What are the goals of this series about fabrics?

These are NOT the goals: Making you feel guilty. Getting you to throw out all of your clothes. Filling you with a sense of panic and/or despair.

This is the goal: educating you about all of these fabrics, how they are made, what that impact is, and how to care for them properly.

Yes, knowledge can be overwhelming and disappointing…but it’s also EMPOWERING! Every fabric has a catch. And it’s important for us to know the “catch” to those fabrics so we can make the best decisions. And furthermore, it feels good in a surprising way to uncover more ways in which retailers and brands have been misleading us!

Many of these fabrics have been used as a means of greenwashing. The goal of greenwashing? To get us to continue over shopping and over consuming by misleading us into believing that these fabrics are either “good” for the planet (and therefore we should buy more if we want to save the planet) or have zero impact on the planet (obviously not true). Greenwashing sells us the illusion that we can still buy lots of clothes that we will barely wear. Greenwashing tells us “go ahead…get a new dress for every party or buy into every single trend.” When your entire business model depends on overconsumption, you’re going to do everything you can to trick people into buying more.

Hi, my name is Amanda and I have been bamboo-zled. Meaning: I have fallen for some claims about bamboo fabric that were just too good to be true! Bamboo actually has a lot of sensory qualities that I appreciate, but it is at the center of a lot of greenwashing.

THERE IS NO MIRACLE FABRIC THAT ALLOWS US TO CONTINUE TO OVERCONSUME CLOTHING/TEXTILES…especially to the level that the fast fashion model requires. Bamboo is great for greenwashing because we can see that it grows super fast. It’s super hardy and uses little water. The house we rented when we lived in Austin had a mini bamboo forest in the backyard and it grew so fast! But I can also see that turning bamboo into fabric isn’t simple. And my brain can’t even begin to understand just how much bamboo would be required to make lots of clothes for lots of people.

Okay, so let’s talk about bamboo!

Bamboo itself has a lot of amazing characteristics:

• It is the fastest growing plant on Earth

• It requires little cultivation, and it can be grown without pesticides and fertilizers.

• It may trap 4X more carbon dioxide than hardwood trees (but other research indicates it may not).

• It may produce 35% more oxygen than hardwood trees.

But bamboo also gets greenwashed a lot…

In fact, in 2013, the FTC cracked down on 78 retailers/brands for their egregious greenwashing claims around bamboo, including Sears, Macy’s, Amazon, and Bed Bath and Beyond.

What were they doing? Claiming that items were “sustainable” and “eco-friendly” because they contained bamboo, but they neglected to mention that these items were actually made from bamboo rayon. To understand WHY this was greenwashing, you have to understand how bamboo is turned into fabric.

Bamboo is technically a type of grass, but we can all agree that it is not very soft. That’s why it is often used to make utensils and flooring! Turning this wood-like material into fabric is no easy feat. There is a lot of science involved!

There are two ways to turn bamboo into fabric: mechanically or chemically.

The mechanical way:

• The woody part of the bamboo plant is crushed. Natural enzymes are added to break down the cell walls of the bamboo. This turns the bamboo into a big mushy pulp.

• Next, the natural fibers of the bamboo are combed out mechanically and then spun into yarn.

• This process is relatively low impact, and the final product has a nice linen feel. This is called bamboo linen.

• Unfortunately very little bamboo fabric is created using this process because it is labor intensive and therefore, more expensive.

The Chemical Way (aka the most common method for turning bamboo into fabric):

As I discussed in Part 8 of this series, semi-synthetic fabrics (also know as “man-made cellulosic” fabrics) are made from materials like wood pulp and bamboo, using some pretty intense chemicals and processes.
The most commonly used process for transforming bamboo is the “viscose method.”

• This process is so harmful, it is an issue of environmental justice.

• The fabric itself is drapey and breathable, but its impact is serious.

There are other false claims about bamboo…

Do a casual internet search about the positive attributes of bamboo fabric, and you will likely encounter claims of antibacterial properties and UV resistance.

These are qualities that bamboo naturally has…before it is turned into fabric. Through the intense process of turning a very un-fabric like material into soft, wearable fabric…bamboo loses those properties. Testing has indicated that the fabric version of bamboo is neither anti-microbial nor UV resistant.

Is bamboo “sustainable?”

It’s complicated.

The mechanical way of creating bamboo fabric is relatively low impact.

However, the vast majority of bamboo textiles being sold right now are made with the “viscose method,” because it is so much cheaper.

There are closed loop systems (like the one created by Lenzing) that can minimize the chemical use in the viscose process, but this process has not been widely adopted.

There is no miracle fabric that allows us to continue to overconsume clothing without repercussion. Buying lots of new clothes, barely wearing them, then buying some more…it can never be sustainable.

• The demand for bamboo has more than doubled since 2000. Keeping up with this demand has lead to deforestation, as trees have been cut down in order to free up land for growing bamboo.

• There’s just not enough transparency in the supply chain. There is no proof that bamboo is being grown sustainably or that it is being harvested ethically, without forced labor or exploitive working conditions.

   

Make your bamboo clothing and textiles last as long as possible!

Follow the instructions on the care label. If the label is missing:

• Wash in cold on the gentle cycle.

• Air dry (if possible) or tumble dry on the lowest setting.

• Never use bleach or fabric softener.

• Knitted bamboo garments should be hand washed in cold water and laid flat to dry.

• More structured items like blazers, lined pants/dresses, and jackets should be dry cleaned.