Bamboo fabric has become the new love child of those who engage in sustainable fashion. Sustainable fashion is the practice of using fabric and dying processes that are sustainable and more environmentally friendly than traditional fabrics and garment manufacturing. There are a few different ways to make bamboo fabric and it is important to understand the difference.
While each type of fabric is sustainable, some methods are more environmentally friendly than others. When creating rayon made from bamboo the process involves quite a few chemicals. The chemical process to create rayon from wood is the same process that is used to create rayon from bamboo. This means that the same toxic by-products or waste created from wood rayon exists in the bamboo process. In the case of rayon, only the sustainability of bamboo as a raw material makes it better than wood rayon. Bamboo grows much quicker than wood and helps prevent deforestation which is a problem with wood rayon.
A more environmentally friendly form of bamboo fabric is made through mechanical manipulation versus a toxic chemical process. There is a couple of different mechanical process and neither of them incorporates the use of toxic chemicals to create the final product.
One of the processes involves the use of enzymes to break down the fiber of the plant in addition to mechanical crushing. It begins with the crushing of the plant. Once it has been crushed the enzyme is added to the pulp to create a fiber. This fiber is then spun into yarn or thread just the way wool and cotton are spun into a yarn or thread. The yarn or thread created in this process can be very fine and silky or somewhat coarse as in cotton linen. The yarn or thread is then woven into a fabric.
The last process is the only process that does not involve any step beside the mechanical manipulation of the plant. This method of creating bamboo fabric is particular to a specific region in India. This locality produces the fibers used to make cloth by harvesting young bamboo culms. It is pounded, soaked, and then combed out into long white fibers that are then woven into a fabric. These fibers are much more coarse than those created with enzymes.
Even though there is a big difference in the different types of bamboo fabric it is certainly more sustainable than more traditional types of fabric.
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