Egyptian Cotton : The Myths and The Facts



Egyptian cotton is very well known around the world to be the best cotton used in threads and fabrics. Why Egyptian cotton is considered the best? The climate in Egypt allows the Extra Long Staple fabric to grow much longer than any other cotton in the world including the American Pima cotton which is also a long staple cotton.

The problem that most consumers are facing is the lying by manufacturers.  Egyptian Cotton should refer to a certain type of Extra Long Staple cotton that is grown in Egypt not elsewhere. If you look at world-wide statistics of Egyptian cotton produced you will be amazed that Egypt produces less than 1% of the Egyptian cotton in the world. 

Obviously many manufacturers are lying to the consumer.
Also not every cotton grown in Egypt should be labelled Egyptian cotton, so the lying does continue unfortunately. For any cotton to be labelled "Egyptian Cotton" it must be Extra Long Staple (ELS) and grown in Egypt. It is said that China produces more than half of the cotton that is marketed as Egyptian Cotton. 

If you are in the quilting or embroidery business you will come to learn the hard way that unless told by the manufacturer of the thread or fabric that it is made from authentic Egyptian-grown Egyptian cotton (Extra Long Staple ELS) then it is not. A good example of Authentic Egyptian cotton threads is Wonderfil.

There are many different types of Authentic Egyptian Cotton such as Giza 85, Giza 86, Giza 87, Giza 88, Giza 89 and Giza 90. I will discuss the differences between these types in a different post down the road.

Why Egyptian Cotton is the Best?


Egypt has been producing the best cotton in the world. Ironically because of it's high quality cotton it was invaded by Great Britain for a number of years because they needed to control cotton trade world wide!

So what makes the Egyptian Cotton the best? Egyptian cotton is the finest the world has to offer because it is very soft and very strong. The weather, temperature and the soil  in Egypt makes its cotton an extra long staple variety which in other words has very long fibres that produces thin threads. When you have thinner and stronger threads used to produce fabric, the fabric becomes luxurious. This explains why designer clothing is always made using Egyptian cotton and the designers make sure the consumer know it by using it on the labels visibly.



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