As our global population continues to grow and our natural resources become increasingly tighter, global entities that are concerned with how our resources are squandered, misused, or even misinterpreted have been created to make our global citizenry aware. One such organization is the Changing Markets Foundation, which was established “to accelerate and scale up solutions […]
19 to 7. Those are today’s key numbers, and they refer to the number of processing steps for two key fibers: cotton and rayon. While we’ve discussed cotton vs. rayon before, for this post we’re dialing in specifically on the simple production process for cotton, and the complicated one for rayon.
It should come as no surprise that women are pretty particular about the feminine hygiene products they use. When it comes to panty liner and feminine pad topsheets, we’re also discussing some of the most sensitive areas of the body. While we’ll get into the fiber preference statistics in a minute, we’ll begin by discussing […]
In the past we’ve discussed cotton vs. rayon at length, but today we’re going to focus on the supply chains of the two fibers. Using the map below, you’ll instantly see a huge difference between the two supply chains; one fiber is harvested and converted right here in the good ol’ US of A, while […]
The cotton market has had a wild ride over the 3rd quarter of 2016, especially compared to the mundane trading range of the past 24 months. Coming out of the July 4th holiday, the market prices escalated quickly, mainly from speculative buying, but also from crop concerns around the globe and the projected lowering of […]
Cotton has long been associated with durable products used for washing, bathing, and cleaning our skin. Have you ever used a polyester washcloth or a rayon washcloth? In all probability you haven’t—and there are reasons you haven’t. So we wash with a cotton washcloth and then we dry off with, of course, a cotton towel […]
100% purified cotton nonwoven fabrics can be produced using many manufacturing platforms: they can be hydroentangled (spunlaced), needlepunched, and chemical bonded to form 100% cotton fabrics. In fact, there are many applications where these fabrics can be used in products like wipes and diapers, as well as medical and feminine hygiene products, too. However, there […]
Today, so many products are created from cotton. Since the fiber is pervasive in what we wear, eat, and use on a daily basis, it’s easy to forget that it comes from a crop, and must be harvested each and every year to meet worldwide demand. Cotton has been cultivated for over 5,000 years, and […]
The U.S. textile mills are projected to use 3.6 million bales from the 2015 crop, which is an increase of 25,000 bales from the 2014 crop—and the fourth consecutive year that cotton consumption in the US has increased. The U.S. cotton production in 2015 finished just shy of 13.0 million bales (at 12.9 million bales). […]
For nonwoven fabric manufacturing, purified cotton webs can be formed using two processes. These processes are known as carding and airlaid/drylaid. First, purified cotton is packaged in approximately 500-pound bales where the fiber is densely compressed. These bales are how the fiber arrives at the nonwoven fabric plants. The bales are opened and the tightly […]