What is Mercerized Cotton?

While most cotton thread manufacturers neglect to say their cotton threads are mercerized or not, many are. I think most manufacturers of high quality cotton threads mercerise their cotton.


John Mercer from England in 1844 (hence the name of the Mercerizing process) treated cotton with sodium hydroxide because he believed it made the cotton swell. The process was done because it made the cotton stronger and much easier to die. 

The process was not mastered until another guy by the name of H A Lowe innovated the process and resulted in a lustrous cotton. Nowadays the mercerizing process treats cotton with sodium hydroxide bath then neutralized afterwards with an acid bath. Sometimes mercerized cotton is referred to as Pearl or Pearle cotton.

Mercerized Cotton Thread

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