Cotton is a plant that belongs to a family that includes hibiscus and okra. It produces a natural vegetable fiber that is used in the manufacturing of cloth. No one really knows how long cotton has been used for textile production. Scientists searching caves in Mexico found bits of cotton bolls and pieces of cotton cloth that proved to be at least 7,000 years old.
Egyptian cotton is famed the world over. In Egypt, the so-called “white gold” has been celebrated in songs and films, funded family weddings and allowed the settling of debts in the fertile Nile Delta.
Egyptian cotton is preferred around the world because it is a long fiber cotton that makes it softer and stronger at the same time. For many years, it was so valuable that most of the crop was exported to European countries, and Egyptians themselves could hardly buy items made from its cloth.
However, manufacturing in Egypt has developed considerably over the last thirty years. Many textile factories have opened all over Egypt and especially in Mahla, a large Delta city south of Cairo, famous for its many factories that specialize in producing the best cotton products in Egypt. There are also such facilities springing up in the industrial cities of Six of October and Tenth of Ramadan, located on the Cairo-Alexandria highway.
Today, Egyptian cotton sheets are all the rage in the western world, specifically because of the quality and softness of this fiber. If one has the correct size bed, good sheets and other bedding can be relatively inexpensive if purchased in Egypt. However, Egyptian cotton sheets are readily available most anywhere outside of Egypt. Perhaps more interesting is the many other Egyptian cotton products one might buy, such as towels, fine, soft bathrobes and table items. It’s certainly worth a look, and unlike many other products a tourist might purchase in Egypt, there is no problem with breakage on the way home.
