Is bamboo expensive to manufacture?
What is Bamboo Fabric: Properties, How its Made and Where
Vintage Bamboo Fabric Green Chartreuse
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What Is Bamboo Fabric?
The term "bamboo fabric" widely refers to a number of different textiles that are made from the bamboo plant. Fabrics have been made from bamboo for thousands of years, but it is only in contemporary times that the process of making this hardy and fast-growing wood into fabric has been perfected.
The story of bamboo fabric is a mixed bag. While some types of this fabric are environmentally sustainable and produced ethically, other types may be harmful to the environment or the workers who make it. To ensure that you select the right type of bamboo fabric, it's important to learn more about the textile industry surrounding this plant.
How Is Bamboo Fabric Made?
Depending on the type of fabric that is being made, bamboo textiles can be produced using a number of different methods. The majority of bamboo fabric produced worldwide is bamboo viscose , which is cheap to produce even though it has environmental downsides and represents workplace hazards.
Viscose is a term used to refer to any type of fabric that is made using the viscose method developed in the early 20th century. This type of fabric is one of the newest versions of rayon , which is a semi-synthetic fabric that was originally developed to mimic the desirable qualities of silk.
The process of producing viscose rayon is lengthy and involved, and it is incredibly wasteful. Any type of fabric made with tree cellulose produces a great deal of waste, but this waste can be handled sustainably when the right manufacturing processes are used. The waste produced by viscose rayon production, however, is contaminated with carbon disulfide , which is a toxic chemical that can cause a variety of health problems.
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Production of viscose rayon begins with the extraction of cellulose from wood pulp. Wood is broken down into tiny chunks, and it is then exposed to chemical solvents to remove the cellulose. Quite a few different processes are used to make viscose rayon, and almost all of them include additional harmful chemicals like caustic soda.
To produce a wearable fabric, extracted cellulose is compressed into sheets, exposed to carbon disulfide, and filtered. It is then pushed through a spinneret, which transforms the cellulose into strands. These strands are immersed in a vat of sulfuric acid to create filaments, and these filaments are then spun into yarn that can be woven into fabric.
Alternatively, bamboo cellulose can also be created with a closed-loop production process. Unlike the process used to create viscose rayon, closed-loop rayon production doesn't chemically alter the structure of the cellulose that is used, which results in a fabric that can be considered purely organic. While the solvent used to make traditional viscose rayon is wasted and usually ends up in the biosphere, the solvents used in closed-loop rayon production can be reused again and again, which significantly limits the environmental impact of this industry.
Bamboo fabric of the highest quality is made with production practices that do not extract cellulose. Instead, a natural enzyme is used on crushed bamboo wood fibers, and these fibers are then washed and spun into yarn. This yarn usually has a silky texture, and the fabric made by this process is sometimes called bamboo linen.
When bamboo fabric is made with this method, it is not environmentally harmful, and the resulting textile is strong and long-lasting. However, most types of bamboo fabric are not made with this mechanical process; to ensure that you're getting high-quality bamboo fabric, make sure that it is manufactured with a mechanical rather than a chemical process.
How Is Bamboo Fabric Used?
In general, this type of fabric can be used for practically every application in which cotton is used. Some consumers may even prefer this type of fabric to cotton due to its notable beneficial attributes.
For instance, bamboo fabric is highly breathable, and it is also stretchier than cotton. It's easy to weave this fabric into fabrics with high thread counts, and the resulting textiles are often thinner than their cotton counterparts while remaining similar or greater in tensility.
Beige Embroidered Organic Bamboo fabric Dress
Bamboo fabric may be used in sheets, blankets, towels, hand towels, or a number of other household textiles. Due to its softness and durability, however, this fabric is most commonly used in garments. Underwear made from this fabric is particularly popular, and socks, T-shirts, and other garments that make direct contact with the skin are commonly made with this fabric.
Some consumers prefer to use this type of fabric for intimate garments because of its purported antibacterial claims. However, research has indicated that the antibacterial properties for which bamboo is widely known are only majorly present in the raw product; once this type of wood has been processed into garments, these antibacterial benefits are mainly nonexistent.
