Cotton, a plant of the genus Gossypium in the family Malvaceae. Annual herbs or perennial shrubs are herbaceous cotton or kapok. Cotton cultivated in my country is divided into four types: Upland cotton, Sea Island cotton, Asian cotton (Chinese cotton), and Grass cotton. Upland cotton, also known as fine-staple cotton, has high yield, slender fibers and strong adaptability; Sea-island cotton, also known as long-staple cotton, is a slender, smooth, high-strength cotton fiber, but has low yield; Asian cotton originates from India and has a long history of cultivation in my country. The planting area is very small and it is basically reserved as a seed source. Grass cotton is also called African cotton, and its yield is lower than that of Asian cotton. People’s first impression of cotton is white. However, there are colored fibers in these four cultivated cotton species, that is, colored cotton.
Colored cotton refers to cotton whose cotton fibers show a certain natural color. Currently, there are mainly two colors: brown and green. Natural colored cotton is not a brand-new textile variety. Historically, the Asian cotton species grown in my country included brown fiber colored cotton, also known as purple cotton. Natural colored cotton has shortcomings such as thick and short fibers, low yield, and dull colors. With people’s demand for color and the development of printing and dyeing technology, white cotton has gradually occupied the market of natural colored cotton due to its high dyeability. Nowadays, people pay more and more attention to healthy and environmentally friendly materials, and natural colored cotton has returned to people’s vision.
Today’s natural colored cotton is cultivated through hybridization, genetic modification and other biotechnologies. At present, genetic modification technology is very mature. By implanting genes of different colors into cotton plants, during the natural growth process, various colorful cottons with bright colors can be obtained. Compared with white cotton, natural colored cotton is more healthy and environmentally friendly because the manufacturing process omits dyeing, bleaching, scouring and other processes, and contains no harmful chemicals, thus avoiding harm to the human body and the environment.
The advantages of natural colored cotton in color and material properties make it popular in the field of textile and clothing. However, there are certain limitations in its own characteristics, such as uneven color, poor color stability, single color, low output, and poor quality.
