Bamboo Fabric: Not As Eco-Friendly as Once Thought
Eco fabrics are very hot right now and fabric made from bamboo has been selling like crazy. It produces a soft fabric that being used by upscale designers such as Ermenegildo Zegna, Rag & Bone and Ralph Lauren. But it turns out that bamboo is not as environmentally friendly or as sustainable as many people think. For one thing, the processing required to turn bamboo into fibers suitable for clothing releases toxins in the air. Christina Binkley of The Wall Street Journal reports:
The bamboo used in textiles has to be heavily manipulated to go from stem to store. To create fabric, it's chopped up and dissolved in toxic solvents—the same process that recycles wood scraps into viscose or rayon. Indeed, bamboo fabric technically is rayon.
The Federal Trade Commission sued four small bamboo-clothing manufacturers in August, citing them for false labeling, among other concerns, under the 1958 Textile Fiber Products Identification Act. The companies had used language such as "natural," "biodegradable," and "antimicrobial." But bamboo fabric isn't natural, the FTC said, since it's a textile developed by chemists. The agency also said the biodegradable and antimicrobial qualities of the plant don't survive the manufacturing process.
In a bulletin titled "Have You Been Bamboozled by Bamboo Fabrics?" the FTC said that bamboo fabrics "are made using toxic chemicals in a process that releases pollutants into the air."
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But some wearers have other gripes about bamboo. Mr. Giardina, the FIT professor, says he found that bamboo fabric is unstable and likely to stretch out of shape in damp weather. Uniform Knitters Ltd., a Hong Kong apparel manufacturer, abandoned bamboo fabrics because they tend to shrink and have odd variances in color, according to a company spokeswoman.
According to the FTC, clothing made of bamboo is actually made of rayon, which is hardly upscale or durable. Which brings up another problem: clothing made of bamboo degrades quickly. Manufacturers are mixing the bamboo with other, sturdier fabrics such as cotton for better results. Once clothing is labeled as made of rayon or viscose (two fabrics we happen to despise) it's certainly not going to sell for the prices that it has been.
The FTC consumer alert - "Have You Been Bamboozled by Bamboo Fabrics?" - can be found here.
