Bamboo Clothes : Greatest Achievement   of Textile Industry

 Clothes are the essential part of Human Life. We wear clothes to cover our body , to protect our body from UV rays, heat, cold and other climate changes. In starting time of Human Evolution clothes are just used to cover the body and fashion technology was so limited, so people did not give so much attention to clothes but as the technology evolved a person's fashion sense also evolved and so does the textile industry.In medieval time clothes are the indicator of the class a person belong to, like royal families had different clothing fashion and common people had different fashion. Also clothes were indicator of one's occupation. Now-a-days clothes are the important part of our fashion, we have different clothes for different occasions like Wedding, exercise, office, college, hospitals etc. apart from the physical need of clothes there are some social and cultural beliefs attached to the clothes. Different civilization have different fashion of clothing and different beliefs. Although Bamboo clothes were not the part of early times but Bamboo trees have significant place in many country's historical legends.   

           Ancient Royal Family Dress                                             Modern Royal Family Dress

But do you know that these clothes are affecting our environment directly. We know that clothes are made by fabrics and fabrics are from plants or chemicals. As far as the natural fibers are concerned they don't affect the environment badly but chemical fibers affect our environment badly and they also have harmful effects on our body. If we look at the textile industry it does not give that much attention to the social and environmental concerns of society. Today two type of fabrics are mostly used :

1. Cotton
2. Polyester

They both causes serious damage to environment in their life cycles, also they are not renewable.

Do we have other choices?

The answer is Yes. We have a potential choice for our textile industry and it is Bamboo Clothes.

Bamboo

 Bamboo is a type of  grass just like wheat, rice, sugar-cane etc. , which can even survive in very dry and harsh environment.

                                                                       Bamboo Trees

There are nearly 1200 different species of bamboo worldwide. It is the one of the plant which is known for its oxygen emitting property. Bamboo can grow at most 40 meters tall and surprisingly it can grow at most 1 meter per day. Bamboo has different uses in different countries like China, India, Vietnam, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Columbia etc. Bamboo is mainly used in food ( Pandas love to eat bamboo), firework, building material, transportation, textile industry, bio-mass and  paper industry. Bamboo trees have special place in some regional legends like in China's four brother tale and Japan's Moon princess story.

                                                              Panda Eating Bamboo

In Malaysia a legend is very famous related to the first man and first woman , according to this tale both (first man and woman) were emerged from the half split of Bamboo, in Vietnam the Bamboo cane was the legendary weapon of hero Thánh Gióng. 

Why Bamboo Fabrics ?

Bamboo fabrics are the best choice for clothes because of the following points :

1. Bamboo fabrics are made from bio-renewable resources. It is mainly manufactured by organic resources. It basically made up by two methods  <1> Chemical Method <2> Mechanical Method.
2. Bamboo plants are self-harvesting plants. It just need to harvest once and then it will grow automatically without any water or other resource.
3. The growing speed of Bamboo trees is very fast, they could grow up-to 40 meters in few months.  
4. They are bio-degradable in nature, it means that they could be destroyed completely without affecting environment. Unlike plastic and polyester fibers which causes damage to environment, it is good for nature because it emits oxygen.  
5. They are of Organic nature, means they comes from natural sources(Bamboo Trees).
6. Their space consumption and water consumption is less. They could be stored in very less space.
7. It is very soft feeling like Cashmere. It is softer than cotton, therefore it is used in baby clothes, bed-sheets, towels, and gowns etc.   
8. Bamboo have a anti-bacteria agent known as KUN, which make bamboo clothes anti-bacterial and anti-fungi in nature. Therefore it is used in manufacturing of socks , workout dresses and yoga dresses etc.
9. Bamboo clothes are of knitted type, it means that fabrics are knitted to make cloth. Therefore these clothes have micro-holes or micro-space which make its air permeability better than other fabrics. It means that air can pass easily in and out of these clothes , therefore it is used in manufacturing of summer clothes. 
10. Bamboo Trees is known for its oxygen emitting property. Yes Bamboo fabrics also emits oxygen which is good for environment. That's why Bamboo fabrics are known as breathing fabrics.
11. Because of its soft feeling Bamboo fabrics are widely used in manufacturing of children's footwear.
12. The thermal resistance of Bamboo fabrics are also low, which means that their thermal conductivity is very high and they can transfer heat very fast from body to environment.
13. It is known that the stretching and bending capacity of Bamboo fabrics are higher than any other fabric, therefore bamboo fabrics are widely used in making of Tight T-shirts, workout dresses, yoga dresses etc.
14. The water sorption and desorption capacity of bamboo fabrics is very high , they can absorb sweat from body and vaporized it in environment very fast, therefore bamboo fabrics are widely used in making of socks, summer clothes, baby footwear etc.
15. The Bamboo don't need a plenty amount of water, it can survive in very harsh situations without water. Therefore Bamboo fabrics don't need that much water for drying as other fabrics and also they don't need washing as often as other fabrics.
16. The bamboo fabrics can easily dyed because of their good water absorption property. Bamboo fabrics don't require any chemicals like chlorine for dying. Which makes it more sustainable than any other fabric.

Examples of Bamboo Clothes 

Although Bamboo fibers are used in many types of clothes but here are some of them :

1. Intimate Apparel

In this section we have the clothes which are mainly used as undergarments and directly touched on the skin. We know that Bamboo Clothes have soft feeling, anti- bacterial, anti-fungi, and good conductivity of heat and water absorption, therefore it is used in manufacturing of these clothes. Following are the examples of intimate apparel clothes :

• Socks
• Undergarments
• T-Shirts
• Bathing Suits
• Bathing Suit Cover ups
• Bath Robes 
• Sleepwear etc. 

 

 2. Non-Woven Fabrics

In this section we have following clothes :

• Sanitary Napkins
• Face Masks
• Food-Grade Packaging
• Mattresses etc.

As we know that Bamboo fabrics are good anti-bacterial and anti-fungi, that's why it is used in making of above listed clothes. 

 

3. Medical Supplies and Sanitary Materials

Because of the anti-bacterial and anti-fungi nature bamboo fabrics are also used in manufacturing of medical supplies. Here are some of them :

• Bandages
• Sanitary Towels
• Gauze
• Surgical wears (Scrubs)
• Doctor's Coats
• Surgical Masks etc.

4. Bedroom and Bathroom Usage

Bamboo fabrics are also used in bedroom and bathroom essential clothes because of it's softness and anti-bacterial nature. Following are the example of those clothes :

• Sheets
• Pillows
• Table Clothes 
• Mattresses
• Television Covers
• Hand Towels
• Baby Towels
• Body Towels
• Tub Mats
• Shower Curtains etc.