Recent prices of bleached cotton have created the need to develop new market ideas for keeping this fiber as a recognizable contender in nonwoven fabrics production. Properly cleaned cotton can be made into hydroentangled fabrics that can be used in its natural (greige) state or that can be readily dyed and finished for a variety of end uses. A study was designed to compare this nonwoven cotton fabric with currently used synthetic nonwovens for protective apparel applications. Cotton's advantages in this product application were clearly established at significant levels of performance.