Bleached Cotton

All cotton products begin here.

Marusan Industry Co., Ltd., one of the leading cotton companies in the world, imports rigorously selected organic cotton from all over the world, especially from the United States, Australia, and India.
Over 90% of all cotton products in Japan are made using our bleached cotton. In other words, most of the cotton products available on the market are made by processing the bleached cotton made by Marusan.

What is bleached cotton?

As cotton is commonly thought of as being white, few people are aware that there are actually many different kinds of cotton that come in various shades, depending on their origin and variety. There is also little awareness of the fact that when raw cotton is harvested, other extraneous materials like seeds, leaves, and stems get mixed in.

What’s more, since cotton naturally has a wax coating that repels water, this wax must be removed in order to make the material applicable for use.
In simple terms, “bleached cotton” is raw cotton that has been put through the process of scouring, degreasing, and bleaching.

What makes Marusan’s bleached cotton unique?

・It has passed medical standards for absorbent cotton.
・Various types of cotton can be blended depending on the intended use.
・Boasts extremely low level of contamination thanks to our state-of-the-art technologies.
・Perfect material for making spun-laced cotton fabric.
・Distinctively high level of whiteness made possible by our advanced degreasing and bleaching technologies.
・Our established partnerships with raw cotton suppliers around the world enable​ us to meet our clients’ wide range of needs.

Manufacturing process of the bleached cotton

Imported raw cotton arrives in densely packed bales. The first step we take is to loosen these densely packed cotton bales​ remove all the unwanted natural materials like seeds and pieces of leaves. Then, the fiber is boiled in a large pot containing sodium hydroxide and water to remove the oil, then bleached.
Please be reassured that we at Marusan do not use any chlorinated chemicals or fluorescent bleaching agents in our bleaching process that could create negative impact on the human body or environment. The hydrogen peroxide we use does not cause any harm as it reacts when heated and breaks down into oxygen and water. We also offer organic cotton that is treated with a non-bleaching process in order to preserve the natural beneficial​ features of cotton.

Non-degreased cotton

We at Marusan have succeeded in developing the “non-degreased cotton,” a cotton whose color is oxidized yet still contains its natural oil content. A normal bleaching process removes the oil in the cotton, and therefore, it is difficult to create pure white cotton that floats in water (see comparison of the above left photos). Such buoyant white cotton is used in places like this (above right photo).