Why is bamboo baby clothes so popular?

Textile made from various parts of the bamboo plant

For more information, please visit our website.

A scarf made of bamboo yarn and synthetic ribbon

Bamboo textile is any cloth, yarn or clothing made from bamboo fibres. While historically used only for structural elements, such as bustles and the ribs of corsets, in recent years different technologies have been developed that allow bamboo fibre to be used for a wide range of textile and fashion applications.

Examples include clothing such as shirt tops, pants, and socks for adults and children, as well as bedding[1] such as sheets and pillow covers. Bamboo yarn can also be blended with other textile fibres, such as hemp or spandex. Bamboo is an alternative to plastic that is renewable and can be replenished at a fast rate.

Modern clothing labeled as being made from bamboo is usually viscose rayon, a fiber made by dissolving the cellulose in the bamboo, and then extruding it to form fibres. This process removes the natural characteristics of bamboo fibre, rendering it identical to rayon from other cellulose sources. Only products made directly from bamboo fiber should carry the "bamboo" label.[2]

Different forms of bamboo-derived fiber

[

edit

]

Bamboo fibres are all cellulose fibre extracted or fabricated from natural bamboo, but they vary widely.

Textiles labelled as being made from bamboo are usually not made by mechanical crushing and retting. They are generally synthetic rayon made from cellulose extracted from bamboo. Bamboo is used whole and in strips; these strips may be considered stiff fibers.

Stiff strips

[

edit

]

Kinhyōshi yōrin (Yang Lin), hero of the Suikoden, holding a bamboo hat, from Utagawa Kuniyoshi's series of woodblock prints illustrating the 108 Suikoden

Bamboo can be cut into thin strips and used for basketry.[3]

In China and Japan, thin strips of bamboo were woven together into hats and shoes. One particular design of bamboo hats was associated with rural life, worn mostly by farmers and fishermen for protection from the sun.[4]

An 1881 bustle design

In the West, bamboo, alongside other components such as whalebone and steel wire, was sometimes used as a structural component in corsets, bustles and other types of structural elements of fashionable women's dresses.[5]

Bamboo rayon

[

edit

]

Rayon is a semi-synthetic fiber made by chemically reshaping cellulose. Cellulose extracted from bamboo is suitable for processing into viscose rayon (rayon is also made from cellulose from other sources).

Bamboo leaves and the soft, inner pith from the hard bamboo trunk are extracted using a steeping process and then mechanically crushed to extract the cellulose.[6] The viscose rayon process then treats the fibers with lye, and adds carbon disulfide to form sodium cellulose xanthate. After time, temperature, and various inorganic and organic additives (including the amount of air contact) determining the final degree of polymerization, the xanthate is acidified to regenerate the cellulose and release dithiocarbonic acid that later decomposes back to carbon disulfide and water.[7]

Viscose manufactured from bamboo is promoted as having environmental advantages over viscose made with cellulose extracted from wood pulp. Bamboo crops may be grown on marginal land unsuitable for forestry; demand for bamboo has sometimes led to clearing forests to plant bamboo. But this is less common since Chinese forestry policy reforms in the 1990s.[8] The viscose processing results in the same chemical waste products as wood-pulp viscose, notably carbon disulfide. But bamboo cellulose is suitable for a closed-loop viscose process that captures all solvents used.[8]

Workers are seriously harmed by inhaling the carbon disulfide (CS2) used to make bamboo viscose. Effects include psychosis, heart attacks, liver damage, and blindness. Rayon factories rarely give information on their occupational exposure limits and compliance. Even in developed countries, safety laws are too lax to prevent harm.[9][10][11]

Issues

[

edit

]

Occupational safety

[

edit

]

There are health threats from rayon manufacture. Bamboo rayon manufacture, like other rayon manufacture, exposes rayon workers to volatile carbon disulfide. Inhaling it causes serious health problems. Around 75 percent of all polluting emissions from the bamboo viscose process occur as air emissions.[12][2][13]

While it is possible to protect workers from the CS2, some legal limits for occupational exposure are still far higher than recommended by medical researchers. Rayon factories vary widely in the amount of CS2 they expose their workers to, and in the information they give about their safety limits or their compliance.[9][8]

False advertising

[

edit

]

In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ruled that unless a yarn is made directly with bamboo fibre — often called "mechanically processed bamboo"—it must be called "rayon" or "rayon made from bamboo".[2][14] The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) noted that the manufacturing process further purifies the cellulose, alters the physical form of the fibre, and modifies the molecular orientation within the fibre and its degree of polymerization. The end product is still cellulose,[15] and is functionally identical to rayon made from cellulose from other plant sources.

