How do I know the difference between High Quality Cotton and Low-Quality Cotton?
Indian History stands testament to the fact that it has always been popular for its cotton. Today, we use the fabric for just about everything from our underwear to our bags, bedsheets, footwear, and more.
However, as globalization and other trends further shrink our world, high quality cotton fabric is something that many claim to work with, yet only some truly live up to.
In order to understand how to check cotton fabric quality, let’s first get into understanding the characteristics to look out for while determining premium quality cotton fabric.
High quality cotton is something that by nature is durable enough to take the wear and tear of everyday life comfortably without losing its strength or shape. This means using long staple fibers as raw material that are spun into a fine yarn which helps strengthen the fabric as a whole.
This long staple fiber also helps add a softness to the fabric because the long fibers produce longer strands of yarn that don’t end up like split ends through the length and breadth of the fabric which otherwise happens with short fibers whose ends create an uneven, unclean weave.
If you are figuring out how to check cotton fabric quality, look out for how breathable the fabric is. High quality cotton can be characterized by its breathability. This is achieved by weaving finely combed threads tightly to get rid of any air pockets in between, which are otherwise responsible for an insulating effect that ends up making you feel warmer or, in hot weather, sticky, sweaty, and rather uncomfortable.
In conclusion, the secret to high quality cotton, lies with the length of the fibers cultivated and used.
Along with this longevity and resistance, another characteristic of high quality cotton fabric is being able to retain colour despite several washes. While other fabrics, including poor quality cotton are prone to losing colour, stretching out, or shrinking in, high quality cotton fabric, should not.
Putting aside these technical aspects of cotton, aesthetically speaking, high quality cotton fabric has a soft, natural drape that flatters the body while feeling soft and comfortable to touch. However all these aside, premium quality cotton fabric is mainly characterized by the virtue of appearing as “high quality” or rich fabric that owns a sense of inherent style as well.
All the above mentioned factors, combined give high quality cotton fabric its quality.
Moving on to the actual part of this article – how to check cotton fabric quality – one of the first things that comes to mind is the cost factor. After all, premium quality cotton fabric cannot be made available at non-premium prices, no matter what the manufacturing process entails.
Having said that, because is it a premium quality cotton fabric, it means that it justifies itself by means of lasting in perfect condition for as long as you want to use it. In other words, don’t be fooled by low cost, low quality products that you end up buying over and over again because they lose shape, colour, or strength, in no time.
Along with the cost, as mentioned previously, premium quality cotton fabric also has a stylish look and feel that differentiates it from a low quality fabric. The importance of ‘first impressions’ can be seen here.
But if your question is: how to check cotton fabric or what exactly to look for in this first impression, we understand that various other things in a store, especially lighting and the way a salesman makes a pitch to you can influence your decision.
That is why, we are listing a few other things that might also help you understand how to check cotton fabric, by testing or inspecting the fabric for high quality cotton using several methods.
First of these would be by touching the fabric itself. As mentioned above, one of the most significant tell tales of premium quality cotton is the finish of the fabric. A smooth, soft, almost silk-like finish directly points to a supremely high quality fabric. But if you are still not too sure of how to check cotton fabric the easiest thing is to look for the label of the garment to see what it is made of.
How to check cotton fabric online, you ask? Look out for product descriptions, material specifications, and even reviews, to see what the feedback on the items being purchased are.
Apart from this, you can also use the light test to determine the quality of the cotton you are looking to invest in. hold up the cotton against a source of light like a bulb or tube or window, and you will be able to see how tight or loose the knitting of the fabric is. If loose, you might see more gaps show through, indicating a poor quality weave, which results in lower quality fabric. Subsequently, lesser or no gaps indicate a tighter, more compact weave, which, along with adding to the strength drape of the fabric, also means a more durable fabric because naturally, more raw material has gone into making it as well, ensuring it holds shape for longer as well.
Lastly, also related to the knitting, a premium quality cotton fabric, displays a very uniform, neat pattern when looked at extremely closely, indicating the detailed processes undergone while manufacturing it.
In summation, if you are trying to understand how to check cotton fabric for its premium quality, ensure that you have focused on:
- How it looks
- How it feels
- Whether or not any light shows through if held against it
- The detail and finish of the pattern of the weave on the fabric
- The fall and drape
- Technical specifications provided
- Reviews, details, and specifications online, if being purchased online
- And the costing
Most of these would help guide you towards making an investment that is sure to save you a lot more in the long run. In fact, that is precisely why, at Sexy Beast we inherit the no-compromise attitude when it comes to our cotton so that when you buy from us, you get the softest, most comfortable, durable boxer shorts, undies, pyjamas, and more that are sure to become part of the all-time favourites collection in your wardrobe. Made from the highest quality modal cotton, these classy pieces come with this from one cotton lover to hopefully, another.
