background information

While regular upland cotton is the seed coating of the plant Gossypium hirsutum, extra long staple (ELS) cotton is the product of a botanically different plant, Gossypium barbadense.

Originating in Peru around 4200 BC, Gossypium barbadense traveled via the Caribbean and North America to Egypt where it arrived during the reign of Mohammad Ali Pasha in the early 19th century. Over years of painful selections with primitive methods the first commercially usable long staple variety called Mit Afifi emerged in 1882.

Another long staple variety developed in Egypt in the 19th century was Sakellaridis, which formed the basis for all long-staple varieties grown today in Central Asia, Sudan and the Xinjiang province of China.

Today ELS varieties are grown in a number of countries worldwide. The largest production centers are in Egypt, California and in the Western Chinese province of Xinjiang. Minor producing regions are India, the Central Asian Republics, Sudan, Israel, Peru and Australia. Textiles made out of ELS cotton are produced in many countries throughout the world by textile companies equipped to spin and weave this unique fiber. ELS cotton only represents three percent of total world cotton production, but consumers all around the world consider textiles made of ELS varieties as representing the very best quality.