You keep hearing about Turkish cotton, but what’s all the fuss about? While most high quality textiles are cotton or a cotton blend, there are many nuances in the blends and fibers used that can have an effect on the feel, longevity and performance of your textiles. To understand why Turkish cotton is the best choice for your textiles, it’s important to first understand a little bit about the cotton growth process.
Cotton is a soft fiber that grows as a protective bundle around its seeds. These bundles are later harvested and spun into long fibers, which can then be dyed and woven into textiles. You can’t grow cotton just anywhere in the world, ideally it requires humid temperatures, lots of rain and healthy soil.
Turkish Cotton Crops
The climate in Turkey offers an optimal growth opportunity for cotton crops. The air temperature is favourable during the growing season, and there are more rainy days than sunny days. This leads to a perfect amount of humidity in the air, a great balance of light, and evenly moist soil. Cotton is a thirsty crop, and its water footprint is significantly higher than most other plant fibers. Since there is a constant distribution of rain in Turkey, the cotton can grow naturally full without much help from artificial watering or fertilizers. All of these conditions combined creates larger cotton bundles, which in turn leads to longer fibers with fewer joints. Why do we want fewer joints? Because it gives a stronger, smoother and more durable thread than cotton grown anywhere else in the world. There ends up being less fuzz and flyaways in the strands of Turkish cotton thread, leading to the smooth finish that it is known for.
Turkish Cotton vs Egyptian Cotton
Egyptian cotton has a great reputation for strength and softness. While it is true that this cotton has even longer and stronger fibers, these threads are typically very dense. This makes Egyptian cotton an excellent choice for wicking away moisture, but a poor choice for towels because of its tendency to hold onto moisture for a long time. Towels that are manufactured using Egyptian cotton may be soft, thick and absorbent, but may take a very long time to dry out between uses. The density of the fibers will trap in moisture, leading to unfavourable smells and very long drying times. Conversely, Turkish cotton offers that perfect balance of high absorbency and drying speed. After using your Turkish towel, it can be dry within an hour. This means less frequent washing and no mold or mildew smell.
What About Bedding?
Egyptian cotton will offer thick high thread count sheets. Our Turkish cotton sheets have a lower thread count on purpose. We wanted you to have a sleep experience without overheating, and our sheets are breathable, airy and light. They don’t hold onto moisture, and regular washing will puff up the fibers causing them to soften considerably over time. What you end up with is an even body temperature that leads to a more comfortable night’s sleep.
Pesticides
Because of the favourable growing conditions in Turkey, its cotton requires less use of fertilizers and pesticides. The plant grows very quickly and efficiently, which means less harsh chemicals on the fibres and in your textiles. You can sleep better knowing that your Turkish cotton products were grown with minimal negative impact on our environment.
Turkish cotton has become quite popular in recent years, and is in high demand around the world. Now that you understand a little more about why Turkish cotton is a great choice, we hope you will find something within our wide range of products that will work for your family!
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