Agricultural

[

edit

]

Bamboo can be cultivated quickly,[16] can be used as a cash crop in impoverished regions of the developing world. It is a natural fibre (as opposed to popular synthetics like polyester) whose cultivation results in a decrease in greenhouse gases.[17] There may be environmental problems with the cultivation of land expressly for bamboo plantations.[18]

Anti-bacterial claims

[

edit

]

Even though bamboo fabrics are often advertised as antibacterial, finished bamboo fabric only retains some of bamboo's original antibacterial properties. Some studies have shown rayon-bamboo to possess a certain degree of anti-bacterial properties. Studies in China (2010) and India (2012) have investigated the antibacterial nature of bamboo-rayon fabric against even harsh levels of bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. While the Indian study found that "bamboo rayon showed excellent and durable antibacterial activities against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria", the Chinese study concluded "the bamboo pulp fabric just like cotton fabric has not possessed antimicrobial property".[19]

The FTC has charged companies with false antimicrobial claims when the fibre has been made with rayon.[20] Critics cite the cotton industry's powerful lobbying groups in influencing the FTC decision, and dismissal of the international studies proving otherwise.[citation needed]

Mechanically produced fine bamboo fiber

[

edit

]

Tufts of retted bamboo fibers for sale at Kottiyoor Temple in Kerala

Some bamboo fibre is made by a mechanical-bacterial process similar to retting flax into linen fibre.[21] In this way, the woody part of the bamboo is crushed mechanically before an enzyme-retting and washing process is used to break down the walls and extract the fibre. The natural enzyme comes from pre-existing microorganisms on the bamboo.[22] This bast fibre is then spun into yarn.[23] In fine counts the yarn has a silky touch. The same manufacturing process is used to produce linen fabric from flax or hemp. Bamboo fabric made from this process is sometimes called bamboo linen. The natural processing of litrax bamboo allows the fibre to remain strong and produce a high quality product. This process gives a material that is very durable.[citation needed]

Another means of extracting fibre from bamboo, and probably the only purely mechanical process of extraction anywhere in the world, is practiced in the days preceding the annual festival of the Kottiyur Temple of Kerala, India. The handcrafted bamboo artifact, known locally as "odapoovu" is in the form of a tuft of white fibres of up to 30 cm (1 ft) in length. The article is made out of newly emerging Ochlandra travancorica culms, which go through a process of alternating pounding with stones and retting in water lasting several days, followed by a combing to remove the pith, leaving the cream white fibres and a stub of the bamboo. The fibre is too coarse and the process very cumbersome, to be of much use in making fine yarn, thread or textiles.[citation needed]

Material properties

[

edit

]

Mechanically produced bamboo fiber and bamboo rayon have markedly different properties. They look different under a scanning electron microscope (the mechanically produced fiber has nodes).[24] Bamboo rayon varies in physical properties, as would be expected from the range of properties in other rayon.[25]

Bamboo composite and biopolymer construction

[

edit

]

There are various approaches to the use of bamboo in composites and as an additive in biopolymers for construction. In this case, as opposed to bamboo fabrics for clothing, bamboo fibres are extracted through mechanical needling and scraping or through a steam explosion process where bamboo is injected with steam and placed under pressure and then exposed to the atmosphere where small explosions within the bamboo due to steam release allows for the collection of fibre. Bamboo fibre can be in a pulped form in which the material is extremely fine and in a powdered state.[citation needed]

Ecological considerations

With competitive price and timely delivery, UNIMETONE sincerely hope to be your supplier and partner.

[

edit

]

Growth

[

edit

]

Bamboo has many advantages over cotton as a raw material for textiles. Reaching up to 35 metres (115 ft) tall, bamboo is the largest member of the grass family.[26] They are the fastest growing woody plants in the world. One Japanese species has been recorded as growing over 1 m (3 ft 3 in) a day.[27] There are over 1,600 species[28] found in diverse climates from cold mountains to hot tropical regions. About 40 million hectares (100 million acres) of the Earth is covered with bamboo, mostly in Asia.[29] The high growth rate of bamboo and the fact that bamboo can grow in diverse climates makes the bamboo plant a sustainable and versatile resource.

