Originally Posted by
butterflywing
interesting question i have to check and see. usa still has an important cotton crop.
fabric softener coats the cotton decreasing it it's inherent cotton-y qualities.
air movement shakes the fibers and prevents them from stiffening, the same way the dryer does, but it smells better, doesn't it? the fibers are actually absorbing the smells of the grass, flowers etc. if there were bad smells, they would absors those too.
Many of the American companies (Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Nicole Miller, Hotel Collection, etc) have their bedding manufactured in Pakistan. I just had a 1 day tour of a local textile mill with the owner, so I saw the process from beginning to end and had the opportunity to ask many questions. The raw cotton itself comes from many countries, including India, Pakistan, Egypt and the United States. The USA exports a lot of raw cotton to Pakistan, it is very high quality raw material. Interestingly enough, the cotton from Egypt has decreased in quality in recent years, according to the owner of this textile mill. It was a fascinating day, to watch raw cotton being transformed into yarn, then cloth, the silk screening process to colour the fabric, embroidery, cutting, sewing and packaging. The quality control measures were extensive! I took many photos, I plan to order them into an album, caption them and put into an album in my QB profile.