B: Bamboo

As bamboo clothing becomes ever more popular, an increasing number of critics openly question its green nature, it seems. Bamboo being a plant that grows quickly without the need for irrigation, pesticides and fertilizers, its fibers have increasingly been promoted as environmentally friendly. Add to that the positive features that we tend to ascribe to a fabric made from plants plus bamboo clothing’s silky feel, and bamboo’s popularity among a green consumer audience becomes understandable. Companies like Green Daddy, Under the sun and Royal Bamboo benefit from this trend.

Perhaps in response to this, critics of bamboo – and they’re not always eco cynics – have become more vocal in citing the downsides. Bamboo fibers are made by dissolving cellulose into chemicals and creating what’s called a viscose solution. And viscose, as everyone will know, is a man-made fiber that does not score well on sustainability. In Made-By’s environmental benchmark, viscose fibers (including bamboo viscose) are classified as E, which means they are the least sustainable option available to clothing producers. What’s more, bamboo is not biodegradable and as the fashion industry often uses bamboo-cotton blends, bamboo clothing is difficult to recycle.

So should we steer clear from bamboo clothing and accuse companies promoting its sustainability of greenwashing? It’s not that simple. There are ways to mechanically produce bamboo fibers for clothing production and these do not use chemical treatments (although the subsequent dyeing processes tend to be far from clean). Because these production methods are relatively expensive, they are less common than viscose, but of course when the market for bamboo fabrics grows these costs may decrease.

In addition, experts agree on one thing when it comes to sustainable fabrics: our planet will benefit from a fashion industry that embraces a diversity of fibers. And that would mean that bamboo could have a considerable role to play in clothing production. That role may be more modest that its current proponents may wish. But then it’s up to us consumers to make greener choices, choosing not only appealing materials like bamboo, but also its sustainable counterparts like hemp and nettle. And let’s face it, don’t these good old fibers deserve a chance in our closets too?