For more than 100 years, Barnhardt Manufacturing has brought cotton from the fields across America into households around the world through products that improve the quality of life. Using our proprietary purification process and experience, we produce a variety of cotton products that can be crafted into nonwoven substrates, adding value and performance to end use applications.
HyDri® Purified Cotton is one of our most innovative and versatile new products. The hydrophobic properties of this new product make it a natural replacement for synthetic fibers that are traditionally used in hygiene and baby applications.
What Makes HyDri® Unique?
Consumers identify with cotton being absorbent, mentally referencing the use of cotton in numerous household products like cotton balls, swabs, feminine pads, and diapers. However, cotton is naturally hydrophobic, as it contains oils and waxes that prevent the absorption of water and/or moisture.
When cotton goes through the purification process to remove the impurities of the growing and ginning processes, the natural oils and waxes are removed as well. In its purified state, cotton becomes more absorbent and can be used in these easily referenced absorbent applications.
Through our proprietary technology, Barnhardt has developed a process that allows us to purify cotton without removing all of the inherent natural oils and waxes, thus preventing purified cotton fibers from absorbing liquids while meeting US Pharmacopeia (USP) requirements for purity (with the exception of absorbency).
HyDri® is unique because it has been purified while maintaining its natural hydrophobicity. This unique characteristic, combined with cotton’s softness and breathability, makes HyDri® the only choice for an all-natural replacement for the extruded films and poly-based materials commonly used in hygiene applications.
With the development of HyDri®, nonwoven manufacturers now have a safe, natural choice to use in products where synthetic fibers have been traditionally used.
HyDri® in Everyday Products
HyDri® cotton from Barnhardt is ideal for consumer hygiene applications that require a soft touch combined with dryness. Nonwovens manufacturers design substrates (fabrics) with natural, hydrophobic fibers that create a moisture barrier in sensitive skin applications such as feminine pads, liners and baby diaper topsheets.
In combination with other fibers and the unique capabilities of nonwovens manufacturers, HyDri® is being used as a moisture management solution where dryness is key and traditionally dominated by synthetic, plastic and petroleum based fibers.
The Natural Choice
HyDri® is 100 percent virgin cotton grown in the United States. It’s safe, natural, hypoallergenic, soft, gentle, sustainable and biodegradable. Even better for both producers and consumers, Barnhardt Purified Cotton® is fully traceable to the actual farms, fields, and even particular acres where each bale is grown!
We buy our cotton fiber from farms across the southern half of the United States, and all American cotton–22 million bales in 2017 alone–is fully traceable through the United States Department of Agriculture database. When you buy Barnhardt Purified Cotton®, you know you’re getting the cleanest, product available, from environmentally responsible farms
While the USA accounts for nearly a quarter of the nonwovens business, even international nonwovens producers count on HyDri® and other substrates from Barnhardt to meet their needs, foregoing non-traceable fabrics from other major cotton-producing nations like Turkey, Indonesia, China, Japan, and Japan.
For nonwovens applications requiring premium, purified cotton with softness, breathability, and absorbency, there’s only one choice: HyDri® from Barnhardt. If you’d like to request a sample of our HyDri® click here.
For more information on Barnhardt HyDri® cotton and other finishes for your nonwoven market applications, contact our customer service team today for a tailored solution to meet your needs.