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