The story of Cleo Cotton begins in Southwest Kansas on a beautiful spring day in April. He was just a cotton seed. Cleo knew his big adventure was about to begin when the big tractor and planter came rumbling down the road.

Cotton Seed

After being planted in the ground, and receiving warmth from the soil and moisture from the rain, Cleo grew into a cotton plant. The sunshine helped him grow and grow into a big cotton boll.

Cotton Field

With the sun shining down, all the moisture left his cotton head. Cleo was all dried out and wondered what would happen next. He soon got his answer, a big cotton picker cut his stem and pulled him into the big machine. Cleo was harvested.

Cotton Harvest

Cleo Cotton looked very different. He didn’t looked like a plant anymore, he looked like a light poof of cotton. He was now raw cotton.

Raw Cotton Gettyimages

Cleo Cotton enjoyed the bumpy ride across the field to a large truck. Kailey, a young girl visiting the cotton farm was asking the truck driver where the cotton was going, “I’m taking the cotton to a cotton gin.” Kailey said, “Oh! Can I come too?” She loved going on ag adventures.

Transporting Cotton

After arriving at the cotton gin, Cleo and Kailey stared at the huge box, Kailey asked the operator, “What is that?” The man looked down and said, “This is a cotton gin. It is going to clean all the seeds and leaves out of your friend Cleo.”

Cotton Ginning

As Cleo entered the cotton gin, he told his new friend Kailey goodbye, at least for now. Cleo Cotton loved the cotton gin. He was shaken, twisted, turned and tickled. He felt his seeds falling out and he felt extra soft and fluffy. He was now clean ginned cotton.

Ginned Cotton

After Cleo Cotton’s ride through the cotton gin, he was squeezed tightly into a cotton bale. Cleo’s adventure was about to get very interesting, he was loaded onto a truck and taken to a textile mill.

Cotton Bales

At the textile mill, Cleo Cotton was unloaded and stretched as long as his fibers would stretch. Then the machine twisted and twisted him into spun yarn.

Spun Cotton Yarn

Cleo Cotton enjoyed being spun yarn. He could bend and wiggle in every direction! Suddenly he felt a tug, he was being rolled onto a spool. Cleo noticed that some of the other spun cotton around him had been dyed bright beautiful colors.

Dyed Yarn on Bobbins Marathon Threads Canada

Cleo Cotton’s next stop was a big machine called a weaving loom. He unrolled as he traveled through with other yarn. Now woven together, they made beautiful fabric. 100% Cotton Fabric

Weaving Loom

Cotton Fabric

Little Cleo Cotton was now fabric and laid out on a table. He was measured, pulled, snipped, cut, and stitched. Anxious to know what he looked like, he tried and tried to see but couldn’t. Can you help Cleo find out what he had been turned into?

Cotton Clothing

Clothing Inspection

Cleo Cotton was now a 100% made in the U.S.A. cotton shirt. He was loaded on a freight truck and shipped to a retail clothing store to be sold.

Freight Truck

Retail Clothing

Kailey and her grandmother were shopping when she saw a beautiful shirt. It was her friend Cleo Cotton! Kailey was very happy when her grandmother purchased the shirt for her to take home.

Cleo Cotton had finished his big adventure!

Safety and Ag Education Division