To be Privy to such Rarity... Visit Exclusive Cottons of the Caribbean!
In fields of select country and coastal locations on Barbados, Jamaica, Nevis and Antigua, is a thriving, very rare, high quality cotton - West Indian Sea Island Cotton (WISIC), its distinctive features benefiting from particular climatic conditions found only on a few islands of the Caribbean.
We were fortunate to have visited the Exclusive Cottons of the Caribbean Inc. (ECCI) Ginning facility, located in Groves, St. George for an EduTour, which was interesting and most appreciated. When we realised the nature of what we were being exposed to, first-hand, the tour became more... dare we say ‘exclusive’. ECCI are the Barbadian producers of WISIC and purchase all of the cotton grown on the island. Lucyann Field, Manager of Product Development, Marketing & Sales, is a fountain of knowledge, and delivered an informative guided tour, (you can ask her anything!) – she even likened this cotton to the Russian Alexandrite stone – exquisitely beautiful and rare. Cotton growing in Barbados is blessed by an attractive location on the globe. Surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and a positioning of 13˚ north of the Equator, the farming lands here benefit from an annual rainfall, brilliant sunshine and the Trade Winds that manifests this amazing soft and rare cotton – not found in such purity any other part of the world.
Perhaps at this point you may say to yourself, “I’m more than certain there is ‘Sea Island Cotton’ which is grown elsewhere” or, “there hasn’t been such a thing as pure ‘Sea Island Cotton’ for decades.” But this is not the case, because here it is – alive and well and growing happily in the West Indies.
The amount of WISIC growing in Barbados today is not even a fraction of the abundance it was in the 1700s and prior to sugar cane taking over as the main export product. In fact WISIC, represents about 1/10,000th of 1% of the world’s annual cotton production. This rarity combined with its distinguishable features of long fibers, incredible strength and exceptional silkiness makes this particular cotton variety costly but, its quality more than justifies the price. The variety is internationally registered as a pure ‘Sea Island Cotton’.
It is the climatic conditions, care and attention this cotton receives that gives the incredible features which are so similar to Silk and Cashmere. With the WISIC produced in Barbados there is no compromise on quality and even the harvesters themselves wear affectionate fabrics, while doing their work in the fields.
In the ECCI Ginnery, an enormous and cool warehouse, during the harvest around mid-February the fluffy fibre is piled high, then placed in huge machines called Gins where it is de-seeded and it begins to shine and take on the texture of silk. The Gins are those models which were used in the traditional Ginnery back some 50 years ago and are serviced by veterans who have worked with WISIC and these machines for over 25 years.
Meanwhile the seeds are collected and sorted, cracked from whole seeds, and this aspect is done by machine. The whole seeds (planting seeds) are packaged for purchase by farmers for the next crop. The cracked seeds are crushed and have many other uses, for example used by dairy farmers and added to animal feed mainly for cows, goats and sheep as it improves the quality of milk. Cottonseed Oil, released when the seeds are crushed, is then bottled and sent for refining. Refined Cottonseed Oil is edible, colourless and flavourless. It is a versatile little fibre – this cotton.
The Ginned cotton is baled in Burlap, and shipped to Switzerland for spinning of yarn and to Italy for weaving some fabrics. For no other reason than the refined practices of the Swiss as Lucyann explains, “the Europeans have over 400 years of practice – they spin and weave expertly”. For hundreds of years, the resulting textiles have produced classic gents’ dress shirts, socks, and other caressingly-soft wearable garments which have been enjoyed by the wealthy and celebrity in Europe and Japan.
Once again from the fields to garments and more, these beautiful, high quality fabrics are available in Barbados at ECCI and can be purchased by anyone. ECCI also has its very own line of finished products “Timeless Caribbean Luxury” almost all of which are manufactured locally by hand. Items including, but not limited to gent’s shirts, sun dresses, scarves, wraps, classic gowns and sleep wear - all tailor made. Also, cuddly soft and fluffy bath towels, satin cotton bedding all of which can be delivered to your hotel or mailed to your preferred location. If the resident artist is on-site when you visit, you may even be able to watch him at work as he hand paints wraps, scarves, tablecloths and matching napkin sets and more.
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In Barbados, the cotton is planted with great care and under strict guidance by expert, traditional and natural farming methods and collected by skilled hand harvesters who, choose only mature cotton bolls that are truly ready for picking. Machine harvesting could easily damage these precious fibres not to mention scrape everything off the plant whether suitable for picking or not. Another key feature in the farming process to protect this valuable variety is ‘crop rotation’ to maintain healthy soil. Experiments with biological pest controls and fertilizers (as opposed to genetic engineering) are also showing great potential and improving annual yields.