It's important to remember that only bamboo fabric that has been made with mechanical processes will have the beneficial properties that make it desired by consumers. Bamboo rayon and similar semi-synthetic fabrics are not as soft or tensile as the real thing, and they certainly have negligible antibacterial benefits.
Where Is Bamboo Fabric Produced?
Bamboo fabric has been produced in East Asia for thousands of years. For instance, cultures in India and China have been producing this textile for untold generations, and bamboo fabric festivals are still held in rural India every year.
The relative environmental sustainability of growing this type of wood has stimulated the production of bamboo across the world. Producing this type of wood is even popular in Western nations such as the United States and Europe since it can be grown in a wide variety of climates. Therefore, almost every semi-developed or developed country in the world produces or exports at least some amount of bamboo fabric.
However, the single largest producer of this type of crop is China. In some ways, this economic fact is only natural; after all, bamboo has been an integral part of Chinese culture for millennia, and it has long been a favorite substance for making into textile products in this area.
There's also a darker side to why production of bamboo fabric is so popular in China. Since the late s, China has become more and more popular among international textile corporations due to this communist country's lax environmental standards and rampant human rights abuses in the consumer goods production sector.
It remains the case that producing textiles and consumer products of all kinds is, in many instances, the cheapest in China, which has caused a variety of bamboo fabric manufacturers to gravitate toward this country for their production needs. Since Chinese companies are not highly incentivized to grow their products in an ethical or sustainable manner, production of this textile crop in China is more environmentally damaging than is reasonable or necessary, but it is undeniably inexpensive to produce bamboo fabric in this country.
Other major exporters of this fabric include India, Pakistan, and Indonesia. While a significant amount of this type of fabric is also produced in the United States, most of it is manufactured for domestic consumption, which means that it does not contribute to this country's exports.
How Much Does Bamboo Fabric Cost?
Vintage Bamboo Fabric Natural Linen
Viscose or similar semi-synthetic fabrics made from this type of wood are generally less expensive than cotton. In some cases, this decreased cost is passed on to the consumer. Genuine bamboo fabric that is made using mechanical methods, however, is almost always more expensive than cotton, but it may be more affordable than forms of luxury cotton like Egyptian cotton, Pima cotton, and Supima cotton.
What Different Types of Bamboo Fabric Are There?
There are three main types of bamboo fabric. These variations include:
- Bamboo viscose: This type of bamboo fabric is nearly identical to other types of viscose. The only reason why bamboo is used in the production of this fabric instead of another type of wood is reduced manufacturing costs; the benefits of this fiber are not present in its viscose form, and consumers should be wary of the conflating this type of textile with true mechanically-produced bamboo fabric.
- Lyocell-type bamboo fabric: This type of fabric is similar to viscose, but it is made with a closed-loop production method. In addition, the chemical structure of the cellulose used to make this type of fabric is not altered in the production process, which means that it retains many of the beneficial qualities that are also noted in mechanically-produced bamboo fabric.
- Mechanically-produced fine bamboo fiber: This type of fabric is the only option that can be considered to be true "bamboo fabric." It is relatively expensive and time-consuming to produce, but it offers far greater benefits than the types of fabrics that are not produced via mechanical means. This type of bamboo fabric is very strong, durable, and soft.
How Does Bamboo Fabric Impact the Environment?
Bamboo is often touted as an eco-friendly fabric, and in some ways, this designation may be accurate. For instance, bamboo is incredibly easy to grow; it matures very quickly, and it can grow in areas that are not suitable for other crops. Therefore, the environmental impact of cultivating bamboo is relatively minimal in theory, and it's up to individual bamboo cultivators to ensure that their crop is obtained in a sustainable manner.
Ironically, the modern demand for bamboo led many Chinese manufacturers to fell forests of other trees to plant bamboo, which practically eliminates the environmental benefits of this crop. In the late s, however, the Chinese Communist Party instated regulations prohibiting this behavior.
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Even if contemporary bamboo cultivation is relatively easy on the environment, the process of producing bamboo viscose is anything but environmentally friendly. While there is generally no risk of consumers encountering toxic chemicals when they wear or use bamboo fabric, a variety of dangerous substances are used to transform raw bamboo into the cellulose that is used to make rayon.
For instance, the lye used to transform bamboo wood into a substance suitable for cellulose extraction isn't usually reused. In addition, carbon disulfide is an integral aspect of the rayon production process, and it's impossible to recapture this toxic chemical once it has been used.
