00:00 A single strand of cotton is barely visible, but when woven into a sheet, Egyptian cotton
00:07 can cost over $900.
00:11 It's synonymous with luxury, but what you're buying might not be Egyptian cotton at all.
00:18 The Cotton Egypt Association estimated that 90% of products labelled Egyptian cotton in
00:24 2016 were inauthentic.
00:27 And eight years later, the problem hasn't gone away.
00:32 So what is real Egyptian cotton?
00:35 And why is it so expensive?
00:39 The process of producing real Egyptian cotton often starts here in the Nile River Delta.
00:46 Though cotton is grown throughout Egypt, the highest quality cotton comes from these fertile
00:52 plains.
00:54 These puffs, called bowls, are technically a fruit because they have seeds.
00:59 But the real value lies in the hundreds of thousands of fibres each bowl contains.
01:05 "This cotton is the main product of the Egyptian farmers.
01:10 I've been growing cotton for five years.
01:13 I've been growing cotton for 73 years."
01:19 El-Sadiyeh grows two of the highest quality varieties of Egyptian cotton, Giza 92 and
01:26 45.
01:27 "This is the highest quality cotton, Giza 92.
01:28 It's high quality, it's high quality, it's high quality.
01:29 It's one of the highest quality cotton in the Republic."
01:36 In Egypt, workers pick the highest quality cotton by hand.
01:42 It's slower than harvesting by machine, but the Cotton Egypt Association says hand picking
01:47 keeps the fibres intact.
01:51 Pickers harvest 15 to 20 kilos per day.
02:01 But what makes this cotton unique can barely be seen with the naked eye.
02:06 It's what's known as extra-long staple cotton.
02:10 Most of the world's cotton comes from the plant Gacicium hirsutum, also known as upland
02:16 cotton.
02:17 It's so cheap and abundant that it even makes up 75% of paper money in the US.
02:24 But extra-long staple cotton, or ELS, is a unique species called Gacicium barbaridensi,
02:31 which accounts for only an estimated 2.5 to 4% of global production.
02:37 Compared to upland, the fibres, called staples, are longer and stronger.
02:43 When spun together, ELS produces softer, more durable thread and finer fabrics.
02:50 But unprocessed Egyptian ELS can cost two to three times more than upland cotton.
02:57 Despite that, you can find Egyptian cotton on countless labels.
03:02 But experts say the numbers don't add up.
03:06 Egypt produces less than 1% of the world's cotton.
03:10 So there isn't enough Egyptian cotton grown to actually make all the products that claim
03:15 to use it.
03:18 In 2016, Target and Walmart pulled Egyptian cotton sheets after concluding their supplier,
03:24 Wellspun, had sold them fake ones.
03:27 Target said Wellspun hadn't used real Egyptian cotton for nearly two years.
03:33 Today, many sellers online say a product uses Egyptian cotton when it might not contain
03:39 any at all.
03:41 Like this $25 sheet set from Amazon, which is labelled "Luxury Egyptian Sheets but
03:46 uses microfibre fabric."
03:47 Or this sheet from Walmart.
03:50 The title claims it's 100% Egyptian cotton, but the description says it's 100% polyester.
03:58 After Business Insider reached out to Walmart, the company removed that product page and
04:03 shared this statement.
04:06 Walmart's online marketplace does allow customers to report products, but that puts
04:11 the responsibility onto the consumer to educate themselves on how to spot fakes.
04:19 Manufacturers that work with the real thing carefully trace their cotton throughout the
04:24 complex supply chain.
04:26 And picking all of this cotton is just the start of turning a seed into a finished product.
04:34 Workers gin the cotton to separate the seeds from the fibres and remove any debris.
04:40 Then they pack it together in bales that weigh almost 500 pounds.
04:47 One bale can produce over 200 pairs of jeans.
04:51 But when workers pull cotton free from a bale, it's a mess.
04:57 At this factory, a series of machines clean, card and align each fluffy fibre.
05:04 The cotton is then coiled into a thick strand called a sliver.
05:10 A series of rovers stretch the sliver thinner and thinner before winding it together.
05:18 The final yarn looks wispy, but is stronger than cotton from the bale.
05:44 While the harvesting is done by hand, most of the spinning and weaving is done mechanically.
06:10 Giant looms rapidly weave thousands of strands into a wide variety of fabrics.
06:24 Workers carefully observe each step and reach in to repair any breaks.
06:42 The extra long stable we use it for bedding and also we use it for some items for the
07:01 babies.
07:03 Merchandisers like Vivienne Nabil work with clients to turn fabric into finished products.
07:12 Vivienne uses different varieties of Egyptian cotton depending on the product.
07:20 The difference in the fibre length and the colour of the cotton itself.
07:24 95 is more creamy than Giza 92 which is more whiter.
07:30 While Giza 92 and 86 have a longer staple length than Giza 95, they're also generally
07:37 more expensive.
07:39 Vivienne sends many of the bedding products produced here to companies in Europe.
07:44 She says her most expensive sheets cost between $600 and $800.
07:52 Even from less expensive retailers, Egyptian cotton sheets regularly cost over $200.
08:00 But the reputation and high prices have attracted countless imitations.
08:06 The Cotton Egypt Association runs an accreditation process that allows approved companies to
08:11 use its logo.
08:13 But the system isn't perfect.
08:15 Wellspun, the company pulled from the shelves in 2016, also used the logo.
08:21 Today, parts of the cotton industry use DNA testing to improve traceability.
08:28 But experts say testing isn't widespread enough.
08:32 Paper trails are still used to track cotton throughout the increasingly complex supply
08:36 chain.
08:38 Knock-offs have the potential to harm Egypt's cotton industry, as does competition from
08:43 ELS cotton grown elsewhere, such as Pima cotton from the United States.
08:51 And Khaled Elmaghouri, the general manager for Nature Techs, says his concerns lie elsewhere.
08:58 The biggest challenge is two things.
09:00 First, climate change may badly affect our ability to farm the cotton.
09:07 Second, the availability of the water.
09:10 Cotton needs more water.
09:11 So if it's not available anymore, it will make a limitation for our capability to farm
09:16 more cotton and produce more cotton.
09:19 That concern is shared by farmers like Al-Sadeeb.
09:45 This could make Egyptian cotton and cotton grown around the world more expensive in the
09:51 future.
09:52 So, if you want to buy Egyptian cotton, what steps can you take?
09:58 First, look at the price.
10:00 If a set of sheets claims to be 100% Egyptian cotton, but only costs $25, it's likely
10:08 not the real deal.
10:10 Additionally, look for the Cotton Egypt Association logo and trademark, and read product descriptions
10:16 carefully to find out if a product really contains ELS or just Egyptian quality cotton.
10:24 [music]
Comments