Sheets made with Egyptian cotton can cost over $900 — but not all cotton is created equal. Many products use the term "Egyptian cotton," but experts say there isn't enough Egyptian cotton grown to actually make all of the products that claim to use it. A lot of the Egyptian cotton you see online may be fake. The highest-quality Egyptian cotton is called "extra-long staple." The fibers are longer, resulting in softer, more durable fabrics.
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00:00 A single strand of cotton is barely visible, but when woven into a sheet, Egyptian cotton
00:07 can cost over $900.
00:11 It's synonymous with luxury, but what you're buying might not be Egyptian cotton at all.
00:18 The Cotton Egypt Association estimated that 90% of products labelled Egyptian cotton in
00:24 2016 were inauthentic.
00:27 And eight years later, the problem hasn't gone away.
00:32 So what is real Egyptian cotton?
00:35 And why is it so expensive?
00:39 The process of producing real Egyptian cotton often starts here in the Nile River Delta.
00:46 Though cotton is grown throughout Egypt, the highest quality cotton comes from these fertile
00:52 plains.
00:54 These puffs, called bowls, are technically a fruit because they have seeds.
00:59 But the real value lies in the hundreds of thousands of fibres each bowl contains.
01:05 "This cotton is the main product of the Egyptian farmers.
01:10 I've been growing cotton for five years.
01:13 I've been growing cotton for 73 years."
01:19 El-Sadiyeh grows two of the highest quality varieties of Egyptian cotton, Giza 92 and
01:26 45.
01:27 "This is the highest quality cotton, Giza 92.
01:28 It's high quality, it's high quality, it's high quality.
01:29 It's one of the highest quality cotton in the Republic."
01:36 In Egypt, workers pick the highest quality cotton by hand.
01:42 It's slower than harvesting by machine, but the Cotton Egypt Association says hand picking
01:47 keeps the fibres intact.
01:51 Pickers harvest 15 to 20 kilos per day.
02:01 But what makes this cotton unique can barely be seen with the naked eye.
02:06 It's what's known as extra-long staple cotton.
02:10 Most of the world's cotton comes from the plant Gacicium hirsutum, also known as upland
02:16 cotton.
02:17 It's so cheap and abundant that it even makes up 75% of paper money in the US.
02:24 But extra-long staple cotton, or ELS, is a unique species called Gacicium barbaridensi,
02:31 which accounts for only an estimated 2.5 to 4% of global production.
02:37 Compared to upland, the fibres, called staples, are longer and stronger.
02:43 When spun together, ELS produces softer, more durable thread and finer fabrics.
02:50 But unprocessed Egyptian ELS can cost two to three times more than upland cotton.
02:57 Despite that, you can find Egyptian cotton on countless labels.
03:02 But experts say the numbers don't add up.
03:06 Egypt produces less than 1% of the world's cotton.
03:10 So there isn't enough Egyptian cotton grown to actually make all the products that claim
03:15 to use it.
03:18 In 2016, Target and Walmart pulled Egyptian cotton sheets after concluding their supplier,
03:24 Wellspun, had sold them fake ones.
03:27 Target said Wellspun hadn't used real Egyptian cotton for nearly two years.
03:33 Today, many sellers online say a product uses Egyptian cotton when it might not contain
03:39 any at all.
03:41 Like this $25 sheet set from Amazon, which is labelled "Luxury Egyptian Sheets but
03:46 uses microfibre fabric."
03:47 Or this sheet from Walmart.
03:50 The title claims it's 100% Egyptian cotton, but the description says it's 100% polyester.
03:58 After Business Insider reached out to Walmart, the company removed that product page and
04:03 shared this statement.
04:06 Walmart's online marketplace does allow customers to report products, but that puts
04:11 the responsibility onto the consumer to educate themselves on how to spot fakes.
04:19 Manufacturers that work with the real thing carefully trace their cotton throughout the
04:24 complex supply chain.
04:26 And picking all of this cotton is just the start of turning a seed into a finished product.
04:34 Workers gin the cotton to separate the seeds from the fibres and remove any debris.
04:40 Then they pack it together in bales that weigh almost 500 pounds.
04:47 One bale can produce over 200 pairs of jeans.
04:51 But when workers pull cotton free from a bale, it's a mess.
04:57 At this factory, a series of machines clean, card and align each fluffy fibre.
05:04 The cotton is then coiled into a thick strand called a sliver.
05:10 A series of rovers stretch the sliver thinner and thinner before winding it together.
05:18 The final yarn looks wispy, but is stronger than cotton from the bale.
05:44 While the harvesting is done by hand, most of the spinning and weaving is done mechanically.
06:10 Giant looms rapidly weave thousands of strands into a wide variety of fabrics.
06:24 Workers carefully observe each step and reach in to repair any breaks.
06:42 The extra long stable we use it for bedding and also we use it for some items for the
07:01 babies.
07:03 Merchandisers like Vivienne Nabil work with clients to turn fabric into finished products.
07:12 Vivienne uses different varieties of Egyptian cotton depending on the product.
07:20 The difference in the fibre length and the colour of the cotton itself.
07:24 95 is more creamy than Giza 92 which is more whiter.
07:30 While Giza 92 and 86 have a longer staple length than Giza 95, they're also generally
07:37 more expensive.
07:39 Vivienne sends many of the bedding products produced here to companies in Europe.
07:44 She says her most expensive sheets cost between $600 and $800.
07:52 Even from less expensive retailers, Egyptian cotton sheets regularly cost over $200.
08:00 But the reputation and high prices have attracted countless imitations.
08:06 The Cotton Egypt Association runs an accreditation process that allows approved companies to
08:11 use its logo.
08:13 But the system isn't perfect.
08:15 Wellspun, the company pulled from the shelves in 2016, also used the logo.
08:21 Today, parts of the cotton industry use DNA testing to improve traceability.
08:28 But experts say testing isn't widespread enough.
08:32 Paper trails are still used to track cotton throughout the increasingly complex supply
08:36 chain.
08:38 Knock-offs have the potential to harm Egypt's cotton industry, as does competition from
08:43 ELS cotton grown elsewhere, such as Pima cotton from the United States.
08:51 And Khaled Elmaghouri, the general manager for Nature Techs, says his concerns lie elsewhere.
08:58 The biggest challenge is two things.
09:00 First, climate change may badly affect our ability to farm the cotton.
09:07 Second, the availability of the water.
09:10 Cotton needs more water.
09:11 So if it's not available anymore, it will make a limitation for our capability to farm
09:16 more cotton and produce more cotton.
09:19 That concern is shared by farmers like Al-Sadeeb.
09:45 This could make Egyptian cotton and cotton grown around the world more expensive in the
09:51 future.
09:52 So, if you want to buy Egyptian cotton, what steps can you take?
09:58 First, look at the price.
10:00 If a set of sheets claims to be 100% Egyptian cotton, but only costs $25, it's likely
10:08 not the real deal.
10:10 Additionally, look for the Cotton Egypt Association logo and trademark, and read product descriptions
10:16 carefully to find out if a product really contains ELS or just Egyptian quality cotton.
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