Bamboo production in developing nations, such as China, has encountered a great deal of controversy. For instance, many Chinese bamboo fabric factories expose their workers to the gaseous carbon disulfide that is emitted in the bamboo rayon production process.
Carbon disulfide is a neurotoxin, and it also causes organ damage. Workers who are exposed to this chemical can develop psychosis, liver damage, coma, and blindness, and this chemical can also cause heart attacks. While some factories may protect their workers from carbon disulfide, the legal limits of this substance that have been determined by the Chinese government are far above the safety threshold indicated by medical scientists.
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Bamboo Linen Fabric
Unlike cellulose from many of the other trees that are commonly used for viscose rayon production, bamboo cellulose is suitable for closed-loop production processes. Therefore, fabrics similar to lyocell can be made with bamboo, and the lyocell production process doesn't produce any toxic waste.
However, the vast majority of bamboo fabric is rayon, which means that environmentally degrading processes are used to make this textile. It's important to point out that genuine bamboo fiber can be produced with methods that are not harmful to the environment. If you want to experience the benefits touted by bamboo fabric manufacturers, it's necessary to avoid bamboo viscose and choose genuine fibers or lyocell-like bamboo cellulose fabrics instead.
Bamboo Certifications Available
It is possible to have bamboo fabric that has been produced with mechanical means certified as organic. This fabric can receive this certification if the bamboo fibers used in its production were cultivated with means determined by the USDA or a similar regulatory agency to be environmentally sustainable and economically ethical.
Since bamboo fabric made with the viscose rayon process is transformed into a semi-synthetic substance, it is impossible for this substance to be considered organic. Be wary of companies that claim to offer organic bamboo rayon.
Bamboozled? Getting the facts on Bamboo Textiles
Bamboozled? Getting the facts on Bamboo Textiles
At Fairware we&#;ve had plenty of interest in apparel with bamboo content. In addition to being easy to care for, soft and silky, bamboo fibers have been loudly touted as the newest and greatest in eco-apparel.
But there are conflicting facts about the environmental attributes of bamboo textiles so we&#;ve taken a closer look. The following is based on our online research and we welcome your comments, input and suggestions.
Bamboo: The Plant
The premise that bamboo textiles are eco-friendly is largely based on the sustainability merits of the plant. Part of the grass family, bamboo is the fastest growing plant on Earth (giant kelp is second). Instead of taking centuries to mature, like hardwood, bamboo can be harvested after only 3 to 5 years.
Bamboo is also self-sustaining with an extensive root system that sends up new shoots each year. This substantially reduces the need for intense cultivation practices. The large root system also helps prevent soil erosion and improves the water-holding capacity of the watershed. With sufficient rainfall, bamboo crops don&#;t require irrigation.
Perhaps most impactful is that bamboo can be grown without chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Further, due to its huge biomass above and below ground, a bamboo stand sequesters four times as much carbon as hardwood trees and generates up to 35% more oxygen.
It all sounds fabulous, but like many crops, there are real concerns that some bamboo comes from wild spaces and leads to habitat loss. Similar to cotton, bamboo monocultures are an issue (although there are currently no known GMO variants).
Bamboo: Textile Production
While bamboo appears to be a relatively sustainable crop, with great potential as a carbon sink, an examination of the fabric manufacturing process raises some concerns.
The fibers that make up bamboo textiles are considered regenerated fibers as outlined by the Organic Exchange. This means they are man-made fibers that have been artificially created using natural building blocks (e.g. proteins or cellulose) as opposed to fibers made entirely by nature (e.g. cotton).
There are two ways to process bamboo into a textile: mechanically or chemically.
The mechanical process includes crushing the woody part of the plant and then applying natural enzymes to break the bamboo cell walls, creating a mushy mass. The natural fibers can then be mechanically combed out and spun into yarn. The fabric that results has a similar feel to linen. Very little bamboo material is produced this way since it&#;s labour intensive and expensive.
Most bamboo fabric is created through a chemical process very similar to the production of rayon from wood or cotton. While there are a number of ways to chemically create rayon, the most common is the viscose process which uses hydrolysis alkalization with multi-phase bleaching.
