For many centuries, bamboo has been revered throughout Asia for its uncommon resilience, flexibility and versatility. More recently, the west has adopted bamboo as a paragon of sustainability. In many ways this estimation is justified and undeniable, but of course claiming that bamboo is the perfect, zero-footprint solution would be going too far. Still, compared with any other industrially scaled cash crop, this mighty grass certainly appears to be a leader in its field.
In the last decade or two, bamboo has gone from being a readily available material for chopsticks, fishing poles and high-rise scaffolding, to becoming the eco-conscious choice for modern flooring and cabinets, cutting boards and kitchenwares, and soft clothing and textiles. In terms of renewability and sustainability, the advantages of bamboo over lumber are very plain to see. Bamboo’s fantastic rate of growth, with some varieties reaching fifty feet in a single growing season, simply leaves everything else in the shade. Furthermore, as a grass, bamboo grows back after it’s been cut down, usually stronger than before. No replanting is necessary and little or nothing in the way of soil amendment is required.
In the last six or eight years, bamboo clothing, sheets and towels have attracted attention for their luxurious softness and purported ecological benefits. As with the comparison to lumber, the focus on bamboo clothing revolves around its renewable and sustainable cultivation. Also, much has been said about bamboo’s anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties in the fabric.
In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) conducted something of a crackdown on bamboo clothing, requiring the fabric to be labelled viscose or rayon, and prohibiting claims of bamboo’s eco-friendly and anti-microbial characteristics. The fact is, almost all bamboo fabric is processed from bamboo into a pulp and then reconstituted into yarn, and the product of this chemical process is known as lyocell, viscose or rayon. Critics including the FTC claim that this processing stage, which employs caustic soda (sodium hydroxide), negates all of bamboo’s ecological benefits, and that it removes any anti-microbial properties present in the original plant.
(It should be noted that there are also “mechanically processed” bamboo fabrics which do not undergo the chemical process, but instead have a process and a finished product more comparable to hemp or linen; but though it may be environmentally superior, this mechanical bamboo lacks the soft silky hand with which most bamboo lovers are so familiar, and is therefore far less popular or marketable.)
Now, the logic behind the FTC ruling might appear sound because bamboo production does have a chemical stage that most of us in the industry would like to see improved or replaced with organic solvents, and research and development are currently being conducted to do exactly that.
In the meantime, sodium hydroxide continues to be one of the most widely used chemicals in the world in the production of food, soap, paper, and cotton, even organic cotton. As far as debunking the antimicrobial claims, however, I can’t explain how these traits are transferred from the plant to the fabric, but with eight years of experience in the bamboo clothing business, I know that consumers are well aware of and highly value the odour-resistant properties of bamboo socks and towels.
There will always be those who compromise their own credibility by singing their praises too highly, but when bamboo and cotton production are systematically compared, from seed to shirt, I think bamboo’s superiority is clear. If you’re looking for a 100% green and organic option for clothing, bamboo might not be it, but short of growing your own flax or hemp, or raising your own sheep and spinning your own yarn, you will have a hard time finding a textile with zero environmental impact. When you look at conventional cotton – the world’s most widespread textile crop, exclusively mono-cropped and increasingly controlled by Monsanto, and the target of the world’s preponderance of pesticides and herbicides – you’ll quickly understand that a host of alternatives are needed, of which bamboo ought to be one among several.
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Fred Hornaday is the owner of Bambu Batu, the first shop in California devoted to all things bamboo, opened in 2006.
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