Why choose 100% cotton knitwear?
As we look towards the warmer months of the year, it won't be long before we're ready to pack heavier knitwear away for lighter layers. When it comes to updating your wardrobe for the spring and summer months, cotton is the perfect choice of all the natural fibres.
Cool, breathable and easy to maintain, it's a hardworking fibre that delivers excellent value for money. In this blog post, we've shared some of our favourite features of this incredible natural fibre.
A short history of cotton
Cotton has been cultivated and used by humans as far back as the most ancient civilisations, as early as 4500BC. However, it was not the 16th Century that it began being imported to Europe, and it was a further hundred years before cotton production became commercialised. By the 18th Century, as the middle classes of Europe sought a fabric that met their demands for practicality, colour and ease of washing, cotton rose in popularity as the fibre of choice. Today, cotton still continues to be one of the most widely produced fabrics globally.
Cool, breathable & comfortable
Unlike its heavier counterparts, cotton is a fibre that comes into its own when the sun is shining. With its hollow fibres, cotton yarn is naturally cool and breathable. These fibres allow air to circulate through the weave of the fabric and heat to escape quickly, leaving you feeling fresh even when temperatures are higher.
Most other plant fibres, like linen, consist of a mixture of lignin and cellulose, making them feel coarser to the touch. However, cotton fibres are made from almost pure cellulose, making them incredibly soft. Over time, these fibres continue to relax, making cotton feel softer with each wash.
For those with allergies and skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis, the soft fibres of cotton make it incredibly comfortable to wear next to the skin. Naturally hypoallergenic, its fibres are non-irritating to even the most sensitive skin.
More sustainable
Cotton is a plant fibre which means that it will naturally degrade over time, causing less harm to the environment when discarded than synthetic fibres.
We source our cotton directly from India, where it's grown, and we manufacture our cotton knitwear at our family-owned factory in Navsari. This enables us to reduce its carbon footprint as much as possible while still being able to offer our products to customers at fair prices.
Easy to maintain
Being a durable fibre also helps increase cotton's sustainability. Its hardwearing nature means that it's less likely to rip or tear, so pieces of clothing made from cotton can last for many years if looked after. This durability is thanks to its fibres' high tensile strength, which increases when wet, meaning that cotton can withstand high washing temperatures. These strong fibres also make the cotton fabric easier to care for than many delicate fibres and are not prone to pilling.
Cotton knitwear is a great choice for warmer weather and can be a versatile addition to your wardrobe. From chunky cotton cardigans, shirts and jumper for men and women that can be layered over t-shirts, to ultra fine knit cotton sweaters that drape beautifully and feel incredibly soft, and thick Supima cotton t-shirts made from the world's finest cotton, shop our current collection of cotton fibre knitwear.
Read our article: Are 100% cotton shirts good?
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