Egyptian Cotton, arguably the best cotton for high quality dress shirts

Four different types of Egyptian Cotton fabric differentiated by yarn number.
The 70s, 80s, 100s and 120s (from left to right)

Good day, 

Today we would like to share some information relating to Egyptian Cotton and its almost exclusive use in crafting high quality dress shirts by renown shirting brands around the world. 

You've probably heard of Egyptian Cotton being frequently used in bedding products especially bed sheets, duvets and bed covers etc. due to its multiple fine properties that point toward a phrase containing merely two words, "supreme comfort". Well, Egyptian Cotton is used in high quality dress shirts for the very same reason!

Before we go any further, we would like to clear the confusion of some who think that Egyptian Cotton is equivalent to “European Fabric” (a term frequently used by shirt-makers on their shirt tags) as the two are very, very much different. Egyptian Cotton is a type of high quality rare cotton whereas European Fabric basically means any fabric that is produced in Europe. 

At this point it would be safe to say that consumer knowledge in relation to the importance of wearing 100% cotton shirts for comfort is on the rise and of course Egyptian Cotton will provide a higher comfort level compared to regular cotton shirts but just how much more comfortable are Egyptian Cotton shirts compared to regular cotton shirts? 

Let us look briefly into the history of Egyptian cotton. Egyptian cotton is a particular variety of cotton called Gossypium Barbadense that is grown in only a few places in the world. It is renowned and agreed by many as one of the best cotton in the world due to its extra long staple, which constitutes longer fibers, resulting in a silkier, more durable fabric. Now, you might think that Egyptian cotton originated from Egypt but it apparently wasn't so. It was only brought into Egypt in the early 1800s by its ruler at that time, Mohammad Ali, after he was convinced to grow a type of long-staple cotton from Ethiopia that might have been derived from Sea Island Cotton or from a hybridization with Peruvian Cotton. Hoping to find a crop that would prove valuable to Egyptian agriculture, Mohammad Ali agreed for the crop to be planted. The cotton produced was of an exceptional quality and hence Egyptian Cotton was 'created'. Egyptian Cotton become a valuable part of the country's agricultural economy ever since. 

Egyptian Cotton is only grown in a few places around the world with specific moist atmospheres in order to create the ideal conditions to raise long cotton fibers called “staples”. Substantially longer staple in Egyptian Cotton translates into more uninterrupted fiber to be used when composing yarn and threads. This means there are fewer splices and therefore the threads and eventually the fabrics are stronger. This also gives fabric mills the ability to turn these extra-long fibers into very fine yarn, making it softer and more lustrous than regular cotton. 

The difference between wearing an Egyptian Cotton shirt and a regular cotton shirt cannot be explained by mere words and can only be experienced by actually wearing them.

However, we can provide you with our personal opinion in regards to the comparison between Egyptian Cotton shirts we have crafted (which will be released in our stores sometime mid September) and our current 2-ply regular cotton shirts. Most of the members of our "Quality Control Team" find that even our 70s single-ply Egyptian cotton shirts feel more comfortable compared to our 100s 2-ply regular cotton shirts. In fact, the difference between our 2-ply Egyptian Cotton shirts and our 100s 2-ply regular cotton shirts is significant enough that our Quality Control Team had a hard time reverting to wearing regular 2-ply cotton shirts after wearing our Egyptian Cotton shirts of 80s and above during the 1 month trial period.  

We hope we have provided you with some insight in relation to Egyptian Cotton shirts and we look forward to you trying them out! Stay tuned for the exact release date!


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