There have been a lot of advancements in regards to fabrics made from bamboo the past decade or two. These advancements have led to many more products being produced from bamboo fabrics and even better quality for existing products.
Bamboo fabrics have become so incredibly available that items such as socks, underwear and even towels are being made using them. But there is a huge difference in the process of making the fabric. This difference greatly affects the price and quality of whatever bamboo product you are looking for.
The mechanical method will produce a more expensive and natural bamboo fabric while the closed-loop method will provide a more affordable and softer fabric. To help you choose which type of fabric you should look for, here are the details of each method below.
Closed Loop Fabric Production
One of the first advancements we will discuss today is the method chemicals are filtered and re-used. When making bamboo fabrics, companies use harsh chemicals to break down the wood into manageable pulp, then finally into the soft fabric.
When this process first started, companies would dump these chemicals into the earth. However, as more companies adopted this disposal method, governments and countries began to place restrictions and laws to govern the process.
The most common method to make bamboo fabrics now utilizes a closed-loop process. This keeps the chemicals and recycles them over and over, many times instead of dumping it into the environment making more eco-friendly than before.
Mechanical Process of Making Fabrics
The next advancement we will discuss today is actually the more traditional method used by our ancestors in the past. This method is the Manual or Mechanical method to convert wood into fabrics. This is referred to as a manual method because it utilizes a mechanical process that crushes the bamboo wood into pulp instead of using chemicals. This is the most environmentally friendly way besides using chemicals.
The crushed up wood is soaked in natural enzymes instead of harsh chemicals until it dissolves into a more manageable pulp or gel. It is then turned into threads and eventually bamboo linen.
Since this method is very time consuming and requires a lot of manual labor, products like these are much more expensive and luxurious. For those of you that are looking for bamboo products, we can advise you to check Bamboo-Comfort website for reviews and buying guides.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, there are currently two methods to make bamboo fabrics. Companies either use chemicals to break down the bamboo or they use a mechanical method.
Both methods produce very soft fabrics that are cooler than cotton. And they both can be used to make many different types of products.
It all comes down to how much you are willing to shell out to avoid chemically processed materials versus being more eco-friendly and going for the more natural mechanical method.
