Brown lint cotton lines were identified as segregates in cotton seed samples received from the national cotton germplasm collection. Individuals were chosen for intensity of color and increased as progeny rows. The brown color of these lines was judged to be good, but fiber properties were poor by USDA standards. In order to facilitate an ongoing investigation of the inheritance of the brown lint trait, improve the fiber properties of these brown lint lines, and to provide a system for the maintenance of the purity of seed stocks, resistance to imidazolinone herbicides was transferred into selected brown lint lines. Preliminary observation on the inheritance of the brown lint trait, fiber quality improvement and herbicide tolerance of the first of these lines is described.