asking for a friend: turns out your fancy bamboo pillowcases are really a sham

dear asking for a friend,  

i love my bamboo pjs, but i’ve read that bamboo as a breathable, sustainable product for clothing, bedding and towels is a sham — that it’s really just like rayon. is this true?  

signed, looking out for the environment  

  dear looking out for the environment,  

who doesn’t love the soft, draping comfort of a luxurious fabric like bamboo, especially for pyjamas and sheets?   but the widespread claims about bamboo as an eco-crop for environmentally-friendly fabric are, sadly, more hype than fact.  

oh, the chemicals

while bamboo is a fast-growing grass that regenerates from its own roots and needs little water, the process to transform the bamboo fibre into those appealing fabrics requires chemicals that may be harmful to the environment. the end product is actually a common fabric called rayon or viscose, which may have little to no trace of the bamboo plant or its reputed breathable and antibacterial properties.    

canada’s competition bureau is working to educate consumers and manufacturers on the realities of so-called “green” bamboo products , and has ruled that advertisements and labels for fabrics and textiles must include terms like rayon, viscose or “rayon from bamboo” or “viscose from bamboo.”  

however, it’s still a buyer-beware situation because those requirements are not always followed.  

bob kirke, executive director of the ottawa-based   canadian apparel federation , says that while bamboo fabrics may be “slightly better” than conventional rayon or viscose in terms of its environmental impact, it’s difficult to know for sure. that goes for both clothing manufacturers and consumers who are looking to make a better choice for the environment.  

“every person in the industry doesn’t understand every aspect of the path from raw materials in the supply chain to finished product. it’s a very complicated sector,” he says.  “the reality is, you can look at two fabrics that companies might have purchased and unless you know the details, you wouldn’t know their environmental footprints.”  

cotton, for example, makes up 50 per cent of the market share of clothing production. cotton growing in one place may be very sustainable whereas cotton grown in another could require more interventions like pesticides.    

“there’s a traceability issue in the industry that i think people are pushing to change, but it’s a mammoth project,” kirke explains. “people don’t realize that the textile industry is the biggest industry in the world — entire countries depend on the revenue from apparel.”  

are there other more sustainable fabrics on the market?  

kirke points to global industry giants like lenzing in austria, the makers of innovative, long-lasting fabrics like tencel , the company’s flagship brand designed to promote sustainability and a carbon-free future.   

the three types of tencel fibres that consumers may be seeing a lot of now are lyocell, modal and lyocell filament — all made from sustainably grown wood with a proprietary process that recovers and reuses solvents to minimize environmental impact. tencel modal is even biodegradable and compostable.  

“lenzing operates in a very responsible way just on all levels,” kirke says, adding that companies like lululemon have been leaders in manufacturing athletic and leisure clothing with more durable, specialty fabrics like tencel.  

so, what’s next for an apparel industry fuelled by fast fashion and inexpensive brands, as well as premium-priced labels that offer more planet-friendly wearables?  

as kirke sees it, “i think there’s going to be a reckoning around companies telling their customers what exactly they mean by sustainability. there may be some consumers who don’t care at all. but for the ones who do care, i think this will set a higher bar for the industry.”