Cotton fibre grading is a classification system that relates to the physical attributes of picked cotton such as it’s length, strength, colour, fineness, maturity and trash content etc.
Colour
The colour of the cotton crop is important as it affects the downstream processing. The fibres ability to absorb and hold dyes is related to its initial starting colour.
Maturity
The maturity helps determine the fineness of the cotton. The more mature the cotton plant, the higher it will be graded. Hand selected and harvested cotton ensures cotton balls of the right maturity are carefully selected.
Debris
Impurities in cotton, called trash, can occur from things like dust, broken leaf and seed and short fibres. Where large amounts of debris are needed to be removed from the cotton more breakages in the fibres result giving the spun yarn weak spots which result in an uneven feel in a fabric finish.
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