| When you think of quality, tailor-made shirts, you | | | | oranges in anyone's five-a-day. |
| think of good, top-notch cotton. Not Nylon or | | | | Despite its bizarre place in the imagination of the |
| Polyester, not even a mixture - but pure, 100% | | | | public, cotton became one of the most sought after |
| cotton, thank you very much. | | | | materials in Europe. Its soft, light quality made it |
| Nowadays we know where cotton comes from, and | | | | perfect for the discerning man's clothing, and soon |
| most of us will know how it's produced. But take a | | | | developed into the most popular fabric for top-quality |
| look at the history of cotton and you'll realize that | | | | men's shirts. |
| people haven't always been quite so savvy about its | | | | Thus, the fashion trade boomed, and places like |
| origins. | | | | Jermyn Street in London became world-renowned |
| Cast your minds back to the late medieval period, | | | | for its high quality cotton shirts, all tailor-made to |
| when cotton became known as an imported fibre in | | | | perfection for the elite, fashionable gentleman. |
| northern Europe. Most people had no knowledge of | | | | Over time certain cotton mills became the leading |
| how it was derived, only that it was a plant that | | | | companies in the international textile industry. The |
| came from far away and somehow ended up as a | | | | Tessitura Monti mill, established one hundred years |
| piece of cloth, or indeed a lovely, tailor-made shirt. | | | | ago, is one of them, and continues to supply cotton |
| People did, however, notice cotton's likeness to wool, | | | | fabrics to the leading UK shirtmakers, Curtis & |
| and very amusingly deduced that, of course, it must | | | | Dyer included. A hand-made shirt deserves nothing |
| come from plant-borne sheep. Now, I don't know | | | | less than simple, elegant, natural and innovative |
| about you, but the image of a lamb stuck helplessly | | | | fabrics, and these mills have hundreds of years |
| on the end of a branch is really quite amusing. It's | | | | experience in producing just that. |
| hard to believe that anyone could ever think such a | | | | Nowadays cotton is used for much more than shirts. |
| phenomenon was possible. | | | | You'll find it in the sofa you're sitting on, and even |
| Nevertheless, the belief was so strong that many | | | | the light shade above your head. Your blinds, curtains, |
| European names for cotton are derived from the | | | | and book bindings will most likely contain the stuff, as |
| misunderstanding. For example, the German word for | | | | will fishnets, coffee filters, tents, and, strangely, |
| cotton Baumwolle, translates as "tree wool". | | | | gunpowder. |
| We now know that cotton isn't sheep related at all, | | | | So, as you can see, it's just as hard to imagine a |
| but is in fact the produce of the cotton plant. Its | | | | world without cotton, as it is to imagine a |
| flowers turn from a milky white, to a dark red, and | | | | sheep-plant. It's developed a reputation as a highly |
| once they have died and fallen off, they reveal a | | | | sought after, high-quality fabric, and will continue to |
| luxuriously soft and fluffy 'boll'. Interestingly, because | | | | be used to dress the high and mighty in gorgeous, |
| the boll has seeds within it, it is considered to be a | | | | cotton-rich, tailor-made shirts. |
| fruit, but I doubt it's going to take the place of | | | | |