9 January 2024
- Our exceptional extra-long staple cotton is grown using certified seed.
- The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) test and record every bale of fibre produced and class the grade of fibre according to the exacting tests carried out.
- The cotton takes 1 year to grow and is carefully farmed using regenerative farming practices to benefit the climate, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water, and chemical usage.
- The cotton is harvested without any chemical defoliant to help remove the boll from the plant.
- Ginning is the first stage of separating the fibre from the seed.
- The seed makes up approximately 55% of the cotton weight.
- The lint makes up approximately 35% of the weight and the remaining 10% is unusable, containing burrs and other vegetable matter which cannot be used in creating a silky lustrous cotton yarn.
- Once the ginning is complete samples are sent to the USDA for analysis and grading.
- The bales of fibre are then transported to the spinning mill for bale breaking, which is a process of opening the bale, removing more short fibre and unusable content before beginning the carding process.
- Carding opens and straightens the fibres and aligns them in a parallel manner creating a continuous rope-like structure called a sliver.
- The sliver is then processed further to reduce the weight per length in preparation for spinning our fine cotton yarn.
- The spinning frame draws the sliver even finer until this creates a singles yarn which is then ready for twisting to create a stable 2-fold yarn.
- The yarn is steam-set to prevent spirality.
- When the yarn is ready the John Smedley team carefully yarn dye the cotton to meet the exacting standards of our quality policy.
