Bamboo and you: is this supposedly sustainable material all it’s claimed to be?

You care. You really care. That doesn’t mean you have the time to be an investigative carer. Green this, green that, and pretty soon, caring becomes a full time profession. Because green is also the color of money, and plenty of people are trying to cash in on your consciousness.

Take bamboo. Bamboo pajamas, bamboo underwear, bamboo towels, bamboo sheets, bamboo floors – we’re bamboozled. But ask any carer why it’s truly sustainable, and suddenly it’s hem and haw city. It’s, like, renewable or something? Right?

Right – sort of. We’re here to help you sort the grass from the greenwash.

Bamboozled on the Floor

Bamboo is amazing. First, it’s a fast-growing, carbon dioxide-eating grass that doesn’t need extra water, nor does it need fertilizer or pesticides to be commercially grown. Some species grow up to three feet in a day and can be harvested in just four years. Bamboo even self regenerates. As a feedstock for “wood” flooring, it’s hard to argue against this wonder grass; oak for comparison, can take a century or more to mature. The downsides of the product aren’t many; it’s mainly the source by which bamboo flooring is procured that can be murky. The domestic market for sourcing raw bamboo is fledgling at best. Most bamboo comes from China and it’s often difficult to determine where it’s coming from, really. With global demand for bamboo increasing, there are plenty of examples of important habitat being bulldozed for agriculture. That’s bad, obviously. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) does certify some bamboo flooring products which means it meets a strict criteria for sustainable harvesting and worker’s rights.

Bottom line: For wood substitute materials such as bamboo flooring, FSC is the way to go.

Bamboozled on Your Body

Now it gets tricky. Once we start talking textiles, bamboo’s green quotient starts to feel like third grade long division. Bamboo as a plant, even if sustainably harvested, might not be sustainably manufactured. There are two kinds of processes for making bamboo into fabric: mechanical and chemical. The mechanical option involves smashing the woody parts of the plant which secretes natural enzymes that break the plant down into mush. The mush can then be combed out and spun into yarn.  This is essentially the same process by which hemp is made into linen. Bamboo linen is rare, because the mechanical process is cost prohibitive and labor intensive.

Chemically-processed bamboo fiber is similar to rayon or modal, which makes it soft as a baby’s butt – it’s the new silk. This is the stuff you want on your skin. But here’s the problem: To achieve aforementioned baby-butt softness, bamboo leaves and shoots are ‘cooked’ in chemical solvents such as sodium hydroxide (lye) and carbon disulfide. The process is known as hydrolysis alkalization and multi-phase bleaching. Fact: Sodium hydroxide in its crystalline form is the active ingredient in Liquid Plumr. Acute exposure can case eye and skin irritation and breathing fumes can cause vomiting. That carbon disulfide in the bamboo bath is known to cause neural disorders. Where this becomes a big issue is if bamboo is being processed for fabric in places where worker safety conditions aren’t scrutinized (a particular issue right now in China).

Now, there are some good ways to process bamboo that are far more eco-friendly and involve less environmentally detrimental chemicals to break down the plant into stock for yarn. A company in Seattle, Washington called 5 Bamboo makes a proprietary product called Nomo, all produced in a closed loop system. Lyocell is the result, which is leaps and bounds better than hydrolysis alkalization and multi-phase bleaching.

Bottom line: look for bamboo products that are Lyocell or indicate mechanical, not chemical, processing.

Do We Want to Be Bamboozled, Do We Not Want to Be Bamboozled?

The skinny is this: If a bamboo product is produced in the USA, it’s probably being made from the more environmentally friendly process. If the bamboo is made abroad, it’s possibly bad news. There are some certifications that exist to help consumers make conscious choices but these too have issues. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a global NGO that defines industrial and commercial standards, which works as a tool for companies to implement environmentally friendly practices. The ISO, however,  does not certify the manufacturing processes. In so many cases, the producer isn’t the manufacturer of the textile and though the product make be safe for the environment, the process by which it was made is not. Chain of custody gets weird in developing world supply chains.

Bottom line: You don’t need to make a career of it (I promise), but it’s up to you, the consumer, to do your homework. Bamboo may be the new silk, Pergo, cutting board and kitchen utensil, but you have to talk to the company that makes the product first. As always, it’s Caveat Emptor out there. Or maybe better: Viridus Caveat Emptor: green buyer beware.

Image: The Busy Brain, Lav & Kush, Joi

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I’ve loved what NatureVsfuture® designer Nina Valenti has been doing for awhile now, but how to accurately explain her collection isn’t easy to do since it’s so different than a lot of other lines.

That’s why when I went to the NatureVsfuture® site and saw her describing it as an “Artistic expression of organic futurism via clothing,” I was happy she could do it for me.

The label’s name was inspired by the designer’s belief that there is a “constant struggle between nature and future, a pressure between organic forces and technological ones. The more we advance the more we need to consider nature before we deplete it. In this tension to find balance is the living energy of the collection and hence the name.” says Valenti.

Her visions of balance lie somewhere in blending sculptural design with natural and sustainable fabrics like organic cotton, organic wool, hemp, soy, bamboo, seacell® (seaweed), lyocell (wood pulp), Ingeoâ„¢ (created from corn), along with recycled and technological fabrics such as Polartec® (made from soda pop bottles or industry waste).

And by her incredible talent in persuading us that futuristic is also very wearable, our futuristic visions of earth fashion are saved (we won’t be wearing recycled tin foil suits and cotton booties while walking through our galactic space vessels).

Thanks for clarifying Nina, and for the record, I’ll wear your angled dresses and asymetrical shirts anytime.

