Contents
Egyptian, Pima, Supima, organic – and what long staple really means.
From the flax stem to Belgian, French and Irish linen.
Percale, sateen, twill, jacquard, muslin – drawn thread by thread.
Thread count, fabric weight, staple length and other terms, minus the marketing.
Washing, drying, ironing, stains, storage.
Egypt, Belgium, France, Ireland, India, Portugal, Italy.
Egyptian clothing and textiles: cotton, linen, weaving and traditional dress.
An interactive comparison of eight materials.
A one-page profile of each main fabric.
Every article, in the order it was written.
The Natural Fabric Index English edition
Cover story · Egyptian fashion
Egyptian clothing and textiles
From the linen Tarkhan Dress to Giza cotton. Five thousand years in two fibres.
Open the guideEvery main fabric has its own passport: origin, fibre, how it feels on the skin, what it suits and how to look after it. Plus a relative rating on a five-point scale – with an explanation of how it is arrived at.
Gossypium barbadense
Gossypium barbadense
Gossypium hirsutum
Gossypium (various species)
Linum usitatissimum
Egyptian cotton
Egyptian cotton belongs to the species Gossypium barbadense, just like American Pima. Most of its varieties have extra-long staple – 35 millimetres and above. Not all of them: in the Egyptian Cotton Association’s November 2025 overview, Giza 92 and Giza 96 are listed as extra-long staple, while the other varieties are “only” long staple.
You cannot tell whether it is genuine with your fingertips. You can, however, verify it – through a licence for the Egyptian Cotton™ trademark and a public list of accredited manufacturers.
Egyptian cotton: varieties and fibreHow to tell genuine Egyptian cottonThe full guide to Egyptian fashion and textiles
Pick some materials and see how they differ in softness, breathability, warmth, drying, durability, care and creasing.
1 = crisp, firmer5 = very soft to the touch
1 = traps heat and moisture5 = lets heat and moisture escape very well
1 = feels cool5 = holds warmth
1 = dries slowly5 = dries quickly
1 = more prone to wear5 = withstands plenty of washing and use
1 = needs gentle handling5 = ordinary washing, no fuss
1 = hardly creases5 = creases a lot
Ratings are relative tendencies on a five-point scale, not laboratory measurements. The same material can behave very differently depending on the weave, yarn, finish and weight. How we rate
Nine terms from the label, explained without the marketing.
The label always comes first. A symbol shows the harshest treatment the fabric can still take – anything gentler is always fine.
Don’t dry it to a crisp. Take cotton and linen out of the dryer slightly damp; heat is the most common cause of shrinkage.
Iron it damp. Linen and cotton smooth out more easily, and at a lower temperature.
Stains in cold water. Protein stains especially – heat sets them.
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