There have been several posts about people buying products (towels, wash mitts, whatever) that have been misidentified as cotton or other materials. Many people are also under the false impression that microfiber must be man made.
One way to quickly test a material is to do a burn test. Most fibers have unique burn characteristics that can help you quickly determine what it is.
While for an expert the burn test is not 100% foolproof and further testing must be done it does give the layman a quick method to determine what he/she has in their hands.
To do the test pull a single yarn from the fabric. This is important because if you pull multiple yarns from a fabric that may have two or more yarn types the result will not be accurate.
Take a look at the attached chart and study it for a few minutes to get acquainted with it, it is pretty self explanatory.
Once you have the thread put a match to it and do two things right away. First see if it continues to burn by itself or extinguishes itself then smell it. Check the chart to determine what you have.
Here is the chart:
One way to quickly test a material is to do a burn test. Most fibers have unique burn characteristics that can help you quickly determine what it is.
While for an expert the burn test is not 100% foolproof and further testing must be done it does give the layman a quick method to determine what he/she has in their hands.
To do the test pull a single yarn from the fabric. This is important because if you pull multiple yarns from a fabric that may have two or more yarn types the result will not be accurate.
Take a look at the attached chart and study it for a few minutes to get acquainted with it, it is pretty self explanatory.
Once you have the thread put a match to it and do two things right away. First see if it continues to burn by itself or extinguishes itself then smell it. Check the chart to determine what you have.
Here is the chart: