What Is Combed Cotton?

Cotton is a fabric that everyone is familiar with. You can find all kinds of clothing made of cotton, from shirts to coats. The reason why cotton is widely used in clothing is that it has good water absorption and warmth retention, but it is not as expensive as silk and wool, making it one of the best choices for most people.

But do you know what combed cotton is? Obviously, combed cotton is a type of cotton. So what are the characteristics of combed cotton compared to regular cotton? What kinds of clothing fabrics are combed cotton used for? Will combed cotton also shrink? No matter what you would like to know about combed cotton, just keep reading, and learn more about it!

How Is Combed Cotton Made?

As the name suggests, combed cotton is made by adding a delicate combing process during the production process. The first step in making combed cotton is to clean the impurities. In this process, a comber machine is used. The comber machine can not only remove impurities, but also select the longer and fibers of higher quality from the raw materials, and remove the short fibers and fluff of poor quality together with the impurities. This largely determines that the quality of combed cotton is higher than that of ordinary cotton cloth. Because after the impurities are sifted out, the cloth will be smoother and less likely to pilling.

Next, the combing machine will comb the selected cotton fibers into parallel strips. Many strips are combined together. This is to increase the density of the combed cotton cloth.

Before the finished product is born, the cotton strips must be stretched and twisted to make coarse yarn. On the basis of coarse yarn, it is further stretched and twisted, and then fine yarn is born. However, this step is still some distance away from the finished product! Fine yarn still needs to go through subsequent processing such as winding.

In the winding process, the winding machine winds the fine yarn into a certain shape and specification for more convenient transportation, storage and subsequent weaving processing. This step is mainly to remove defects and impurities on the yarn to ensure the quality of the yarn.

The yarn after winding can be sent to the loom, and the warp and weft yarns are interwoven to produce combed cotton. The finished combed cotton needs to be further shaped, that is, through high temperature, mechanical pressing, etc., so that the fabric can have a stable size, comfortable feel, gloss and beautiful appearance. In addition, for some combed cotton fabrics, dyeing and printing are also required.

In this way, the combed cotton cloth is considered to be initially completed. However, after the finished product is produced, it still needs to go through an inspection step to ensure that the quality of the product meets the standards.

What Are the Differences between Combed Cotton and Regular Cotton?

First of all, because combed cotton undergoes an extra combing process compared to ordinary cotton, the yarn is smoother and intenser, and the cotton cloth is more delicate and washable. Compared with regular cotton, combed cotton also feels softer.

Better quality raw materials make combed cotton denser than ordinary cotton. If you place a single layer of regular cotton cloth on your hand and shine a light on it, the outline of your hand will be clearly visible. However, for denser combed cotton, the outline of your hand will be difficult to see under the light. The denser characteristic also makes combed cotton more washable, and will not pill or break after a few washes.

The shrinkage rate of combed cotton is also much lower than that of regular cotton. Regular cotton cloth is a fabric that is more prone to shrinkage, with the shrinkage rate of 5%-10%. The shrinkage rate of combed cotton generally does not exceed 5%, which is one of the evidences that combed cotton has higher quality.

Cotton is a kind of cloth with good moisture absorption performance, which also determines that underwear clothing are usually made of cotton cloth. Combed cotton has even better moisture absorption performance than regular cotton cloth. It can quickly absorb sweat and moisture to keep the skin dry and therefore provide you with better wearing experience.

Finally, combed cotton tends to be more expensive than regular cotton due to the more complex production process and higher quality fabric properties.

According to the differences between combed cotton and regular cotton cloth, we can judge whether the cloth is combed cotton from the following aspects:

🌼First of all, because of the process of removing impurities, combed cotton generally has no defects on the surface, and has a certain luster. If the fabric is dark in color, has impurities or has no luster, it is very likely not combed cotton.

🌼Combed cotton fabrics provide a soft, fine feel and are very comfortable on the skin. If the fabric feels rough, it is most likely not combed cotton.

What Can Combed Cotton Be Used for?

Since cotton has good moisture absorption and air permeability performance, it is widely used in clothing and home textiles, and combed cotton is no exception. Unlike ordinary cotton, combed cotton is usually used in more high-end clothing and home textile products due to its relatively high price.

Clothing

🌼Underwear. Because combed cotton is more sweat-absorbent, air breathable and skin-friendly, it is very suitable for making underwear and other close-fitting clothing, bringing a good experience to the wearer.

🌼Shirts. Because combed cotton is smooth, it is very suitable for making various stylish and decent shirts to meet the needs of formal dressing codes.

🌼Dresses. Because combed cotton has been sifted out of impurities, dresses made of combed cotton are smooth and flat, making them more refined and able to more fully show the elegance and charm of the wearer.

Home Textiles

🌼Bedding. The skin-friendly characteristic of combed cotton makes it very suitable for making soft and comfortable bedding, providing a good sleeping experience.

🌼Towels. Combed cotton is also very suitable for making towels because of its excellent water absorption performance. Towels made of combed cotton can quickly wipe away moisture and keep the surface of the body and utensils dry.

Other fields

🌼Medical supplies: Because combed cotton is soft, skin-friendly, breathable, and less irritating to the skin, it can be used to make some medical supplies, such as medical gauze, bandages, etc., which can provide a more comfortable environment for wounds and are conducive to wound healing.

How to Care for Combed Cotton Clothing?

One of the most popular fabrics used by internationally renowned designers is combed cotton. This natural, eco-friendly fabric is indispensable for sewing dresses, skirts, pants, jackets and other garments. In order for combed cotton products to last a long time and retain their original appearance, it is necessary to care for them properly.

Although combed cotton is intenser than regular cotton, it still requires more care in washing, drying and storage. First of all, please choose a milder neutral detergent when washing, and avoid using detergents containing strong bleach or strong corrosiveness. Otherwise, the dense fiber structure of combed cotton may be destroyed, and damage might even be caused to clothing. If you are applying stain remover to dark clothing, test it on a small area first to make sure it does not damage or discolor the clothing before applying it to a larger area.

Generally speaking, the water temperature for machine washing should not exceed 30 degrees Celsius. Garments made of combed cotton need to be treated more gently and carefully. When washing in a machine, avoid prolonged soaking and strong agitation to prevent the clothes from wrinkling, deformation or fiber damage. Or better yet, wash them by hand.

Combed cotton clothes should be dried promptly after washing to avoid being kept in a wet status for a long time, otherwise it will easily breed bacteria, produce odors, and may also cause the clothes to mold. As is known to all, direct sunlight can cause clothing to fade, while white clothes will turn yellow. Therefore, after washing, hang clothes made of combed cotton in a cool and ventilated place.

Cotton clothing wrinkles more easily, and combed cotton is no exception. So when storing combed cotton clothing, fold it neatly to minimize wrinkles. You can put some desiccant in the closet to keep the clothing dry. If space permits, you can hang the clothing to avoid wrinkles. It is also best to store combed cotton clothes of different colors separately, as the clothes may also be stained during storage.

Proper ironing can also significantly extend the life of things, almost all items of clothing have a special tag, which indicates the optimal temperature of ironing. It largely depends on the thickness and density of the fabric, the thicker the cotton fabric, the higher the temperature at which it can be ironed. If you're not sure what the best temperature is for ironing your clothes, start from a lower temperature. Before ironing, you can spray some water on the clothes to make them slightly moist. This will make it easier to iron out wrinkles and also protect the clothing fibers.