Chinese Bamboo Fibre Fraud

Do you believe bamboo fibre is ecologically friendly?

Its just viscose made from bamboo. Sometime nylon is added. It's highly flammable. Claims made about anti-microbial properties are wildly exaggerated and misrepresented.

Non-viscose bamboo fibre is available but is expensive and coarser than the semi-synthetic viscose. The bamboo you see advertised as baby wear and socks etc. is just viscose. There's no guarantee it's manufactured in a closed loop system. Excessive pollution seems highly likely in bamboo fibre production.

In the US bamboo fibre has to be described as Rayon. In the UK the government have allowed it to be falsely advertised as an eco-fabric. A lot of the UK consumers are the fake-eco obsessive-traveller dreadlocked types. They're suckers for advertising.

Most bamboo fibre is a semi-synthetic sold with lies.

If you bought it because you though you were doing something good for the planet you were fooled.

I haven't got time to search it out now but I did come across a well written piece by someone who set out to write something good about bamboo fibre. Did their research. Then reluctantly wrote they had to admit it was a massive fraud.

If you have bamboo clothing you might like to test a sample for flammability. The results are variable but can be frightening.

a reply to: Kester

I'll be honest here and admit that i have never once even heard of Bamboo clothing or fabric.

I know Bamboo is a very fast growing natural resource and is a valuable building material, but cloth? Great, why not...but i'd imagine Hemp cloth would be superior to Bamboo, both commercially and from an ecological pov.

a reply to: MysterX

These people are doing fantastic work re-vitalising the British linen industry. www.flaxland.co.uk... Hemp would be similar though we have legislative hurdles. I spoke to a paper maker who could get a license to grow hemp. He said every hippy in the area was trying to persuade him to get the license so they could hide their crops in the middle of his field. He could see it ending in trouble so he didn't apply for the license.

There are still environmental impact considerations with the production of these fibres.

Wool is what we do best here. The climate suits the sheep and wool clothing suits the climate.

a reply to: Kester

That's true, wool has been a major product for centuries here.

Mind you, there has been quite a few murmurings about Cannabis / Hemp and whether it ought to remain criminalised lately hasn't there..since the US has almost an entire half of their country now enjoying either decriminalised Cannabis use for medical purposes or for recreational use, i think it's only a matter of time before our Government decides to get on the Cannabis (and so Hemp) money train and bring an end to this ridiculously damaging and profit losing legislation about Cannabis.

a reply to: Kester
I dont dispute anything you say about bamboo.... but...

He said every hippy in the area was trying to persuade him to get the license so they could hide their crops in the middle of his field

Those naughty 'hippies'... or is that your blanket term for cannabis users?
I would imagine that the UK's climate is not really conducive to good outdoor cannabis growing..... so are these 'hippies' going to setup a hydroponic setup in the middle of a field? Do you really think that 'Hippies' would constitute a large percentage of cannabis producers? I think your paper maker is full of BS.

U do also realize who is #1 in wool production.... and the related climate.
wool

And what about the 'environmental impact considerations' of sheep then? So not only do you have to grow a food-stock for the sheep, (hemp maybe?), then let the sheep inefficiently turn that into fibre, whilst running their little hoofed feet over an already fragile ecosystem, whilst letting their wastes run into the water ecosystem, whilst farting their greenhouse gasses, whilst tying up energy in their dead rotting carcasses.
animalsmart.org...
A few extra wasteful steps to get fibre from sheep mate.

a reply to: Kester
yep ... i was suckered in .... but i do recall many ads saying bamboo viscose .... and yep ... thats what i got ... as expected ... feels very good all the same ....

as far as im aware, using bamboo fibre for manufacture of garments or the likes, is, to date, very limited by current methods ... cant remember exactly how .. somethin to do with teh way the fibre binds .. garments dont hold together so well ..

hemp would be great .. i got a couple of hemp shirts .. expensive ... but great sturdy feel to them ... and lost one out walking teh dog ... remembered sittin it down in a field, momentarily, all still neatly folded ... and forgot to lift it again ...
went out same route an hour later .. and it was gone .. someone took it .. i searched around the area to see if anyone had kicked it away .. nope ... they just decided, they found that shirt and it’s theirs now ... lol .. typical bellshill

the bamboo towels are different ... very very soft .. and not viscose or syntthetic feel to them at all ... feels as tho theyre constantly bein conditioned (i dont use chemical soaps or conditioners at all) ie, they are always that soft .. never hard or crispy like freshly dried cotton towels ...claim to be 100% bamboo pile ..

and .. ill be honest .. bein a single guy .. i may have left the odd cotton damp cotton towel lying a few hours longer than i should have a few times ...
its true what they say .. bamboo really does resist bacteria or fungus or whatever it is far better than cotton

will def take on board what ya said tho .... didnt realise it .. but it really dont surprise me .. in fact .. the older i get .. the less stuff surprises me

a reply to: Kester

"A lot of the UK consumers are the fake-eco obsessive-traveller dreadlocked types. They're suckers for advertising."

