The term ‘Egyptian Cotton’ always adds value to an item, surrounding the potentially purchased product with a regal aura of softness and luxury. But it is often easy to dismiss the complexities of the labour that goes into every stage of the process, which ultimately results in the common cotton products we have today; such as the basic T-Shirt or a favourite pair of socks. Like a caterpillar in its cocoon, after a seasonal growth period marked by the crumbling of a dark and hardening protective exterior, what starts as a seed planted into the earth evolves into the fluffy white bud, commonly known as cotton – locally referred to as ‘white gold’. The seed is planted before the summer to allow ample time in the warm weather for a bud to sprout. About one month later, the green bud blooms into a leafy yellow flower; and through its centre, once dead, a fluff of cotton cracks through the surface. Once the flower grows into the familiar gentle material, it is picked and sorted from the field during harvest, and moved to storage, where it is ultimately examined and sampled…