Want to try your hand at participating in a futuristic, eco-fashion utopia sometime soon?

Then meet Nina and a full line-up of sustainable designers at EcoSalon Shops! in NYC on June 4th!

Designers tend to have a variety of visions when it comes to their lines, but the most important part should be to simply design well thought-out lines. Nixxi does just that and juggles fit, high quality sustainable fabrics and production methods like a seasoned pro.

According to the Fashion Takes Action’s website – where Nixxi was recently a nominee for a Canadian Design Forward award – “Nixxi recently presented their designs as an “˜Eco & Ethical Ready-To-Wear Label’ at the EcoChic Fashion Show and Exhibition in Geneva in January. By presenting at EcoChic Geneva, Nixxi has partnered with Green2Greener, and aligned their designs with the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity.”

We love how they employ not just organic cotton and bamboo as so many designers do, but also knits and wovens made from hemp, bamboo, soy, lyocell, organic wool, silk, and linen.

On their production facilities Nixxi says: “We choose to work with a local production house that employs fair wages and a comfortable working environment for their employees, thus sustaining a positive working relationship which also results in a more quality finished, longer-lasting garment.”

We were more than thrilled when Nixxi offered the Empire Dress to us for this week’s giveaway. Though the image above shows the dress in white, you’ll also have the choice of a beautiful Italian linen in either a faded blue or a misty gray if you win.

Drooling yet? I sure am. Leave a comment below to try your hand at snatching up this pretty frock.

(For complete giveaway guidelines click here. All offers are FTC compliant.)

Good Luck!

Ursula Dean, founder and designer of women’s apparel line, Moda Spia, entered the eco-fashion neighborhood 10 years ago when she started utilizing factory over-runs from Italy.

Since then, the San Francisco designer has stayed true to using interesting, rescued fabrics but has added more organic fabrics for good measure, aiming to create clothing that becomes a keepsake, something coveted and special to its owner that stands the test of time.

Her concentration on seasonal collections that have her signature look of fresh, playful and always inherently feminine lines are what both buyers and shoppers now follow her for. Here’s what she had to say about her part in the eco-fashion movement.

What got you into designing with sustainable fabrics?

Honestly, I didn’t realize the inherent “good” to the environment of these left over fabrics until the whole green movement brought it to light. I love textiles and am really glad the surplus goods are in some way helpful in containing the negative impact of textile production on the environment. I started using organic fabrics like cotton/hemp blends, bamboo and more recently organic wool/lyocell blends. They have a very soft hand and beautiful weight and smell good, too!

Is there a different mindset that comes with creating sustainable or “green” garments?

My focus is primarily on the design itself. Through some research I’ve found several green textile companies to work with (like Pick Natural in San Francisco). Their products are exciting to work with and they bring in fresh fabrics on a regular basis. This makes my job as a designer trying to work primarily with green fabrics easy.

Do you feel part of a new eco-designing community?

Most of the designers I know personally have already made the push to offer garments that are at least in part green, so yes.

What was a stand-out piece you created over the past 10 years?

The Biba Jacket from my first collection 6 years ago. It was a silk velvet jacket with a ribbon belt and hand-made flower, really loose and bohemian. My partner at the time hand-dyed the velvet and silk-screened the lining. It was incredibly labor-intensive but the result was stunning. Calypso in NY carried it for 2 seasons. Heidi Klum showed up in it in InStyle and that really spiked sales. It was an auspicious start to our business.

How do you see the future of green clothing design evolving?

I don’t know the answer, nobody does. To me it seems like so many things are coming into play and will continue to. China is making Walmart and Target’s clothes. A LOT of people are shopping at these places right now because they need something and they don’t have any money, nobody has any money right now.  The U.S. relationship with China is changing isn’t it? China is heavily invested in the U.S. I’m not sure if these things will affect production but they may. To me it seems volatile but they’re looking for a partner in production and we’ve got the work for them. That’s the manufacturing end of it, anyway.

Do you think at some point all clothes will just be manufactured sustainably?

As far as sustainable fabrics are concerned I think they will only become more a part of our shopping culture. It seems to have become a very visible thing to most people. If you go to the tiniest town, chances are someone will have at least heard of an organic cotton t-shirt – though not necessarily know what that means!

]]> http://ecosalon.com/moda-spia-interview-with-san-fran-designer-ursula-dean/feed/ 7 http://ecosalon.com/jessie-may-eco-fashion/ http://ecosalon.com/jessie-may-eco-fashion/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:00:09 +0000 Carlie Partridge http://ecosalon.com/fashion/Canadian_Chic_No_Longer_a_Paradox

Canadian designer Jessie May‘s self-named line of casual knitwear has been making its way into U.S. boutiques over the past few years and the pieces have become a sleeper-hit among eco-minded notables.

The newest lines feature an increasingly organic selection of bamboo, creamy cotton “cashmere” and modal jersey knitwear. The line is divided into three distinctive categories: “organic tribal glam”, “coastal prairie nostalgia” and “sunny vintage tropics”.

Jessie May had me at ‘”organic” and enticed me with her philosophy of using a “therapeutic color pallet”. An earthy rainbow of hues ranges from vanilla to poppy, buttercup and chamomile. Easy on the eyes would be an understatement – these pieces are mesmerizing.

The integration of lyocell into many of the fabric blends offers a sexy, silken touch. Lyocell is a sustainably produced wood fiber sometimes called a “cotton alternative”. The soft feel of lyocell graces much of Jessie May’s playfully elegant inventory.

Jessie May’s designs are like sexy lullabies – delicate, flowing and surprising.