Naturally Colored Organic Cotton and Naturally Colored Cotton Fiber Production

Abstract

Processing of fibers into textile materials requires the usage of extensive water, energy, chemical and other related resources. Dyeing processes may cause environmental pollution due to its chemical dyestuff and dyeing process auxiliary usage. There are some new considerable efforts for reducing the ecological hazard and waste generated during textile processing or developing sustainable and green materials. One of these promising approaches is to promote the usage of naturally colored cotton fiber usage and its production. As the world is moving towards to the pollution-free organic textiles and products, the naturally colored cotton fiber is going to be the next buzz word in the textile market. Since, the production process of naturally colored cotton skips the most polluting activity (dyeing) of the textile product manufacturing. Indeed, naturally colored cotton fiber usage for textile materials can eliminate the need for dyeing process due to their inherent color characteristics leading to water, chemical and energy savings with no synthetic dye usage for coloration. Not only the cultivation and the usage of the naturally colored cotton fiber but also the cultivation and the usage of naturally colored organic cotton fiber have also recently been increased. For example, brown and green naturally colored cotton fibers can be grown organically or conventionally. Naturally colored cotton growers have less requirement for the pesticides, insecticides since these varieties have already insect and disease-resistant, salt-tolerant qualities as well as they exhibit property for drought. Organic agriculture is a production management system which increases biodiversity as well as soil biological activity. This production is based on the applications of maintaining and enhancing the ecological harmony. Naturally colored organic cotton fiber (NACOC) has been a conspicuous textile fiber as the social trend of eco-friendly living has increased. NACOC fibers are naturally pigmented fibers for some limited color shades such as green, brown, mocha and red and their relevant shades. The color variety depends on the gene of the fiber as well as the seasons and geographical locations due to climate and soil variations. NACOC has high resistance to insects and diseases. There have been some investigations for an improvement for the genetic properties of naturally colored cotton fibers in respect of better yield and better fiber qualities regarding strength, length and micronaire since natural colored cottons are desired to be more competitive against conventional white cottons. NACOC has a cost advantage with the elimination of dyeing process in fabric manufacturing. Additionally, instead of color fading problem which can be encountered in the case of dyed white cotton fibers, the color of the naturally colored cotton fiber becomes stronger after laundering. It has also been declared that clothes made from NACOC have been successful for preventing skin diseases as well as protecting skin from ultraviolet radiation. A significant number of research works have been carried out on white cottons, while naturally colored cottons were used to be left behind. Though, when environmental pollution has started to be one of the most urgent and important problem of the world, naturally colored cotton fibers are one of the more preferred options for more sustainable, renewable and ecological textile production. White cotton fiber is one of the most chemically intensive crops cultivated. Though grown on 3–5% of the world’s farmland, it is liable for the usage of 25% of the world’s pesticides. For these aforementioned reasons, organically grown naturally colored cotton fiber has attracted a massive attention over the last few years. In this chapter, an elaborative review of naturally colored organic cotton fibers, naturally colored cotton fiber types, their properties, their production and their recent developments from a broad perspective and with many different angles is given in detail.