1. Advantages of cotton wear for consumers.
1. COTTON BENEFITS
| Cotton is Natural
Cotton is a plant grown from the earth. It starts as a flower and matures into a boll with a fluffy interior, which is spun into the soft fabric we know and love.
| Cotton Breathes
Cotton is soft, absorbent, and breathable. So, say goodbye to itchy, stiff or too clingy non-cotton garments. Cotton breathes better than oil-based synthetic fabrics like polyester*, so it keeps you cool while you’re working out.
*Source: Marjory Joseph. Introductory Textile Science, 5th Edition, 1984, pp. 358-359.
Cotton doesn't stink
When you’re cooking dinner, fishing, going to the beach or sitting around the campfire, your clothes are bound to soak in different odors. These odors tend to stick to polyester even after you wash it, but this doesn’t happen with cotton. Cotton releases odorous substances during washing more easily than other fabrics.
*Source: Cotton Incorporated Consumer Textile Research on Negative Textile Issues
| Cotton clothes last longer
Cotton keeps its shape
Are you sick and tired of your clothes losing its structural integrity after a few washes? The collar sags and the colour starts to fade! By choosing 100% cotton garments, it has a high tensile strength, making it strong, durable and less likely to rip or tear.
| Cotton is Easy to Maintain
Cotton is Easier to Wash and Dry
Cotton is easier to wash and care for than other fabrics! It is 30 percent stronger when wet, withstanding many washes in hot water. Also, it is better for drying as there is no pilling found when you take it out of the dryer. Pills are pesky balls of tangled fibers that pop up on your clothes when the fabric rubs against itself or another material. Once nylon, polyester and blends pill, it’s permanent, while cotton sheds any pills in the wash. So if you want your clothes to stay smooth, choose cotton!
2. HEALTH & WELLNESS BENEFITS
| Cotton is Hypoallergenic
People with sensitive skin often must be very careful about what kind of clothes they wear, and they almost always turn to cotton. It’s hypoallergenic*, whereas synthetic fibers are much more likely to irritate your skin, whether you’re prone to allergies or not. Cotton’s natural—so you don’t have to worry.
| Stay Cool in Summer with Cotton Clothes
We know the struggle of wearing clothes on a nice summer day, especially at the pub (where you need to conform to a dress code)! Our clothes get sticky, hot, and unbearable. A quick fix for this messy problem is to wear cotton.
Cotton breathes, keeping you cooler during even the hottest days. It’s also easier to wash, and won’t produce static cling, so you can have a functional and fashionable wardrobe.
| Cotton Can Help You Sleep
If you are one to sleep in a tee then you know the terrors of a hot night. You can worry less with 100% cotton, as its enhanced breathability allows for a cooler night's sleep!
3. COTTON SUSTAINABILITY BENEFITS
| Cotton’s Impact on the Environment
100% cotton is biodegradable and returns to the soil, enriching it. On the other hand, synthetic fibers like polyester cannot break down, which causes them to release heavy metals and other additives into the soil and groundwater.
Recycling Cotton
The majority of recycled cotton is claimed through mechanical recycling. First, fabrics and materials are sorted by color. After sorting, the fabrics are run through a machine that shreds the fabric into yarn and further into raw fiber.
Cotton Incorporated has created a denim recycling program called Blue Jeans Go Green™. The Blue Jeans Go Green™ initiative recycles old denim jeans to be preprocessed and converted into insulation. The program, created in 2006, has collected about two and a half million pieces of denim and diverted over 1,230 tons of textile waste from landfills.
Cotton Is Natural, Unlike Polyester and Rayon
The fact that cotton comes from a plant distinguishes this fiber from man-made materials like polyester and rayon. Cotton is grown on farms, not created in a lab or from crude oil.
Unlike synthetic fibers such as polyester and rayon, cotton is natural and grown from the earth. Polyester is derived from crude oil, the same oil that is used to make fuel for cars. Rayon, another man-made fiber, undergoes so much chemical modification that it no longer bears any resemblance to its source substance, trees. Manufacturing rayon may also contribute to worldwide deforestation.*
*Source: Dirty Fashion, revisited
