01 Feedstock
Ore, monomer, fibre, mineral or scrap that can legally become Cotton.
Cotton · Seed-hair cellulose that dressed the industrial revolution — still the comfort fibre of daily wear.
Making Cotton is a chain: feedstock, conversion (Indus / New World domestication; mill 18th c.), forming, heat, finish, install.
Skip a step and the properties chapter is describing a different object.
Ore, monomer, fibre, mineral or scrap that can legally become Cotton.
Indus / New World domestication; mill 18th c.
Cast, spin, weave, sinter, foam, laminate or coat — the step that sets anisotropy.
Temper, vulcanise, calcine or dry: skip it and the datasheet is fiction.
Coatings, sizings, facers, galvanizing, anodising, painting.
Fasteners, adhesives, DFT, compression, dryness — site quality is a material property.
Virgin route around India / Americas / Lancashire.
Recycling exists but quality or energy often disappoints.
High-spec grades leave the commodity mill.
Coatings, sprays, casts — the factory is sometimes a jobsite.
Feedstock to installed product.
Energy in, class out.
Melting/softening chars ~150 °C+; conductivity low (textile still air).
Moisture, UV, chlorides, alkalis or oxygen — pick the one that actually kills Cotton.
Fire class combustible fibre (treatments vary) is a starting letter, not a wall rating.
Process energy and scrap quality belong in the carbon passport, not in a footnote.
Crimped keratin that traps still air — suiting, carpets and a quietly decent fire story among apparel fibres.
Overall 53 🦋A kilometre-class animal filament — luxury cloth, sutures and a template for bio-inspired fibres.
Overall 41 🎽The dominant apparel polymer — bottle-grade PET spun into staple that dries fast and sheds microfibres.
Overall 49 🪢Carothers’ polyamide — stockings, tyre cord, climbing rope and a melt-drip fire personality.
Overall 48 🦺Aromatic polyamide pulps and filaments — ballistic packs, hot-gas filtration and asbestos replacement.
Overall 62