The climate was ideal for processing cotton, and Glasgow textile manufacturers turned their attentions to the production of fine cotton muslins, at which they came to excel, challenging the dominion of Indian muslins traded by the East India Company by the 1780s.[18] Textiles, including plain, chequered and printed linens,[19] and clothing items were among Scotland's main exports to the tobacco-producing colonies from the 1720s onwards;[20] while the majority of these exports initially consisted in linen, by the close of the 18th century cotton had taken its place.[21]