5211.20 - Bleached:

This HTS category, 5211.20, specifically covers woven fabrics of cotton that have been bleached. For a fabric to fall under this designation, it must contain less than 85 percent by weight of cotton, with the remainder being man-made fibers, and its weight must exceed 200 grams per square meter. The bleaching process results in a fabric that is typically white or off-white, lacking any intentional coloration applied after the initial weaving.

It is crucial to distinguish these bleached fabrics from their sibling categories. "Unbleached" fabrics retain their natural color and impurities from the cotton spinning process. "Dyed" fabrics, in contrast, have undergone a process to impart a uniform color throughout the material after weaving. "Of yarns of different colors" refers to fabrics where the color pattern is created by using yarns of varying hues during the weaving itself, and "Printed" fabrics feature patterns applied by printing techniques onto the fabric surface. This category, 5211.20, solely addresses those fabrics where the primary characteristic is the absence of coloration, achieved through a bleaching treatment.

Within this bleached fabric category, further subdivisions exist to refine classification based on the weave structure. Subcategories 5211.20.21 and 5211.20.22 distinguish between fabrics woven in a plain weave (where each warp yarn passes over and under alternate weft yarns) and those featuring a 3-thread or 4-thread twill, including cross twill patterns. The residual subcategory, 5211.20.29, is for all other bleached woven cotton-rich fabrics meeting the weight and composition criteria, but not conforming to the specific twill or plain weave structures.