 161mtex, cotton knot 101/g. |
|
Egyptian cotton |
Main length 35.74 mm Short fiber index (16.0 mm) 8.9%, horse clone 4.22, maturity 0.98, impurity content 2.8%, ebb rate 5, 7%, fiber purity 89.7, fineness 159mtex, cotton knots 127/g |
|
American cotton |
Fiber length 35.89 mm, short fiber index (12.7 mm) 6.5%, horse cloning value 4.22, maturity 0.93, impurity content 3.1%, moisture coefficient 5.7 %, fiber purity 87.1, fineness 171mtex, cotton knot 136/g |
Summary: According to the composite rating, Egyptian long-staple cotton performs better!
