Sea Island Cotton is a high quality fiber with a comparatively long staple of 1 1/2' to 2 1/2 " and having a "silky " texture to the touch. First detectable in 4200 BC on the coast of Peru and grown predominately in South America till 1000 CE. From there it moved to the West Indies and specifically Barbados where the British fabric trade grew and valued it highly.
When the English plantation owners began to run out of land to expand on Barbados, they transported it with slaves to the coastal islands of South Carolina and Georgia and began to grow it on Edisto Island.
On the island the crop found perfect conditions , full sun, high humidity, perfect soil conditions and plentiful rain for growth. It soon became the the most financially rewarding crop on the island supplanting Indigo , a bluish dye previously favored in England. From this production the cotton became known as Sea Island Cotton a name known today for its high quality and cost.
The boll weevil came across the south starting about 1916 and by 1919 the cotton crop was a thing of the past.