The bamboo species used for clothing is called Moso bamboo. Moso bamboo is the most important bamboo in China, where it covers about 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) – about two percent of China's forest area. It is the main species for bamboo timber and plays an important ecological role.[30]

Harvesting

[

edit

]

Once a new shoot emerges from the ground, the new cane will reach its full height in just eight to ten weeks. Each cane reaches maturity in three to five years. It is a grass and so regenerates after being cut just like a lawn without the need for replanting. This regular harvesting actually benefits the health of the plant—studies have shown that felling of canes leads to vigorous re-growth and an increase in the amount of biomass the next year.[31]

Yield and land use

[

edit

]

Bamboo can be used as food, fibre and shelter and due to its ease of growth and extraordinary growth rate it is a cheap, sustainable and efficient crop. Bamboo grows very densely, its clumping nature enables a lot of it to be grown in a comparatively small area, easing pressure on land use. With average yields for bamboo of up to 60 tonnes per hectare (27 short tons per acre)[32] greatly exceeding the average yields of 20 tonnes per hectare (9 short tons per acre) for most trees, and 2 tonnes per hectare (1 short ton per acre) for cotton,[33] bamboo's high yield per hectare becomes very significant.[citation needed]

Greenhouse gases

[

edit

]

All plants fix carbon dioxide CO2 but deforestation results in fewer trees to fix rising levels of CO2. Because it is fast-growing, bamboo fixes more CO2 and generates up to 35 percent more oxygen than similar stands of trees.[34] A bamboo plantation sequesters 62 tonnes per hectare (28 short tons per acre) of carbon dioxide per year, as compared with 15 tonnes per hectare (7 short tons per acre) for a young forest .[35]

Deforestation

[

edit

]

Bamboo planting can slow deforestation, providing an alternative source of timber for the construction industry and cellulose fibre for the textile industry.[36] It allows communities to turn away from the destruction of native forests and construct commercial bamboo plantations that can be selectively harvested annually without the destruction of the grove. Tree plantations have to be chopped down and terminated at harvest but bamboo keeps on growing.[37]

Water use

[

edit

]

Bamboo uses considerable water, but there is evidence that its water-use efficiency (relative to growth) may be greater than many trees.[38]

Soil erosion

[

edit

]

Yearly replanting of tillage crops increases soil erosion. The extensive root system of bamboo and the fact that it is not uprooted during harvesting means bamboo cultivation is associated with less soil erosion. The bamboo plant's root system can hold soil together along river banks, deforested areas and in places prone to mudslides. Like forest trees, it also greatly reduces rain run-off.[39]

Biodegradable

[

edit

]

Like other cellulose-based clothing materials, bamboo fibre is biodegradable in soil by micro organisms and sunlight. Having reached the end of its useful life, clothing made from bamboo can be composted and disposed of in an organic and environmentally friendly manner.[40]

Pesticides and fertilizers

[

edit

]

There is no need for pesticides or fertilizers when growing bamboo, but herbicide and fertilizer applications are common in some places to encourage edible shoot growth. Bamboo also contains a substance called bamboo-kun–an antimicrobial agent that gives the plant a natural resistance to pest and fungi infestation, though some pathogen problems exist in some bamboo plantations.[41]

References

[

edit

]

To be pregnant for the first time is to be the world’s most anxious, needy, and ignorant consumer all at once. Good luck buying a pile of stuff whose uses are still hypothetical to you! What, for instance, is the best sleep sack? When I was four months pregnant and still barely aware of the existence of sleep sacks, a mom giving recommendations handed me one made of bamboo. “Feel—soooo soft,” she said. I reached out to caress, and it really was soooo soft. This was my introduction to the cult of bamboo.

Over the next several months, gifts of bamboo clothing from more experienced parent friends started to arrive, and I became indoctrinated in its superiority. Bamboo is breathable, I was told, smooth, and so stretchy that it grows with your kid. I heard of moms who exclusively dressed their babies in bamboo. One night after my baby was born, while high on hormones and low on sleep, I wanted to splurge on something nice. Add to cart: $33 for a pair of bamboo pajamas in the color “blush.” Yes, this was more than I’ve spent on my own adult pajamas. But these were bamboo.

Thirty-three dollars, I would later learn, is a relatively, uhh, reasonable price to pay for bamboo baby clothes? The Instagram brands that popularized bamboo for babies have also perfected the art of scarcity-induced demand: Every so often, they drop limited-edition prints that can sell out in minutes. So intense is the competition that moms resell them on Facebook for three, five, even 10 times the retail price; one confessed to reselling a $98 blanket for $1,000.

