Textile industry needs

Authors: Delhom, Christopher - Chris; MARTIN, VIKKI - Cotton, Inc; SCHREINER, MARTIN - Cotton, Inc

Submitted to: Journal of Cotton Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/12/2017
Publication Date: 11/1/2017
Citation: Delhom, C.D., Martin, V.B., Schreiner, M.K. 2017. Textile industry needs. Journal of Cotton Science. 21:210-219.

Interpretive Summary: The cotton gin has a challenging job of producing acceptable results for both the immediate customer, who is the cotton producer, and the ultimate customers, who are the textile mills and the consumers The classing and grading systems are intended to assign economic value to the bale that relates to the needs of the textile mill and end-product. International mills are now the primary consumer of U.S. cotton where domestic cotton must compete against foreign supplies. International mills are predominantly ring spinning while domestic mills are predominantly rotor spinning and the gins must produce cottons to satisfy all customers. Many attributes are important to the textile industry including: strength, length, micronaire, trash, grade, short-fiber content, maturity, stickiness, fiber cohesion and neps. The general steps of textile processing: opening, cleaning, carding, drawing, spinning and fabric production have not changed in many years, however the systems have become highly automated and production speeds have dramatically increased. In recent years the demand for contamination-free cotton, which has always been important to the textile industry, has taken on renewed importance due to recent changes in harvesting systems in conjunction with higher production speeds and global competition from synthetic fibers and other growths of cotton have increased the industry demand for contamination-free cotton. The ginner plays a vital role in preserving and improving the quality of cotton to meet the demands of the textile industry.

Technical Abstract: The immediate customer of the cotton gin is the producer; however the ultimate customers are the textile mill and the consumer. The ginner has the challenging job to satisfy both the producer and the textile industry. The classing and grading systems are intended to assign economic value to the bale that relates to the needs of the textile mill and end-product. International mills are now the primary consumer of U.S. cotton where domestic cotton must compete against foreign supplies. International mills are predominantly ring spinning while domestic mills are predominantly rotor spinning and the gins must produce cottons to satisfy all customers. Many attributes are important to the textile industry including those which are included in HVI-based classing: strength, length, micronaire, trash and grade. There are also attributes which are not included in HVI-based classing: short-fiber content, maturity, stickiness, fiber cohesion and neps. The general steps of textile processing: opening, cleaning, carding, drawing, spinning and fabric production have not changed in many years, however the systems have become highly automated and production speeds have dramatically increased. Contamination-free cotton has always been important to the textile industry but recent changes in harvesting systems in conjunction with higher production speeds and global competition from synthetic fibers and other growths of cotton have increased the industry demand for contamination-free cotton. The ginner plays a vital role in preserving and improving the quality of cotton to meet the demands of the textile industry.