Scoping study: Identifying opportunities for blending cotton with high tech / novel textile materials

Many new types of specialty man-made fibres are emerging offering a range of strong functional properties (eg super-high strength, super-high elasticity, electrical conductivity, flame retardance etc ) and attracting premium prices. However, many of these highly specialized fibres often lack sufficient properties relating to wearability (comfort, easy-care, aesthetics and durability) that are associated with cotton. This investment will examine opportunities for cotton to be “up blended” with newly emerging high value specialty fibres to inform possible further investment opportunities for cotton/speciality fibre blends.