What’s the big deal about egyptian cotton and why do the likes of LL Bean and Eddie Bauer say it’s just so superior (hence, raise the prices considerably) to the run of the mill American-by-way-of-a-Chinese-Sweatshop-Cotton type?
I believe it’s a different type of cotton with a smoother finish and a higher thread count
Egyption cotton used to be really, really expensive, 300+ thread count (feels very silky) stuff that cost a fortune… then LL Bean, Gap, etc realized they could buy the lowest quality raw cottom from the same places and lower the thread count, write “egyptian cotton” on their sub-par product, and double the price and make tons of money b/c of dumb people. It works, so buy stock in those companies.
Egyptian cotton is also sold as a confection, dipped in chocolate.
<bonus points for citing the obscure literary reference>
Ain’t nothing obscure about Milo Milossarian, Chas.
Just a vague memory but IIRC at one time Egyptian cotton referred to a particular strain of cotton plant (grown in…Egypt!) that was notable for its long fibers and therefore superior to other strains.
With modern hybridization, etc., that particular discriminator is no longer exclusive to Egyptian crops but the prestige lives on.
This is not to dispute the thread count and finish theory. I’ll see if I can’t find a cite though. My memory ain’t what it used to be.
Ummm, what were we talking about?
Part of the reason Egyptian cotton may have achieved a certain “quality” billing is (ATMU) that the individual strands in boles of Egyptian cotten were longer than any other variety.
Before the days of nylon, dacron, kevlar, mylar, etc., Egyptian cotton was the preferred raw material source for fabric used to make sails. Apparently, the strand length was the basis for longer wearing/sturdier fabric. I’ve also read references that the color of the sail fabric made from Egyptian cotten is distinctive (pink, or a light rose); it has something to do with the soil it’s grown in, or the dust that settles on the opened boles.
Pluto and 'Uigi are right:
Cotton fibres are classified into three groups based on staple length and appearance.
Long-staple cotton has thin, lustrous fibres with staple lengths from about 2.5 to 6.5 cm and includes types of the highest quality–such as Egyptian and pima cottons. Least plentiful and most difficult to grow, long-staple cottons are costly and used mainly for fine fabrics and yarns.
Medium-staple cotton, such as American Upland, with staple length from about 1.3 to 3.3 cm. These cottons are used for most of the clothes you wear.
Short-staple cottons ranging from about 1 to 2.5 cm. These cottons are primarily used to make carpets, blankets, and inexpensive fabrics.
Cool Beans,
Jois
Oh come on, nobody’s ever read that book from cover to cover except maybe you and me.
Or Milo Minderbinder, for that matter.
And me.
But I’m guessing 15-year-old faded memories don’t count? 
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Chas.E *
**
I’m raising your quota to eighty missions for that, Chas, and look sharp tomorrow morning for General Scheisskopf’s parade.
It doesn’t count if you just saw the movie. I don’t think the chocolate-covered cotton was even IN the movie.
I’ve read it, and coincidentally, I just started reading it again a couple days ago.
But I have a question: where does “Milossarian” come from (aside from the fact that there is a poster by that name on the SDMB)? Is that part of the story I missed the first time around?
This is so hijacked, but the question seems to be answered already.
IIRC, Milossarian said he combined his two favorite characters from Catch-22 (Milo Minderbinder and Yossarian, obviously) to make the name. I just read the book recently and there is no mention of “Milossarian” in it.
sorry about the hijack.
Just to return to vaguely on-topic cotton matters… If you want to see the difference between the qualities of cotton, go buy something labeled as made from Indian Cotton (from India, not the Amerind indians). Shrinks like the devil, wears out almost instantly.
I beg your pardon. The computer with a sense of humor that changed Caleb Major’s rank after his father changed his name has just demoted you.
Drop and give me fifty, private.
The other context in which I’ve seen references to Egyptian cotton is Britain’s position during the US Civil War.
Britain’s factories needed a lot of cotton. Egypt at that time was one source for cotton, but didn’t provide enough. The US South was a major source, which contributed to Britain’s ambivalence about which side to support - didn’t want to alienate one of their sources for a major industry.
(We’ve gone too long without yet another thread on the Civil War and the Battle Flag, so I’ve got to drag it in somewhere. :p)
And, to expand even farther afield on Northern Piper’s point - Egypt under Khedive ( viceroy or governor ) Ismail ( Muhammed Ali’s grandson ) underwent an economic mini-boom during the American Civil War as Britain turned to it for cotton. This helped fuel Ismail’s aggressive dreams of expansion - The Sudan was conquered and annexed, the Suez Canal was built and opened, and Ethiopia was challenged in the far Souh ( inconclusively ). He also commissioned the opera Aida ( he’d been educated in the West and had developed a taste for such things ) to play up his position as a would-be great power and font of modern European sophistication 
.
Of course when the cotton market collapsed in the late 60’s/early 70’s he was screwed ( and so was Egypt ). By the mid-1870’s he owed a debt of over 100 million pounds ( a lot back then ). His defaulting eventually started the path that led to the de facto annexation by Britain ( “no collateral? okay we’re repossesing your country.” ). Ismail himself was deposed by his army and replaced with his son Tewfik ( from which sprang the line of Egyptian kings that terminated in the 1950’s ). Egypt broke out in national rebellion in 1882 under Pasha Arabi after the European powers forced the ascendent nationalist party to resign - With the result that Britain invaded and occupied the country to “maintain order”. The Sudan broke away starting in 1883, but definitively after 1885, under the Mahdi and his followers. It was eventually reconquered by the British in 1898 or '99, I think.
- Tamerlane
Tamerlane, why can’t you teach high school history?