The organic cotton satin of Ecological Textiles

SATIN is well known as a beautifully shiny fabric from which the most beautiful and luxurious dresses are made, but originally satin was the name of a group of weaves on the loom. The satin weave is the third important group of weaves, in addition to the plain weave and the twill weave, and can therefore be used with various materials (linen, cotton, silk, wool). However, this weave is used to enhance the lustre of the yarns. This is achieved through the long loose overlaying yarns that characterise the satin weave. The shiny appearance is, however, limited to the front of the fabric; the back is dull and plain.

The structure of the fabric is therefore responsible for the beautiful shine. However, please note that this structure also makes SATIN a little more difficult to process than a fabric woven in a flat weave.

SATIN can be used in many ways, not only in beautiful dresses but also in trousers, jackets, footwear, curtains, upholstery, bedding and fashion accessories. It is the beautiful shine that does it all.
By the way, SATIN not only has a beautiful sheen, but it is also a sturdy fabric that feels soft to the touch.

The origin of the fabric and the weave is said to be in the Chinese port city of Quanzhou (Citong). The medieval Arabic name for this city (Zaituni) is said to refer to this. The Italian word seta (silk) is also said to have been derived from it. All that is certain is that these fabrics were originally woven from silk and that they exerted an irresistible attraction.

The SATIN fabrics in the collection of ECOLOGICAL TEXTILES are sometimes made of 100% organic cotton (ET_TKW007_11). There is also a slightly heavier quality that is made of organic cotton with two percent elastane (ET_TKW007_5). By using elastane this last quality is also a bit more elastic. Both fabrics are GOTS-certified.

In English, a distinction is made between 'satin' and 'sateen', whereby the first name refers to the use of long filaments (such as silk, viscose or purely synthetic yarns) and the second to the use of shorter fibres such as cotton. So according to this terminology, cotton satin should actually be called sateen.

All SATIN fabrics are produced from Turkish organic cotton grown in the Aegean districts (Aegean organic cotton). The processing (spinning, knitting, dyeing) takes place in GOTS certified companies in the direct vicinity of the growing areas. Transport to our warehouse in the Netherlands takes place by truck. The cutting and packaging is done in our own company, which is also GOTS-certified.

Sample sets

Samples of the different fabrics can be ordered seperately or in a set. We have prepared two sets with ORGANIC COTTON SATIN. These can be viewed and ordered at our Sample Service.