The video opens with an image showcasing a fiber plant. It splits into two halves, displaying the fiber plant image on the right and the video title, "Fiber Production from Boll to Blue Jeans," on the left. The scene shifts to a display of blue jeans in a store. A sequence of black and white images portrays miners and cowboys wearing jeans, transitioning to modern stores showcasing blue and black jeans, then to scenes of a cotton farm. A US map highlights cotton-producing regions, followed by visuals from a cotton production farm.
The comfortable blue jeans you wear today had humble beginnings as work clothes in gold-rush mining camps! Jeans were once used by the miners and cowboys of the American West because of their durability. As the popularity of denim jeans grew, so did cotton production in America. Cotton is grown generally in the southern half of the United States—in about 17 states. Let’s take a look at cotton production starting on the farm.
A person mixes cotton seeds from a box, followed by scenes of machines sowing the seeds and young cotton seedlings. It then focuses on the cotton "flower bud," white flowers emerging from cotton plants, and the pink blossoms transforming. Finally, it shows the ripened ovary.
Cotton seeds are planted with precision planters that place the seeds in uniform intervals and at a constant depth in the soil. Young seedlings emerge in 7 to 14 days with adequate warmth and moisture. Then flower buds or squares form within 4 to 6 weeks. In an additional three weeks, the white flowers appear, and pollination of the plant ovary occurs. Soon the blooms turn pink and then dark red before falling off. The ovary ripens and enlarges into a pod called a BOLL.
A man on a farm opens an ovary to reveal cotton fiber inside. Images showcase cotton plants and various irrigation systems used in cotton farms, such as LEPA and drip irrigation.
This is where the cotton fiber grows. The cotton plant is very water efficient and can generate more revenue per gallon of water than most other field crops. Irrigation of cotton stabilizes the yield. The peak need for water occurs in the summer months when cotton is most vulnerable to stress. Water efficient methods of irrigation such as low energy precision application (LEPA) on center pivot sprinklers and drip irrigation help maximize water use.
Mature cotton plants sway on the farm, followed by footage of Stripper/Picker machines harvesting cotton and a harvester transporting cotton modules.
When the cotton reaches maturity and the bolls are fully formed, the final step on the farm is harvesting. Cotton must be harvested before weather damages or completely ruins the fiber quality. Cotton is harvested mechanically with specialized machines called strippers or pickers. Depending on the type of cotton planted, the stripper removes the entire boll from the cotton plant, and a picker pulls the cotton fibers from the open bolls. Harvesters also module or bale the fiber so it can be transported to the cotton gin for further processing.
A man separates cotton lint from the seed, displaying cotton modules entering gins where lint gets separated from seeds. A cotton bale slides on a conveyor belt. A woman extracts a cotton sample from a bale and places it in a sack. The screen divides, displaying the woman pulling the cotton sample on the right, and bullet points under "Cotton Classing Evaluation" on the left mentioning the fiber strength, fiber length, uniformity, color, non-fiber content, and fineness.
The purpose of the cotton gin is to separate the cotton lint from the seed. Cotton modules or bales enter the gin on a conveyor belt. Cotton goes first to dryers to remove moisture content, and through cleaning equipment to remove any foreign matter such as stems, leaves, and trash from the field. The gin stand separates the lint from the seeds, and the cotton is gathered and compressed into bales. A cotton bale weighs about 500 pounds. A sample is taken from each bale and sent to a “Classing” facility to determine quality parameters. Classing standards ensure a consistent description of each bale for market. Classing includes evaluation of fiber strength and length, uniformity, color, non-fiber content (or trash), and fineness.
Images display stacks of cotton bales stored in various storage areas.Machines align cotton fibers into yarn formation, followed by a series of images depicting the yarn formation process, stacked yarns, and a yarn dying facility. An image of blue denim with emphasized small white dots appears.
After classing, cotton is ready for marketing. Growers usually sell their cotton to a local merchant after ginning and baling, but they can also store the cotton bales until they are ready to sell. Cotton bales are usually purchased by a textile mill buyer. Textile mills use about 57 percent of cotton for apparel products including blue jeans. In the mill, machines separate the cotton fibers and align them into a larger “yarn type” formation called a sliver. Then drawing machines blend slivers. Roving frames draw the slivers out into thinner yarn, and ring spinning machines draw fibers out more to a specific yarn thickness—or “Count”. The yarns are then formed into bobbins, and yarn dyeing is done before the weaving process. Cotton yarns are woven into fabric on large mechanical looms. If you look closely, denim is not 100 percent blue, but a combination of blue and white threads. The looms use both yarn colors and weave them into large rolls of fabric.
The screen splits, showcasing a cotton production facility on the right side and the left side, "Finishing the Cloth," which includes dyeing, printing, water repellency, flame resistance, shrink control, and quality control.It transitions to images of jeans products stored in warehouses and retail stores. A rapid montage displays the cotton production process and the variety of cotton-made products found in different locations.
Finishing of the cloth can include dyeing, printing, adding water repellency, flame resistance, shrink control, as well as quality control. Garment sewing facilities use the denim to make clothing. Jeans today may go through additional stages of decoration, embroidering, distressing and other creative processes. Completed jeans are machine pressed, folded, stacked, boxed, and then sent to warehouses for storage and eventual shipment and delivery to retail markets. From tiny cotton seeds that farmers plant in the ground to highly decorated fashion garments, the complex cotton industry is at work producing the fiber that makes a variety of products we use daily. Maybe you will consider a career in the cotton industry!