When Cotton Unlimited, a small company, located in Post, Texas, first developed and began manufacturing and marketing cotton insulation under the name Insulcot, the strategy behind the marketing plan was the anticipated appeal of cotton insulation's "non-irritant" aspects. Fiberglass and mineral wool insulation-cotton insulation's main rivals-are infamous for their irritant aspects. Made initially from low-grade virgin cotton, which was not cost-effective to manufacture, they switched to textile scraps as a production cost-reducing measure. Utilizing the plentiful supply of "trim-waste" from the blue jeans manufacturing process, Insulcot discovered a paradox about cotton insulation: The greater market appeal lay in its high recycled content rather than its "no-itch" characteristics.
Seeing the possibilities for vertical integration, Greenwood Mills, of Greenwood, S.C., a large textile manufacturing company with an abundance of in-house mill waste fabric at hand, licensed the patent from Cotton Unlimited for Insulcot. A whole new subsidiary, Greenwood Cotton Insulation Products, was created by Greenwood Mills for the sole purpose of manufacturing and marketing cotton insulation. The company offered a line of insulation priced to compete directly with fiberglass and included: kraft-faced, foil-faced, unfaced and loose-fill attic insulation. Based in Roswell, Ga., the initial regional distribution targeted the southeast United States.