This all seemed a bit much to me, but let she whose baby is without bamboo cast the first stone. Imagine my surprise, though, when I committed the act of serious investigative journalism that is reading a clothing label. The “magical,” “buttery soft” bamboo fabric that so many moms have been obsessing over? It’s rayon. Yes, rayon, the material best known as what cheap blouses are made of. Rebranded as “bamboo,” rayon has taken on an improbable second life as the stuff of premium, collectible baby clothes.

There is nothing particularly special about rayon made from bamboo. “Bamboo rayon is just rayon,” Ajoy Sarkar, a textiles expert at the Fashion Institute of Technology, told me. And there is no reason this material should inspire so much hoopla. “The world is insane,” said Preeti Gopinath, a textiles expert at the Parsons School of Design, not at all suppressing a laugh when I told her about the hype over bamboo for babies.

And what exactly is rayon? It is neither natural like cotton nor synthetic like polyester. Rayon is in-between, a semisynthetic material made of the cellulose extracted from plants. A century ago, manufacturers used wood as feedstock, but these days they also use bamboo. The basic process used to make most rayon is still the same: The plant material is treated with lye and a chemical called carbon disulfide, which turns any cellulose into a viscous syrup that can be extruded into long, thin strands. Carbon disulfide is especially toxic, known to cause dizziness, vision problems, even psychosis in workers without proper protection (but it shouldn’t remain in the finished product). This entire process of turning bamboo into rayon is energy and chemical intensive, which makes sense. When I see hard stalks of bamboo, I don’t immediately think soft or silky. Bamboo might sound natural, says Maxine Bédat, the founder and director of the sustainable-fashion think tank New Standard Institute, but the fabric is highly processed. The end product is the same regardless of starting material. But no one is out there hawking expensive “wood chip” baby clothing.

These days, manufacturers can make rayon exceptionally soft by finely tuning the way the cellulose fibers are extruded. This feat of engineering turns wood or bamboo into fabric that does, in fact, feel nice enough to lay against baby skin. Some moms seek out the softness of bamboo specifically to keep their babies’ eczema at bay. (Cotton and rayon are both recommended for eczema.) The material is also absorbent and cool, particularly comfortable for warm weather. But rayon is a “weak fiber,” Sarkar told me. When rubbed together, the fibers tend to break and curl—a.k.a. pilling—which explains why bamboo baby clothes come with unrealistically fussy laundry instructions: line dry, lay flat to dry. Who has time when your newborn is pooping on three outfits a day? I tossed it all in the dryer, and sure enough, the bamboo clothing started to pill.

I did, however, continue marveling at the stretch in the bamboo—sorry, I mean rayon—pajamas. I found myself reaching for them over cotton ones because they were simply easier to stuff my baby’s ever-chunkier thighs into. But rayon isn’t inherently that stretchy, Gopinath told me. The stretch in “bamboo” baby clothes comes from the 3 to 5 percent of spandex blended into their fabric; 100 percent cotton clothes obviously contain no spandex. “Manufactured rayon is very cheap”—usually cheaper than cotton—“so you can add a little bit of spandex and it will still be cheaper than a cotton-spandex blend,” Sarkar said. This is not what I wanted to hear after spending $33 on already pilling baby pajamas.

The cost of fabric is, of course, only a small fraction of the price of any garment. When we’re paying for bamboo, we’re not just paying for the bamboo. We’re paying for exclusivity. We’re paying for the feeling that we’ve made the right choice for our helpless little babies. We’re paying for the softness of fabric against sensitive baby skin, even if that means clothing so delicate, it can’t go through standard wash and dry cycles. We’re paying for breathability that keeps babies warm but not too warm, which is a risk factor for the terrifying prospect of SIDS. The stakes can feel very high, and we’re trying our best. Is our best really rayon? Hmm, sounds better to call it bamboo.

The bamboo brands aren’t exactly keeping their use of rayon a deep secret. It’s right there on the clothing labels and on websites touting the superiority of bamboo. But you also wouldn’t necessarily know from a casual perusal of their marketing copy, especially when they use the more obscure name of “viscose.” (Viscose is technically just one kind of rayon, but it’s by far the most common, so the terms are used more or less interchangeably.) You would think bamboo is luxe, exclusive, and so natural. Outside of the world of baby clothes, the Federal Trade Commission last year fined Kohl’s and Walmart $2.5 million and $3 million, respectively, over their “bogus marketing” of so-called bamboo sheets, towels, and rugs. It’s just rayon, the FTC contended, and they had to call it such.

So, if you’re looking, I have some used rayon baby clothes to sell you.

For more information, please visit Bamboo Baby Clothes Wholesale.