Erm.......and just where did you get this impression?
Internet?

A dreadlocked type

I've crocheted with bamboo yarn. It's the softest fabric you will every touch.

However the process to get it that soft appears to be chemically steps that would like you stated not be good for either the person wearing it or the environment.

originally posted by: Iamthatbish
I've crocheted with bamboo yarn. It's the softest fabric you will every touch.

However the process to get it that soft appears to be chemically steps that would like you stated not be good for either the person was f ing it or the environment.

Who do you know that's f ing their clothes?

Lol

!!! Wearing!!! I promise it was always ment to be wearing ! That got me a few giggles. Fixed it too, ty

originally posted by: EA006

originally posted by: Iamthatbish
I've crocheted with bamboo yarn. It's the softest fabric you will every touch.

However the process to get it that soft appears to be chemically steps that would like you stated not be good for either the person was f ing it or the environment.

Who do you know that's f ing their clothes?

Lol

a reply to: CovertAgenda

He obviously enjoyed telling the story. The twinkle in his eye may have suggested possible indulgence at some time. He must have been known by the local home growing community to have been prompted several times to apply for the license. I don't remember if that was the exact term he used but it was something along those lines in a jokey sort of way. His point was it would be absurd to apply for the license because inevitably locals would hide their own plants in the field. Also inevitably police would search the field and talk to him. Also it's likely kids would take hemp leaves and try to sell them. That's what happens in the UK when hemp is grown.

It grows outdoors here like this. www.theguardian.com... Mold can be a problem but discovery by other parties is the commonest cause of crop failure.

The problem with Australian wool production is the unsuitable climate and related issues. Skip to 1:11 to get the point

The Golden Hoof is the practice of grazing sheep out during the day, then bringing them back into a fold at night where they would feed on the fodder crops grown for them. Throughout the night they would manure the land which was used then to produce food crops for humans. Natural organic agriculture. Truly sustainable with zero dependence on fossil fuels.

Before WW1 the British countryside was run in ways that had been developed over thousands of years. Sheep loved their shepherds and would follow them and be handled easily. Following the breakdown of traditional culture caused by the war, new farming methods were introduced. Sheep now fear shepherds and are difficult to handle, with some exceptions, usually small scale.

Don't confuse the idiocy of some modern farming methods with the highly tuned, eco-friendly methods of the past and the present fringe.

Fibre from sheep is actually a heck of a lot easier than plant, semi-synthetic or synthetic fibres. The sheep grows the fibre in a spinnable form. The others all need more processes.

a reply to: AlphaPred

Personal experience through the garment trade. I mean the well-off slightly troubled looking types who see nothing wrong with frequent flying while claiming eco-awareness. You know the sort. Fakes.

a reply to: Kester

It isn't the fibre - it is the 'processing' method used to convert the raw material into fibers that can be spun.

There are new 'closed cycle' methods of (I can't recall the term) breaking up bamboo (and hemp and flax) plants into the fibres necessary to spin thread for weaving.

These fibre sources are very important for the future due to ease of growth with no chemical inputs and easy renewability. We need to expand the more ecologically sound 'closed system' processing.

Buy organic fibres - by definition they are not only grown under organic restrictions but processed cleanly as well.
They are expensive now but, like organic foods, will drop in price as more people demand them.

Cotton is the most toxic material on the planet - GMO and requiring huges amounts of pest and herb - icides - processed with horrific chemicals and wasteful of water.

It isn't the fibre - it's the processing. Bamboo WILL be a huge boon in many fields (as will hemp) when the processing of such is cleaner.

I'll add more when I find an excellent article on the subject....

a reply to: Iamthatbish

It's more than silky soft. In pre-spun fibre form it's frighteningly flammable. When handling a lot of bamboo yarn I found it had an unfriendly feel, as if it would cut my fingers.

