If you've spent any time shopping for new clothes in the past few months you've no doubt seen bamboo clothing almost everywhere. But if you've done any research on the growing of bamboo and manufacturing process for bamboo clothing, you've also seen a lot of conflicting reports on the eco-friendliness of bamboo clothing. As with any business these days, you'll see companies touting their "natural" products as safe or eco-friendly, when in fact they may be worse than traditional products. The same goes for bamboo clothing manufacturers.

At this time, there is currently no organic certification for bamboo clothing. Now bamboo is easy to grow naturally, it grows like a weed and does not need any pesticides or insecticides to survive. The reason there are is currently no organic certification for bamboo clothing is partly due to how new bamboo clothing is, and how slow out bureaucratic USDA certification process is. Also, when it comes to breaking down bamboo and turning into the soft fiber we see in clothing stores, there are some questionable processes.

There are two ways to process bamboo, mechanically or chemically. The mechanical process involves crushing the woody parts of the bamboo plant and using natural enzymes to break down the bamboo walls into a mushy mass so the natural fibers can be combed out and spun into yarn. If the manufacturer uses this process the clothing can be truly organic, and eco-friendly, however its also a lot more expensive. With no organic certification available, many manufacturers don't feel the need to implement this system yet.

The chemical process, most highly discussed in the media, uses sodium hydroxide (lye) to soften the bamboo fibers into spinable yarn (many high end cosmetics and soaps use the same process). The negative impact of using this method involves the workers in the manufacturing facilities who may be coming in contact with the lye, especially in developing nations that may not provide the proper safety equipment for their workers. Lye, however does not remain a toxic residue on clothing as it easily washes away.

If you want to purchase environmentally safe bamboo clothing your best bet is to check with the manufacturer to find out if their bamboo manufacturing process is mechanical (such as the bamboo baby clothing on our web store) or chemical like many other companies. Otherwise, you may want to wait until the USDA gets their act together and makes certification plausible.