How to Tell If Fabric Is 100 Cotton? Identify Cotton Easily
Cotton is still king. It is soft, comfortable, and feels like an old friend when broken in. Plus, it is cheaper than silk and some other fine fabrics while not losing any of its good looks. Most days, nothing beats 100% cotton when you want to sit down and relax after a hard day.
How to tell if fabric is 100 cotton? With 56% of all fabrics containing some form of cotton, it is important o make sure that your 100% cotton shirt or dress is actually made of 100% cotton. The burn test is one of the easiest ways to tell if you have a blend or pure cotton clothing.
That is the easiest way to tell as cotton doesn't melt or curl away from the flame of a candle, lighter, or a match. To find out other ways to tell if you have 100% cotton clothing just continue to read our article. It has the information you need to know about to make sure you are wearing nothing but pure cotton.
Identifying Cotton 101
Is There a Way to Tell if a Fabric is 100 Cotton?
Yes, there is and it is called the burn test. But there is one slight problem with burning the material to check to see if it is cotton or not. That problem is that almost all-natural fibers and some semi-natural ones all burn in the same way cotton does. Those fabrics are Flax, hemp, jute, ramie, etc. Wool, all varieties, and silk do not burn as cotton does.
That means that if you use the burn test, you will only find out that you have a natural fabric or semi-natural fabric on your hand. The label will have to be read to make sure your outfit is 100% cotton.
All types of wool and silk tend to shrink from the flame as synthetic materials will but they will not melt. When you burn cotton you should get a paper-like smell or the same odor that comes from burning leaves or wood. Silk and wool have a heavy odor that is equal to smelling burning hair.
The reason for this difference is that cotton and similar products come from plants and wool and silk come from animals or insects. The two types of natural materials have different compositions and react differently to fire.
How Can You Tell if a Fabric is Cotton by Touching?
One way to do this is not to use your hands. Rub the material gently across your cheek and see how the material feels against such soft skin. Cotton should feel softer than other materials plus have more texture than polyester.
A polyester cotton fabric will be smoother and slicker than cotton 100% cotton will be. Then an all poly clothing item will have a more artificial feel about it. It may be hard to tell when you are trying to figure out since the manufacturing of fabrics has been upgraded over recent decades.
Sometimes the only way to tell is by reading the label. 100% cotton should have a different feel than other fabrics including natural ones but that may not always be the case. Cotton comes in so many different styles and textures, like canvas or light to heavyweight materials, that it will have a different feel even when comparing different 100% cotton items.
Don’t be upset if you are fooled when you do the touch test. It is getting hard to tell the difference just by touch alone. Manufacturers create synthetic products just to feel and act like cotton.
How Can You Tell the Difference Between Cotton and Polycotton?
The standard test everyone talks about is the burn test. This is where you take a few threads or some scrap fabric and put a flame to them. if the material is made from polycotton, you should see curling or melting of the fiber plus there should be a goo like a residue left behind when the material is burned up.
Cotton does not curl up but stays straight as it meets the flame. Then it burns like paper or wood, smells like that as well, and when it is totally consumed by fire, it should leave grayish type ash behind.
If you have lots of time to find out which fabric you own, you can always wear the material and see which ones break down the fastest. Cotton is not as durable as polycotton. Or if you do not have the time to wait, try to rip a fragment. Cotton tears easier than polycotton will.
The reason other fabrics are blending with cotton is that it has several weaknesses. That means that the touch test may throw you off as polycotton may feel exactly like 100% cotton. You would have to have a fairly sensitive touch to know the difference.
How to Tell if Socks are Cotton
If you haven’t done and do not want to do the burn test, which is not always the best option to take, you can use different techniques to learn if your socks are 100% cotton or not. The first step is in how they feel against your skin.
If the cotton is pure it should have a different texture than polycotton or other blends, plus, it should feel softer than those other sock varieties. Next, you can wet the socks and let them dry. Cotton can take a very long time to dry and polyester or other blended socks should dry faster than 100% cotton.
When those tests do not produce the results you want, you can wear the socks and see how hot your feet get. Cotton breathes better than almost any other fabric, including a poly-cotton blend. The coolness of your feet should tell you if you have 100% cotton on or not.
Also, polycotton or polyester do not absorb moisture as well as cotton will. Wet the socks and see how well the water is absorbed into the material to see which one you have. Finally, the cost of the socks will let you know which fabric you have as polyester is usually cheaper than cotton.
How to Tell if a Thread is Cotton
This is where you go to the gold standard of tests and use a flame. That flame can come from a match, a lighter, or a candle. Anything safe to hold in one hand while you move the fabric closer to the flame with the other.
In an earlier section, we gave you the burn properties of cotton and other fabrics and if you see grayish ash after the flame has consumed the thread. Also, if you smell a burnt paper, burnt leaf, or burnt wood odor then you have a cotton thread.
Or you may have hemp, jute, and other fabrics that come from plants. That is the hitch in the burn test that does not make it a good test unless you are trying to determine if you are using a natural fiber or a synthetic one.
The cotton thread will remain straight as it enters the flame. It will not curl away like wool and silk fibers will or melt like synthetic ones. The remains will be ash, not a residue or goo that comes from melting petroleum products.
How to Identify Cotton Fabric by Touching (Without Burning)
The best way to touch the fabric is to gently rub the material across your cheek. Cotton is very soft, has a natural feel to it, and should have a little texture to the overall material. Polyester and other synthetic fabrics will have an artificial feel to it and may be rougher than cotton.
Here are a few of the characteristics you will find when touching different fabrics:
- Cotton - can feel stiff but you can crush it with your fingers and put a crease into it.
- Silk - very smooth, have a bright and luster look to the fabric.
- Wool - is coarse to the touch and you should feel protruding fibers from the fabric.
- Polyester and rayon - smooth to the touch, have a luster to their look.
- Twill - coarse to the touch and there should be a diagonal feel to the material.
- Nap materials like velvet and pile - smooth when touched but comes with loops and a hairy structure.
- Nylon and satin - very slippery and reflect light.
That gives you an idea of the differences between the fabrics when you touch them.
Some final words
Cotton has its softness to help you tell the difference between it and blends or other 100% fabrics. When in doubt you can always use the burn test to make sure. But the different tests are limited as manufacturing of fabrics have greatly improved over the years.
What used to be easy to do is now a little more difficult and confusing. The best thing to do is to trust the label and go by what it says.
