Cotton Essay

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One of the materials commonly used in manufacturing shirts is cotton. Cotton is a natural fiber harvested from the cotton plant. The word ‘cotton’ refers to four species in the genus Gossypium (family Malvaceae), which are G.hirsutum L., G.barbadense L., G.arboreum L., and G.herbaceum L. (Tripathi & Warrier, 2011). The taxonomy of cotton is as follow:

Name Cotton
Kingdom Plantae
Division Magnoliophyta
Class Magnoliopsida
Order Malvales
Family Malvaceae
Genus Gossypium
Table: Taxonomy of cotton
Although the origin of the cotton plant Gossypium is unknown, the primary centers of diversity of 18 species cotton plant are west-central and southern Mexico. North-east Africa and Arabia are the origin places for 14 species of cotton plant while 17species …show more content…

Cotton fabrics have good durability and utility as cotton is a chemically stable material. So, if it is exposed to weak acids and alkalis continuously such as acetic acids or citric acids which are commonly found in food, or ammonia, it stays undamaged. Next, cotton is inherently soft and it is hypoallergenic, which means that it does not irritate sensitive skin or cause allergies. This gentle quality suits perfectly for people with skin hyper sensibility or skin allergies. It is also suitable for the delicate skin of babies. Cotton is a user-friendly fabric and does not require any special care. During washing, it can be tossed in the washing machine and hang it out to dry. So cotton clothing is easy to handle. Cotton is also durable; you can repeatedly wash it in extremely hot water and it will maintain its strong appearance. This special properties made cotton is favored in underwear ranges and other garments that get close to the skin. (Cotton Australia). Cotton is breathable and it is cooler to wear. This property made cotton the first choice to wear during hot summer months. Cotton soaks up moisture easily and after soaking up the body moisture, the moisture is allowed to evaporate omtp the air. Therefore, cotton is comfortable to wear even in extreme climates. Cotton is an ideal textiles material for season of summer and winter as it has a low thermal-conductivity. In summer day, it prevents the skin from the heat of the hot Sun while in the winter it can prevent heat escaped from body and hence preserves the body warmth. Cotton is easy to dye, because it’s white or creamy white in color and very absorbent. So it can be dyed into many different colors by the manufacturer such as pink, purple and black. It made the cotton clothes available in a variety of color as it has good color retention. Cotton is soft, it is comfortable to wear. For the tensile strength of cotton, cotton is considered as a

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