The process used by most businesses is to just chop up their bamboo and toss the wooden chips into a stew of caustic chemicals. Compared with alternatives like traditional pine plantations Moso can produce almost double the amount of timber per acre, making it extremely efficient for farmers wanting to maximise their yields. Toad&Co Is a Leader in Sustainable Fashion Roads and bridges To cap things off, in terms of water Bamboo is extremely efficient, requiring little to no irrigation. Once the bamboo pulp is cool and dry, we turn it into incredibly soft thread and weave into beautiful bedding. When we first felt bamboo fabric we fell in love and the love affair is still going strong. The product of this process, called alkali cellulose, is then dried and ground down to a powder, before a second chemical, carbon disulphide, is used to jell it back together, making something called sodium cellulose xanthate. Textile is a material made of thread or yarn that is typically used for clothing, bags, towels, bedsheets, and many other household uses. Here’s what the production of bamboo rayon fabric looks like: Cellulose is extracted from the bamboo wood pulp after it’s been broken down into tiny chunks. If the label says Bamboo Rayon or Viscose the answer isn’t so clear. All too often brands turn a blind eye to these details when sourcing materials, a point when they can choose to make a difference. Viscose is traditionally made from wood, but can also be extracted from bamboo – a fast-growing plant that doesn’t require pesticides, herbicides or irrigation, and is therefore often marketed as eco-friendly. LENZING™ ECOVERO™ fibers have been certified with the EU Ecolabel as meeting high environmental standards throughout their life cycle: from raw material extraction to production, distribution and disposal. Exposure to the likes of sodium hydroxide and carbon disulphide can cause a range of symptoms from serious eye and skin irritation, to headaches, and neural disorders. At Dragonfly Fabrics we are increasing our selection of natural, sustainable and eco-friendly fabrics, for not only is this something that we feel passionate about, we also know you, our clients do as well. Since this a well-known fact, many traditional companies try to prevent these substances from escaping their production plants. How Is Viscose Made? Simple changes in the way bamboo is farmed will help maximise the carbon fixation capacity of plantations. Furthermore, this process preserves bamboo’s remarkable moisture wicking and hypoallergenic qualities in our bedding. My 3.5 year old is 50lbs and tall and these pajama are great for him! In fact, the nature of bamboo plantations actually enforces a more environmentally conscious type of forestry. Bamboo has been widely touted as a wonder product in terms of its environmental impact. Here we’ll dive to this topic to paint a more realistic picture. Sustainable Bamboo Clothing by Bamboo Body . Whilst this might seem trivial, given the eco-friendly tag that bamboo clothing has adopted, transparency is paramount for genuine credibility. If you want to learn more about these qualities, read our blog 5 Benefits of Bamboo Bed Sheets. Bamboo is often considered to be one of the most renewable and sustainable resources in the world. Viscose fabric in its various forms is a genuine hybrid material, somewhere between natural and synthetic, with some attractive sustainable properties, and some big environmental challenges in production. Bamboo yarn can also be blended with other textile fibres such as hemp or spandex. These are used to make bamboo-based rayon and viscose–two popular fabrics in the cloth industry advertised as being “green”. Going forward, we would encourage brands that sell bamboo clothing to trace their supply chains, and ensure that production facilities are disposing of chemicals appropriately, thereby mitigating against the most environmentally sensitive part of the whole process. But first, we need to understand more about viscose itself (aka ‘rayon’ or ‘viscose rayon’), how it’s made, and how this process impacts the environment. Viscose Rayon is made using the cellulose (the carbohydrate that makes up the main walls of plants) of fast-growing trees and bamboo (one of the fastest-growing plants in the world). Eileen Fisher has reduced its use of rayon and does offer some Tencel products, but still relies on viscose for a lot of its clothing. We researched the best, all certified USDA Organic or STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX. Bamboo comes from sustainable and renewable resources in bamboo fibres, whilst conventional plastic comes from non renewable fossil fuel feedstock (and plastic itself itself a synthetic material) 2. 70% Viscose Bamboo 30% Organic cotton 4.4 oz/sq yd Short sleeve FEATURES: Sustainable and environmentally friendly. We can be sure that industrial processes used to produce textiles always have some negative environmental impact, and viscose is no exception to this rule. Bamboo is the largest member of the grass family, growing up to 35m tall. Here are two ways to transform bamboo into bamboo fibre. Although more comprehensive research is needed, the evidence is tipping in favour of bamboo as a go-to sustainable species, especially when it is stacked up against the alternatives for the production of viscose. The bamboo species used for clothing is called Moso bamboo. It also grows thicker as it gets taller meaning it lays down a huge volume of biomass as it shoots up. Finally, these fibers are spun into threads and woven into fabric. It is by no means perfect, the Lyocell process demands a lot of energy, and the amine oxide used is a by-product of gasoline production. A little understanding of this process may have washed away any preconceptions of bamboo being the next best eco-trend for fashion. Bamboo rayon is most commonly made through what is known as the viscose process, which involves dissolving cellulose material (in this case, bamboo) in a chemical solution to produce a pulpy viscous substance. The fashion industry is rapidly changing for the better and sustainability is the driving force behind this positive progression. Heavy chemicals can be used in this process, and can be discharged into the environment via wastewater (these chemicals are required to produce