Before an American Pima tee can exist, the fiber leaves the country, crosses an ocean to be spun, and sails back finished. Follow the journey — and see how a domestic hub collapses it into days.
American cotton is grown at home, then sent around the world for the one step that adds the most value — spinning.
The share of premium U.S. Pima that leaves the country as raw fiber, before the valuable spinning step.
The distance cotton travels to be spun abroad and shipped back — cost, carbon, and weeks of delay.
Spinning value-add captured overseas on every pound of 30/1 Pima ring-spun yarn.
Ocean freight, customs, and multiple hand-offs stretch replenishment into weeks at a time.
Every hand-off adds distance, time, and cost — and moves the value-add one step further from the country that grew the cotton.
The world's finest extra-long-staple Pima is planted, picked, and baled on American soil.
Fiber is ginned, classed, and pressed into export bales — most of it destined for overseas mills, not domestic ones.
Bales move overland to a Pacific gateway, loaded into containers bound across the ocean.
The raw American asset crosses the ocean as a commodity — weeks at sea before it reaches a foreign spindle.
Foreign mills add the value — turning fiber into yarn and capturing the profit that could have been American.
The yarn sails home at a far higher price — after a round trip of more than 2,900 miles and weeks of delay.
Legs are illustrative of a typical 30/1 Pima ring-spun lane; the round-trip distance, export share, and per-pound value-add are the modeled figures used across this site.
Every active farm, gin, and mill across the Western cotton belt — from Arizona and California fields to the Port of Long Beach and the Pacific export lane. Zoom into any farm to see the actual land.
The raw cotton is American either way. The question is how far it has to travel — and where the value-add is captured.
| Per 30/1 Pima ring-spun lane | Today — Offshore | Yuma Model |
|---|---|---|
| Raw fiber origin | American | American |
| Where it’s spun | Overseas | Yuma, Arizona |
| Round-trip distance | 2,900+ mi | Local |
| Lead time | Weeks | Days |
| Spinning value-add | Leaves the U.S. (~$1.76/lb) | Retained at home |
| Hand-offs & ocean crossings | Many | Few |
Sources: USDA AMS Cotton Market Review · USDA Cotton Outlook · Textile Exchange conversion methodology · FRED PPI yarn index. Figures are modeled estimates for a 30/1 Pima ring-spun lane.
Spin it where it grows. A domestic ring-spinning hub keeps the value-add on American soil — farm to spindle to mill, in days, not oceans.
Grown and baled beside the hub.
The value-add step happens next door.
Yarn moves to regional cut-and-sew.
Finished goods reach American shelves.
Bars compare relative distance for the same lane — thousands of ocean miles collapsed into a local, days-long loop.
The ocean round-trip removed when spinning happens beside the farms.
Days instead of weeks between fiber and finished yarn.
Spinning value-add kept on American soil instead of exported.
Skilled, durable manufacturing work anchored in the region.
A domestic ring-spinning hub in Yuma, Arizona closes the loop — and keeps the value on American soil.