Mythology

The 5th century Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–c. 425 BC), had wrote in Book III - Histories of a plant in India, assumed to be a tree, that grew in the wild and produced wool. Because unprocessed cotton resembles wool it was believed to have been obtained from a hybrid plant-sheep type of zoophyte and travellers such as Sir John Mandeville’s  shared similar accounts as Herodotus in his 'Cotton Manuscript'.

11th century legend states that the Lamb plant like fruit, bears sheep atop it attached by an umbilical cord and when famished, the cotton bush bends for the sheep to graze upon nearby vegetation.

Furthering this myth, Henry Lee, was quoted as stating “the fruit of a tree which sprang from a seed like that of a melon, or gourd; and when the fruit or seed-pod of this tree was fully ripe it burst open and disclosed to view within it a little lamb, perfect in form, and in every way resembling an ordinary lamb naturally born…

History

As early as 5000BC cotton fragments were found, in what is now Mexico, and 2000 years later, the plant was cultivated to produce fabric in present day Pakistan.

This practise past down to the ancient Chinese and Egyptian civilisations, amongst others, with ultimately local cotton breeding emerging in the America's, there were Gossypium hirsutum ( which is the worlds most popular variety) and Gossypium barbadense.

Cotton first emerged in Europe via Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire, but Arab traders brought cotton, amongst other new fabrics to Southern Europe. The moors later passed on the technique of cotton cultivation to Southern Spain.

The 15 century saw the emergence of denim, built to be rugged and robust, for sailors, the material derived its name from the title 'Serge De Nimes', which translates to 'Fabric of Nimes'.

The 17th century saw a dark time in the history of cotton, some of Britain's colonies were hospitable for cotton cultivation and combined with rapid advancements in textile machinery - namely the 'Spinning Jenny' and the industrial revolution led to a new generation of cotton fabric production, with new dyes being used to customise the colours of white cotton more sophisticatedly than before.

Cotton now replaces flax and wool as Europe's most popular fabric.

Also the cottonseed is crushed in order to separate its three products – oil, meal and hulls. Cottonseed oil is used for shortening, salad dressing, makeup, soap, candles.  The meal and hulls that remain find use as livestock, poultry and fish feed, also as fertiliser!

This pattern continued throughout the 18th, with the Southern states being the worlds largest exporter of cotton to fuel these British machines.

The 20th Century war effort saw the cultivation of naturally brown and green cotton varieties to alleviate the woes due to lack of available dyes.

And later the perception of denim shifts, becoming a popular staple, for the general public, and interestingly the growing youth.

The first cross genetic cotton variety was introduced in Australia at the turn of the 21st Century, and global cotton demand reached record highs, and The Better Cotton Initiative is established as an independent organisation bringing together farmers, ginners, traders, spinners, mills, manufacturers, retailers, brands and grassroots organisations in a unique global community committed to developing Better Cotton as a sustainable mainstream commodity.

And as of 2018, World Cotton production was lower due to decrease in land used for production, limited water availability and a slowing in the improvement of yields.

The UN Sustainable development goals of 2023, of which all member states were signatories ushered in a new mindset in which companies now strive to achieve sustainable targets for their business, and we see that consumer expectations are also shifting, with price, functionality and increasingly the sustainability of the process of the production being drivers of consumption of cotton products.