There are closed loop systems that minimise environmental impact, but the scale and lack of oversight in China suggest the technology may be geared to profit rather than sustainability.

There is a bamboo charcoal fibre. www.bamboo-china.com... I think it might be made out of charcoal from the bamboo furnaces that burn waste to power the production system mixed with recycled plastic bottles. It's sold as a wonder eco-fibre. I DO NOT recommend making socks out of it. I did. Once. I decided to test the alleged anti-microbial properties. It nearly ended in divorce.

a reply to: FyreByrd

"The fiber is produced via an advanced 'closed loop' solvent spinning process, with minimal impact on the environment and economical use of energy and water. Lyocell uses an amine oxide as a non-toxic solvent which is continually recycled during the production process. Production plant emissions into the air from smokestacks and from wastewater are significantly lower in comparison to many other man-made fiber operations." organicclothing.blogs.com...

While closed loop is stated here there appear to be no guarantees at present with Chinese bamboo fibre production.

The bamboo leaves and softer stems are dissolved then sprayed out into acid to form the fibres. That's what makes it a semi-synthetic. Hemp, flax. etc. are rotted to extract the fibres. Hence it is a natural fibre that existed in the plant as opposed to a newly formed fibre made from dissolved plant material.

a reply to: FyreByrd

The other major ecological factor is locality of production. Bamboo lends itself to high volume production and the associated transport system. Wool, hemp, flax etc. can all be produced so locally that motorised transport is barely needed if at all.

My main objection to the bamboo craze is the deliberately created confusion as to what the fibre is. It is not a fibre from inside the bamboo. It's a newly formed fibre made from dissolved bamboo sprayed into acid. A semi-synthetic.

Aha! Got it!

"10th European Academy of Design Conference - Crafting the Future 1 |Page

Bamboo: A holistic approach to a renewable fibre for textile design
Dagmar Steffen, Andrea Weber Marin, Isabel Rosa Müggler Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, School of Art & Design, Lucerne, Switzerland [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Abstract
The paper presents various findings of an applied research project, jointly undertaken by Swisstextile companies and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in order to research andevaluate the potential of bamboo fibres for substitution and enrichment of fibre resources for theapparel production in Europe. The research focuses on natural bamboo yarn and not bamboo viscose yarn, which is already in commercial use, but is in terms of sustainability questionable."
www.academia.edu...

....the production of bamboo viscose has the same highenvironmental impact (due to the polluting effects of carbon disulfide and other by-products of the process) as conventional viscose from wood pulp....

www.academia.edu...

This is what I'm getting at. It's just viscose produced in a massively centralised way, maximising profits and transport requirements. They aren't doing this for your sake, or the planet. Yet to see the advertising you'd think it was a wonder eco-fabric.

I would love to use naturally colored cotton.
en.m.wikipedia.org...
www.google.com... 224vKyAIViW8-Ch3Lywmd

I choose not to wear or work with animal fibers. So that limits me. I read here on ats about the stupid places we choose to grow cotton.

Hemp yarn isn't soft or pretty yet so I've been stuck with acrylic. Banana fiber is said to be very soft and eco friendly but no place sells it.

But then that would leave the field wide open for ethical alternative groups to really produce the bamboo fibre, for spinning/weaving/textiles.

I have a little thread no one came on about cottage industries and in that example the faux fur from China, also not ethical.

But politicians thought it was up to them whether we could restart our cottage industries.

I just suggest we do it, angora, faux fur, bamboo, etc. We do our own growing, marketing, and pledge to buy from our own ethical companies, and create local jobs.

I started researching it all because I wanted to order some lovely soft faux fur as there were so many beautiful things being made, including soft vests, but the ethics of buying it became apparent.

I had also thought of feathers and our down pillows.

And how, couldn't we make synthetic ones, ie out of soya, bamboo, or angora, and have ethical and yet really soft duvets and pillows, because I can't use the alternaties. The fake fillings even expensive ones that arent down give me migraines, and to me this means an opportunity for someone.

Someone could market it as a home business.

Anyway, research into this shows China and our governments selling out cottage industries, and people not stepping up to the plate locally.

Another ethical opportunity, why not use commercial hemp to create faux leather for drums, thongs, laces, medieval clothing, jewelry.

I'm sure it could be almost as leather like as the real.

I've health problems, lots of ideas but not the ability to lift them off.