How Is Cotton Made Non-Iron?
Cotton is grown naturally and is used for making all kinds of fabrics. Cotton is found on the seeds of cotton plants in the form of white softballs. Which is then processed into soft, comfortable fabric to wear. However, the Wrinkling of the cotton-made fabric is one of the major problems we face despite being the widely used fabric around the world. Therefore, a lot of people search the internet to know how to make cotton non-iron.
Even though a smoothly pressed dress is preferred for business meetings, ironing a cotton shirt is a daunting task. Hence, Wrinkle-free cotton is one of the biggest gifts to us by the textile industries. Textile industries work hard to create a cotton fabric with a desired polished look but still not irritating to the skin. So, let’s have a look at how it’s done.
Blending cotton with wrinkle resist fiber
Pure cotton is prone to wrinkling to make it non-wrinkle. You have to add some other fibers like wool, rayon, and polyester. Thus, when a non-wrinkling fiber is mixed with cotton, the resulting product is considered non-iron as it becomes less wrinkly.
Polyester:
Polyester inherits the properties of being non-wrinkly because when 60% of the polyester is mixed with 40% of cotton, the resulting product is very soft for the skin, like cotton, but wrinkle resistant like polyester.
The textile industries have focused and worked hard for years to create a soft cotton fabric that is wrinkle-resistant without adding any synthetic fiber.
Now 100% pure cotton is refined with chemical treatments to make it wrinkle-resistant.
Fabric with 100% pure non-iron cotton is available in the market. The advantage of non-iron dresses is that they stay wrinkle-free for a very long time, even after multiple washes. But the reality is that even high-quality non-iron cotton needs ironing after years of use and washing with harsh laundry detergents.
You must be wondering why some non-iron shirts still need to be ironed. Well, laundry cleaning techniques used on non-iron cloth can cause some wrinkles due to which they need to be ironed. But once slightly ironed, they give a professional hand-ironed look without being a rumpled mess throughout the busy day.
Process of converting cotton into non-iron processing the fiber
In this process, the natural fiber goes through chemical processes to increase its lifespan and make it wrinkle-free. But the question is, what is the secret ingredient to convert natural cotton into non-iron?
Besides adding synthetic fiber to the cotton, formaldehyde is used to make it non-iron. A mixture of 40% cotton and 60% synthetic fiber is treated with formaldehyde, which bonds the strands of cotton to make it stiffer.
After years of experiments, industries are now able to make 100% pure cotton non-iron fiber without adding synthetic fibers.
Making of non-iron fabric without the processing of the fiber
Advancements in technology have enabled industries to create non-iron fiber without treating the fiber through a chemical process. Instead, a finished shirt is subjected to a special heating process, which ensures that the shirt won’t wrinkle when hung for drying even after washing and stays crease-free.
Raw shirt fabric can be measured and bought according to your design. The raw fabric is then treated with formaldehyde or other chemicals. The chemical bonds to the molecules of the fiber within the raw fabric make them stiff and difficult to wrinkle.
Once the molecules are tightly bonded, the shirt or fabric is then heated at a high temperature to make it more stiffer and crease-free. The end product is then further hand-pressed and folded for packaging.
Anyone with chemical sensitivity should avoid wearing non-iron cotton. Wrinkle-resistant cotton is stiffer than normal cotton as they are sometimes treated with chemicals like formaldehyde, so if someone is allergic to such chemicals, then they should avoid it.
Non-iron cotton is less breathable as compared to pure. It’s hard to wear non-iron cotton fabric in areas of the world with extreme heat and humidity. According to researchers wrinkle free fabric has a shorter life span as compared to pure ones.
Quick iron shirt
Well, there is another type of shirt, which is a quick iron shirt. Quick iron shirts need pressing, but it takes very little time to iron them as compared to normal wrinkling fabric. The fibers are structured in a way that they dry quicker than normal shirts. Also, the chemical process is different from that of non-iron shirts.
Conclusion
Points of the collar, pockets, and cuff went under premature wear and tear during washing. Also according to some studies the more you wash the stiffer they become. Due to some side effects, it’s considered better to always iron your shirts instead of looking for non-iron fabric. Also, it’s a light activity to iron your clothes, but it can make you very disciplined.