Through this process, bamboo leaves and shoots are essentially cooked in strong chemical solvents such as sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide (for a detailed explanation of the process, see this fantastic post). Once cooked, the resulting liquid is pushed through tiny holes (a spinnarette) directly into a chemical bath of sulfuric acid where it hardens into fine strands. After being washed and bleached these strands form rayon yarn which can be dyed and woven into a soft silky fabric correctly referred to as &#;rayon from bamboo&#;.
Chemicals: concerns for the environment and occupational health and safety
As described, the majority of bamboo textiles are created through a chemically intense process. If not correctly managed, these chemicals pose a risk to workers&#; health. Sodium hydroxide can cause irritation of the skin and eyes while carbon disulfide and sulfuric acid have been linked to neural disorders and respiratory problems respectively. Similarly, poor management of effluents can cause serious damage to the surrounding environment.
Bamboo Labeling: &#;Rayon from Bamboo&#;
In response to the over-zealousness of companies to market bamboo textiles as super-eco and generally awesome, in the past year both the Competition Bureau of Canada and United States Federal Trade Commission have dealt with the issue of accurately labeling textile articles derived from bamboo.
In Canada, this has resulted in guidelines which require that all textiles containing bamboo be labeled according to the chemical process through which they are produced. For example, &#;rayon from bamboo&#; as opposed to simply &#;bamboo&#;. Further, performance and environmental claims, such as &#;naturally antimicrobial&#; or &#;biodegradable&#;, must be supported by adequate testing.
In the U.S. this has been taken a step further with a number of companies being charged with &#;bamboo-zling&#; consumers. In , the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged four sellers of clothing and textile products with deceptively labeling and advertising items as made of bamboo, when they were made of rayon. The FTC also charged the companies with making false and unsubstantiated &#;green&#; claims. Among these, that their bamboo products were manufactured with an environmentally-friendly process, that they retained the natural antimicrobial properties of the bamboo plant and that they were biodegradable.
Bamboo Textile Certification
To address both environmental and worker-safety concerns many factories that produce bamboo clothing get certificates verifying their practices and products.
Product Certification: There are a number of textile certification schemes (something we&#;ll explore in greater detail in a future post). A common one is the Oeko Tex Standard 100. OekoTex aims to demonstrate that there are no harmful chemicals in the finished fiber. However, this standard only examines the final product and doesn&#;t consider chemical usage during the processing of the fiber.
Factory Certification: There are myriad factory certification schemes such as ISO , which shows the factory has put in place an environmental management system to green its practices, or the SA program, which stipulates social accountability standards but not environmental ones.
As Siel points out, ISO and SA certifications are generally meant for business-to-business use and not consumer education, making it difficult for the average person to know if a bamboo garment comes from a certified facility.
Some good news &#; improved bamboo textile production
The good news is that some facilities have started using more benign technologies to chemically-manufacture bamboo fibers. The process used to produce lyocell from wood cellulose can be modified to use bamboo cellulose. In addition to using less toxic chemicals, the bamboo can be processed in a closed loop system whereby 99.5% of the chemicals are captured and recycled to be used again. The lyocell process is also used to manufacture TENCEL®, a fabric used by Patagonia among others.
Cutting through the greenwash &#; advantages, disadvantages and potential
Upon closer consideration, it&#;s clear that bamboo derived textiles aren&#;t the silver bullet of eco-apparel and moves by labeling enforcement bodies to reduce the greenwash are well justified. At the same time, writing off bamboo fibers completely may not be warranted &#; clearly there are advantages and disadvantages to bamboo.
Further, when considering the alternatives, no fabric is perfect. Polyesters and acrylics are fossil fuel based and require plenty of water, chemicals and energy to produce. Cotton is available in both conventional and organic versions, but both are water- and cultivation-intensive crops featuring genetically modified monocultures.
Is it possible that bamboo-based textiles may still be coming into their full potential? With increased interest in the environmental attributes of bamboo-based fabrics, it seems cleaner production processes are appearing (e.g. lyocell process). In addition, labeling enforcement bodies seem increasingly interested in the representation and transparency of bamboo fibers. Perhaps this could lead to advances in applicable environmental and labour certifications for both the products and factories manufacturing them.
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