Bamboo clothing is not a new industry but an industry which is evolving and emerging as a new light in this new era of eco-friendly products. Bamboo textile had a rich history which starts from 1864 when Philip Lichtenstadt own the patents of developing material using bamboo. He believes that it is possible to create new and useful things with bamboo by using effective disintegration for obtaining bamboo fibre. Though there were several attempts to develop bamboo clothing from the fiber but there was no notable success. Later in 1881 a new patent emerged which involved mixing of bamboo fibre with wool which finally resulted in the formation of usable clothing. Though the mass production of this clothing is not possible because the process of production is expensive. But later in the early 2000s the University of Beijing finally was able to develop a more efficient process for developing usable clothing using bamboo textile. Though the popularity of bamboo textile is due recent fondness of most people for eco-friendly products.
In recent years the world around us has grown it’s concern towards the environment due multiple environments. This recent enthusiasm finds its way into the fashion industry which results in a large portion of donation of profit for environmental causes. The designers find a new way of introducing more sustainable methods of clothing which involve less synthetic fabrics. And thus bamboo textile plays an important role in this recent war between natural sustainable fibre against synthetic fibre.
Reasons for using Bamboo in Clothingand Textile Industry
Bamboo is known for its versatility and it’s flexibility for creating a variety of products. It has been used in Asia widely for producing a wide range of products for different types of activities like cooking, transportation, textile etc. Though it has become recently famous in Western world due it wide range of utilisation. There are many other reason why it is used as textile development –
- Sustainable Nature-
It is one of the fastest growing plants in the world . There are more than 1500 species of bamboo in the present world , among which 50 spices are widely used for commercial purposes. It is easy to harvest bamboo because it replenishes within a year of its harvest. It is also economical to harvest bamboo as it doesn’t not required fertilizer or pesticides to grow. And it can grow in any type of soil.
- Eco-friendly –
Bamboo requires no fertilizer and very little water for growth thus it helps to reduce pollution as well as save water. It can absorb more carbon dioxide than many other plants ,thus it helps to reduce global warming.
- Use To Develop Biodegradable Products –
Bamboo products are fully biodegradable because it doesn’t involve any synthetic fabrics. Bamboo textiles are made by disintegration of bamboo plants for obtaining bamboo fibre. Nowadays Bamboo fabric is also used for developing bags which replace plastic bags to reduce pollution.
Ways to produce Bamboo fabric
the Bamboo Clothing,it mainly requires the ways to create and gather the raw materials which are needed for the making of textile products. It requires various chemicals and the fabric can be made in an eco friendly way. There are several processes by which we can prepare the fabric for the clothing. The following methods are stated as follows-
- At first, the combination of all the bamboo fibres takes place and them all those fibres are needed to be spinned together to form a thread like structure. As a result,a coarse fabric is formed which is mainly termed as a “Bamboo Linen”. The formation of bamboo linen takes a lot of effort by the labours and it is one of the most expensive ways to prepare the Linen. Hence,it can hardly be used for the soft,intimate products.
- Secondly, there is another popular way by which we can easily get the soft material from bamboo and can be implemented in the sheets, innerwear and many more. In this case, bamboo rayon is being prepared as a form of raw material through various kinds of intensive chemical processes. This process is much similar to turning of wooden chips into rayon. Since this process is made chemically,the ultimate product of this process is near to synthetic materials. Bamboo Rayon is mainly prepared by dissolving cellulose material like bamboo into a chemical solution to make a pulpy viscous fluid. Then,this fluid is being prepared into various machines and then spun into fibres. These fibres that are created can be reformed into threads and fabrics. Then ,ultimately the soft fabric products are being produced through bamboo rayon.
However, the preparation process is hazardous to the environment. Since the preparation intakes highly toxic chemicals,they pose a huge threat to the human lives. It has been seen that 50% of the waste cannot be reused or recycled. Hence ,many preventive measures are being taken by the manufacturing companies to treat these highly toxic chemical wastes.
Types of Bamboo fabrics
There are mainly three types of bamboo fabrics which are mainly used as raw materials for the preparation of various kinds of products. Hence the types are stated as follows-
- Bamboo viscose– This type of fabric is most commonly used for making fabrics. This mainly serves to be more efficient in the fabric industry as it makes bamboo a sustainable product instead of wood in the manufacturing process. However, there are less benefits of this type of fibres in the viscose form and so,it is less economic than other forms.
- Lyocell-type bamboo fabric- This type of material is similar to the viscose,however it is being prepared through the close loop production method. The chemicals that are being restored for making this kind of fibres are not being altered in the manufacturing process. Hence,the cellulose of this type of fabric retains its original strength dur tui which it gives more beneficial values than the viscose type material.
- Mechanically-produced fine bamboo fibres- This is considered to be the most fine and true bamboo fibres that are being used in the manufacturing industries. This type of fibres are very expensive and consumes lot of time in preparation of the material. However,it provides best benefits to the industries than any type of fabrics that are being obtained from bamboo since it is being prepared mechanically. This type of bamboo fabric is strong, durable, sustainable and soft which states that any type of material can be made from this finest quality material.
Advantages of bamboo as a material
There are several ways by which we can use bamboo as a sustainable material due to following reasons. The advantages are as follows-
- Bamboo is generally very durable.
- Outer part of the stem is very strong and tough.
- They are flexible and elastic as a result of which the items that are being made are quite strong and resilient.
- Since bamboo does not have any rope like structure, so the force applied to the bamboo is equally distributed all over the surface.
Disadvantages of bamboo as material
Although bamboo has many advantages which makes it suitable for using it as an eco friendly material but it also has few disadvantages which has to be considered while using it in the production.
- It is prone to fungi and various types of bacteria. There are many insects due to which the term period of the bamboo gets reduced and shortened. So,all the preventive measures needs to be taken before using it as material.
- Bamboo has a numeral joint techniques but they have a very poor efficiency in the construction purpose. It lack many structural deficiencies due to which the dry bamboo sticks are mainly used for the construction process.
Industries promoting bamboo textile
There are lot of companies who have taken initiatives in promoting bamboo textiles. The companies are named as follows-
- INBAR
- Fibre2Fashion
- Fabric India
- TENBRO
- Sewport
And there are many small companies who are coming up with the ideas of this type of clothing.
Conclusion
Hence, Bamboo Clothing marks a new era in the upcoming textile industries. There are many initiatives that are being taken to bring up eco friendly material and implement them for the better lifestyle. Bamboo is one of the most sustainable product that has already been used for making things like paper,furniture, dishes and many other useful items. Bamboo clothing is the futuristic revolution in the textile industry by bringing durable and comfortable clothing products for the upcoming generations. It will make a new milestone and put a step forward to our new generation world.
References
1. www.inbar.com
2. fibre2fashion.com
3. Treehugger.com
4. Organicclothing.blogs.com
5. wikipedia.com