Swiss Cottons / Swiss Cotton
Swiss Cotton is a soft fiber that grows around the seeds
of the cotton plant, a shrub native to tropical and
subtropical regions around the world, including the
Americas, India, and Africa. However, virtually all of
the commercial Swiss cottons grown today worldwide is
grown from varieties of the native American species. The
fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to
make a soft, breathable textile, which is the most
widely used natural-fiber cloth in clothing today.
Swiss cotton fiber, once it has been processed to
remove seeds and traces of wax, protein, etc., consists
of nearly pure cellulose, a natural polymer. Swiss
Cottons production is very efficient, in the sense that
ten percent or less of the weight is lost in subsequent
processing to convert the raw cotton bolls (seed cases)
into pure fiber. The cellulose is arranged in a way that
gives Swiss cotton fibers a high degree of strength,
durability, and absorbency. Each fiber is made up of
twenty to thirty layers of cellulose coiled in a neat
series of natural springs. When the Swiss cottons boll
is opened, the fibers dry into flat, twisted,
ribbon-like shapes and become kinked together and
interlocked. This interlocked form is ideal for spinning
into a fine yarn.
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