20 Interesting facts about cotton

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800px-Arctic_Cotton_at_Arviat,_Hudson's_Bay,_Nunavut

Cotton is a soft, fluffy fibre which grows in a bowl or a protective capsule like covering around the cotton seeds. Cotton comes from the genus Gossypium in the family of Malvaceae. The fibre growing inside the ball is purely cellulose. The fibre is spun into yarn or threads to make out a soft, fresh textile. The word cotton is derived from the word ‘qutun’ or ‘kutun’ from the Arabic origin meaning fine textile. China is the largest producer of cotton, but most of this is used in the home country only and America has been the largest exporter of cotton in the world.

Cotton is used for a myriad of purposes, like cotton fibres are used to produce clothing apparels like  denim jeans, shirts, jackets, towels, socks, bed sheets, mattresses, home furnishings and industrial or medical products like tents, cotton swabs bandages and  lot more.

1. People have been cultivating cotton across the globe for well over 5000 years. The remarkable thing is that In spite of the different geographic locations of these farmers, the way in which cotton is cleaned, prepared, spun and weaved, has remained same everywhere!

2. The name of cotton has been derived from the Arabic word ‘qutn’ which means fancy. Earlier cotton was also termed as vegetable wool!

3. Until the industrial revolution, when methods of colour consistency were examined, cotton was actually grown in assorted colours. The colours included brown, rust and light purple.

4. Other than cotton becoming a major use in the formation of cotton clothes worn in summers, cotton has many other uses like padding in automobiles, furniture.

5. The pair of jeans which we use to wear is made up of blended cotton. In fact, the popular term ‘jean’ is actually a French word that traces its roots to the sailors of Genoa who used to regularly wear this cloth.

6. America uses cotton to print its money. IN fact, the average dollar note is made up of 75% cotton, while the remainder of it is linen.

7. The first bulb which was invented by Thomas Alva Edison used cotton filament in it!

8. Cotton is best for all the seasons as it keeps our body cooler in summer and warmer in winters.

9. The average American owns 7 pair of blue denim jeans which have been made using various cotton blends.

10. Ancient Egyptians used to grow cotton, but only the priest of higher rank was allowed to wear any cotton garment.

11. Levi Strauss along with his partner added rivets in their denim jeans for added strength in the fabric.

12. The average cotton plant needs roughly 180-200 days from planting to be ready for harvest.

13. Cotton seeds are really tough that it can survive the travel across entire oceans while floating in the wind!

14. Cotton is termed as the thirsty crop. From boll to a newly manufactured shirt the amount of water used by it is estimated to be a whopping 713 gallons.

15. Arizona cotton farms produce enough amount of top grade cotton, which can be worn by every single American including the little ones.

16. Cotton accounts for 40% in the world’s fibre production.

17. ‘Chambray’ is a type of cotton, which is popularly used to manufacture blue-coloured shirts. It is from this, that the term blue-collar has been coined and popularised.

18. Around 70 countries in the world grow cotton .

19. In an average year the Australian cotton growers cultivate this much amount of cotton that can clothe 500 million Australians.

20. There are 43 species of cotton in the world and some cotton grows on trees.

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