Welcome to the amazing world of Cotton!
In Europe it arrived for the first time in Sicily thanks to the Saracens shortly before the year 1000, although it took at least another three centuries before it spread. The importance of this textile fiber increased exponentially with the discovery of America. The cultivation of Cotton plants quickly spread especially in what is now called South America, but had the maximum moment of expansion starting from 1792 when, thanks to new technologies, the cost of production dropped dramatically.
Cotton is a natural fiber and is one of the most used fibers together with wool. It is also one of the few cultivation that humans have sown for hundreds of years that is not food oriented. The fiber, used for textile production, is very long, soft, and extremely shiny and it is obtained from the thick hair that surrounds the seeds. Harvesting usually takes place at the end of the hot season. Each plant can produce from 2 to 5 kilos of fiber.
