Apparel | Tuesday, January 04, 2011

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THE SCIENCE OF SUPIMA: Why Supima feels softer

By Greg Wang

NEW YORK—How can one kind of cotton feel softer than another?

Lots of cotton fabrics feel soft when you first buy them. Few remain that way.

Over time, the collar of a favorite shirt may start to feel stiff and uncomfortable. Or that set of expensive sheets stops feeling quite so luxurious. (Maybe even a little scratchy.)

Unless what you bought was made from Supima.

State-of-the-art wear-testing and exhaustive comparison studies conducted by the world-renowned textile technology expert Yehia Elmogahzy Ph.D., Professor of Fiber and Polymer Engineering at Auburn University, substantiated Supima’s structural superiority—-all the way down to the molecular level.

Conducting dozens of tests for variables like shrinkage and stiffness, his lab was able to quantify what keeps Supima looking and feeling so smooth even as its competition progressively deteriorated.

As you might guess, most of the advantage inherent in Supima cotton comes from its extra-long, luxurious fibers. Secondarily, it comes from the way those fibers react with moisture—not only on the first encounter, but over time. (Think of repeated machine washings.)

When testing woven cotton fabrics, Supima came in best overall, followed by Egyptian cotton. (Like Supima, that second-best Egyptian cotton is an extra-long staple specialty cotton, even though it lacks some of the other properties that make Supima superior.) In fact, the differences were quite dramatic:

• Under tension, sheets made from Supima cotton were able to withstand up to 10 pounds per inch more than the closest competitor, Egyptian cotton, and up to 50 pounds per inch more than regular cotton or blends.

• Under tear, sheets made from Supima Cotton were able to withstand up to two pounds more than the Egyptian cotton, and up to three pounds more than regular cotton or blends.

• Under flex abrasion, sheets made from Supima cotton were able to withstand up to 200 more cycles than Egyptian cotton and up to 400 more cycles than regular cotton or blends.

• Under Taber Abrasion, sheets made from Supima cotton were able to withstand up to 100 more abrasion cycles than Egyptian cotton and up to 200 more cycles than regular cotton or blends.

Dr. Elmogahzy’s conclusion: “Bed sheets made from special blends or regular cottons have failed the durability tests to such an extent that any saving in their prices will certainly be outweighed by their poor performance.”