Location: Cotton Quality and Innovation Research
Project Number: 6054-30600-005-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Jul 14, 2025
End Date: Jul 13, 2030
Objective:
Objective 1. Identify new or existing fiber properties that influence the processing success and product quality of cotton textiles.
Objective 2. Establish optimized fiber processing parameters for improved fabric draping.
Objective 3. Identify fiber properties that impact dye uptake and Barré lines in cotton fabrics.
Approach:
Cotton produced in the United States is highly regarded in the international textile industry for its consistent quality. However, ongoing competition from other cotton exporting countries, other natural fibers, and man-made fibers has put pressure on the profitability of the U.S. cotton industry. All segments of the U.S. cotton industry agree on the need to maintain and improve the quality of U.S. cotton, while also reducing drivers of variance that complicate fiber processing as well as dyeing of the end product. Based on extensive stakeholder input, three principal objectives have been developed to help address these industry needs. The first seeks to identify fiber characteristics, both commonly and not so commonly measured, that can better predict cotton processing efficiency and product quality. A second objective will seek to identify fiber characteristics and processing factors that control fabric drape in cotton products with the aim of producing cotton garments with improved aesthetics that can better compete against viscose fabrics. A third objective seeks to identify fiber characteristics that lead to more consistent fabric dyeing with lower incidence of color defects such as fabric barré and shade variation. All three objectives are interconnected by the characteristics measured in each which will support the development of correlations with fiber and fabric processing performance, fabric aesthetics and comfort.