From the field to the end product cotton fibers undergo a succession of mechanical processing stages with varying degrees of aggressiveness. Some of the processes that are most decisive to the cotton's ultimate use-value and processing performance start at the gin and continue throughout the spinning preparation. These are usually aimed at opening and cleaning the fiber but they can also result in fiber damage. This research explores both ginning and spinning preparation processes and examines critical interactions affecting cleaning efficiency and length reduction potential. Five cotton varieties were grown and stripper-harvested in 2005 to provide the seed-cotton samples for these trials. Ginning was done at the USDA-ARS gin lab in Lubbock with different cleaning intensities. Ginned lint was then processed through spinning preparation at the International Textile Center. Trash and dust particles, along with fiber length, were quantified using the AFIS at alternative stages of the process. Results presented in this paper show critical interactions among ginning and spinning preparation processes affecting cleaning efficiency and fiber damage.