There exists a plenty of standard and HVI techniques for characterization of cotton fibers. It is known that there are some differences in the principles of measurements and the results of e.g. AFIS and HVI Spectrum apparatus. The differences exist between measurements of fiber strengths based on the bundles concept or single fiber concept as well. Despite of these differences it is possible to specify basic cotton fiber properties having potential influence to the cotton yarn strength. The main problem with utilization of these properties for cotton fibers quality characterization is multivariate character of information, various units and lack of transformation to the proper utility scale. According to the general definition, the quality is characterized by several properties expressing the ability of a product to fulfill functions it was designed for. The degree of quality (complex criterion) is often expressed as utility value U. The method for complex evaluation of cotton fiber performance based on this idea is presented in this contribution. Proposed approach is compared with some another complex criteria as fiber geometric factor. The results of HVI measurements are used as input data. The program QCOTTON written in MATLAB is briefly mentioned. The application of complex criterion is demonstrated on the simulation based examples and real cotton data.