bamboo rayon viscose). So, in viscose we have actually recreated that cellulose plant structure, except this time it’s a little more orderly, allowing us to manipulate it to spin yarn, which is why viscose is most accurately described as reconstituted cellulose fibre, a name that clearly didn’t catch on. Bamboo viscose or rayon actually traces back to Europe, where French industrialist Hilaire de Chardonnet came up with the first-ever viscose fiber. The fact that viscose can be generated from bamboo, or a number of other plant based substrates means that the whole story of bamboo as a sustainable resource to … The global textile and apparel industry is responsible for huge deforestation, destruction of ecosystems, and greenhouse gas emissions. The concern with bamboo viscose is not that the chemical residue remains on the bamboo material, but in the disposal of the chemical waste product. Overall, bamboo viscose fabric stands out from other fabrics due to its sustainability and durability. 95% of the bamboo on the market is bamboo viscose. Comparative studies in subtropical areas of China suggest that Bamboo is 2 to 4 times more effective at fixing carbon when matched against fir or pine plantations in the same areas. Moulded bamboo is also an eco friendly alternative for plastic kitchen utensils and tableware. Well, all of these labels essentially mean the same thing; they are all made using the viscose process. As already mentioned viscose is a type of man-made cellulose fibre, and this means it is not truly natural (like cotton, wool, or silk), though nor is it truly synthetic (like nylon or polyester). I picked up a copy of Sustainable Fashion and Textiles by Kate Fletcher and found that most bamboo fabric is a bamboo rayon, which is a man made fibre made from cellulose using the viscose process. It’s undeniable that this is a chemically intensive process, and the major environmental hazard arises when these chemicals have to be disposed of. Carbon disulfide is toxic, and exposure to it can have detrimental effects on the human reproductive system, resulting in a hazardous work environment. When stacked against the competition bamboo certainly holds its own. Originally known as artificial silk, in the late 19 th century, the term “rayon” came into effect in 1924. In summary, the questions surrounding the sustainability of bamboo clothing are not simple. In extreme temperature, humidity isn’t friendly. The sustainability of the fabric also depends on how the fabric is made and the type of fabric made. wonder product in terms of its environmental impact, identical end product, from the same industrial process, for breaching the Textile Products Identification Act, to create viscose yarn from any plant based substrate, most accurately described as reconstituted cellulose fibre, amine oxide used is a by-product of gasoline production, a lot of water and some very unpleasant chemicals, covering more than 30 million hectares globally, it’s officially the fastest growing plant on the planet, meaning it lays down a huge volume of biomass as it shoots up, almost double the amount of timber per acre, Each year approximately 20-25% of the older bamboo poles can be sustainably harvested, the root structure of bamboo, called the rhizome, when matched against fir or pine plantations in the same areas, had the highest carbon fixation ability of all species under investigation, than equivalent stands that are left untouched, homogenous plantations simply cannot support the same number of different species. Choose bamboo viscose from factories with strict effluent treatment protocols. Sustainable bamboo sheets should meet fair-labor and environmental criteria. You can also find bamboo rayon, bamboo lyocell, bamboo TENCEL, bamboo modal, and bamboo viscose. Despite these efforts, a significant amount of these chemicals leach into the environment and pollute the earth. Bamboo rayon was made popular thanks to bamboo sheets and memory foam. There are a lot of bold claims about bamboo and its ability to mitigate climate change. The viscose process is the name of the method used for the transformation of the bamboo fiber. At times huge areas of mixed forest have been cleared to make space for new bamboo plantations, and this practice even includes clearing natural bamboo stands to make way for monocultures of more ‘useful’ bamboo species, such as Moso. Cozy Earth, however, is different. Most bamboo fabric used in clothing is bamboo viscose . Bamboo itself is a wonderful crop that is a more sustainable option than other sources of plant-based textiles, but the most popular means of producing bamboo fiber is harmful to both workers and the environment. We then carefully dissolve the soft fiber in a sodium solution to turn it into pulp. Back in 2010 several companies, including Amazon, Macy’s, Leon Max, and Sears, were fined a total of $1.26 million by the FTC for breaching the Textile Products Identification Act. In years to come, it’s likely that cotton production will stagnate due to a shortage of arable land suitable for its cultivation. Today, over one billion people in the world live in bamboo houses. The bamboo plant just provides a source of cellulose fibre and could, in fact, be substituted with many other plants to make an identical end product, from the same industrial process. We are unique from other bamboo companies because we take the time to properly prepare our bamboo beforehand so that it doesn’t have to be treated with corrosive chemicals. And we should not forget that it’s an extremely productive crop, supporting the livelihood of millions worldwide. We are now able to offer a 100% Viscose lining with the weft yarn derived from bamboo pulp, the ecological benefits from using this type of lining vs a Viscose sourced from wood pulp are considerable. So, the overwhelming majority of bamboo clothing is not really made from bamboo at all. They are so soft and hold up to toddler wear and tear! From a cultivation perspective it’s got a bright future. J.I. Our favorite pjs. And to boot, because it’s composed of nothing more than cellulose fibres, all forms of viscose are 100% biodegradable. Base blend of Bamboo Viscose + Merino Wool. You can make any piece of furniture and kitchen products out of bamboo. 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