Cotton fibers were PVC fabric first spun into fabric by machines in 1730 in England at the beginning of their industrial revolution. However, a new machine invented by Eli Whitney revolutionized mass production of cotton for use in the textile industry. In 1793 the Cotton Gin was patented. This new invention could harvest the cotton 10 times faster than by hand. The cotton gin made it possible to supply the needed cotton and the value of the U S Cotton crop rose from $150,000 to more than 8 million dollars.

Manufacturing process:

Cotton is still today harvested by a modern day version of the cotton gin where the cotton seeds are removed and the cotton fibers, called lint, are bailed and sent to the factories. At the textile mill machines open the bails and clean and mix the cotton lint. This is done by blowing and beating the lint. The cotton fibers are separated into long and short fibers. The short fibers, usually shorted than one inch, are sent out for use in other industries. The long fibers, measuring from 1” to 1 ¾ long are fluffed up and deposited into the carding machine. The carding machine further cleans the cotton fibers and lines them up side by side in the same direction. By combing and cleaning the fibers, the carding machine makes the fibers into a soft untwisted rope called a sliver.

The cotton sliver then is fed into the spinning frame where it is spun into cotton yarn. Modern day spinning devices can rotate up to 2,500 revolutions per second. The spinning process spins the cotton sliver into the yarn that will be woven or knitted into fabric.

Characteristics:

Fabric made from cotton is still today the mainstay of material used to make clothing especially uniform garments. This is mostly due to its generous characteristics. Material and apparel made from 100% cotton will have the following characteristics: