Marketing...
When I was four months pregnant and still barely aware of the existence of sleep sacks, a mom giving recommendations handed me one made of bamboo. “Feel—soooo soft,” she said. I reached out to caress, and it really was soooo soft. This was my introduction to the cult of bamboo...The Instagram brands that popularized bamboo for babies have also perfected the art of scarcity-induced demand: Every so often, they drop limited-edition prints that can sell out in minutes. So intense is the competition that moms resell them on Facebook for three, five, even 10 times the retail price; one confessed to reselling a $98 blanket for $1,000...Imagine my surprise, though, when I committed the act of serious investigative journalism that is reading a clothing label. The “magical,” “buttery soft” bamboo fabric that so many moms have been obsessing over? It’s rayon. Yes, rayon, the material best known as what cheap blouses are made of. Rebranded as “bamboo,” rayon has taken on an improbable second life as the stuff of premium, collectible baby clothes...And what exactly is rayon? It is neither natural like cotton nor synthetic like polyester. Rayon is in-between, a semisynthetic material made of the cellulose extracted from plants. A century ago, manufacturers used wood as feedstock, but these days they also use bamboo...But rayon is a “weak fiber,” Sarkar told me. When rubbed together, the fibers tend to break and curl—a.k.a. pilling—which explains why bamboo baby clothes come with unrealistically fussy laundry instructions: line dry, lay flat to dry. Who has time when your newborn is pooping on three outfits a day? I tossed it all in the dryer, and sure enough, the bamboo clothing started to pill...I did, however, continue marveling at the stretch in the bamboo—sorry, I mean rayon—pajamas. I found myself reaching for them over cotton ones because they were simply easier to stuff my baby’s ever-chunkier thighs into. But rayon isn’t inherently that stretchy, Gopinath told me. The stretch in “bamboo” baby clothes comes from the 3 to 5 percent of spandex blended into their fabric...
You can continue reading at The Atlantic.
The bamboo industry have convinced a lot of people that it is environmentally friendly because bamboo grows quickly and is "sustainable". No mention of just what chemicals are needed to turn wood into soft fibres, or what happens to those chemicals after use.
ReplyDeleteWhat ? My expensive bamboo work socks are rayon ?
ReplyDeleteI love them, they are made so they don't strangle my shins, they are not 'one size fits all', they are 'fits sizes 11-14' so they go on without me keeling over, they are comfortable as a down filled pillow - on your feet, they go in the washing machine, then in the dryer, then in the back of the sock drawer to await their rotation to the front and then my feet again.
Sad about the chemicals needed to soften the bamboo, not as sad as I am about volcanoes and heavy industry thwarting my attempts to save the planet from its natural climate changes, but still.
Bamboo socks ... took me a while to get my head around the idea, but I've been wearing the 10 pairs I have .... ok, ok, I've been wearing ONE of those 10 pairs, every work day for the last 4 years.
Yay for rayon !
You are aware that the annual dose of CO₂ emitted by volcanoes is only about 1/100 that of humans? See https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/42/what-do-volcanoes-have-to-do-with-climate-change/
DeleteI don't know about baby cloths or socks (gonna look into them though) but as someone who has a terrier sleeping on their bed, bamboo pillow cases and sheets seem to be harder for dog hairs to burrow into. I had cotton pillow cases that probably had more dog hairs than the dog.
DeleteNote on rayon for non US readers, like me ;)
ReplyDeleteThe name "rayon" was adopted in 1924, with "viscose" being used for the viscous organic liquid used to make both rayon and cellophane. In Europe, though, the fabric itself became known as "viscose", which has been ruled an acceptable alternative term for rayon by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
FWIW, if you Google "Rayon sock for men" (or women), you get a lot of ads for bamboo socks...
ReplyDeleteadvertisers gonna advertise. ;(
ReplyDeletethat said, i don’t think the thrust of ‘bamboo sounds high quality and good when what you get is rayon, which is low quality and bad’ is entirely justified. rayon isn’t an inherently bad material.
yes, there are chemicals involved in turning the pulp into filament, but the lyocell process provides a significant improvement. and let’s not forget cotton is a very thirsty crop that comes with its own slew of environmental problems.
as a fiber, higher quality rayon products (modal, lyocell) can be a much better choice than cotton, depending on use. rayon wears smoother and cooler next to skin, and when sweat into, retains a dry feel much longer than cotton, and absorbs more water per fabric weight too. whereas wet cotton is instantly useless: it will hog every drop of moisture, hold on to it, and let you feel that it is soaked. (see williamrocket’s good experiences with rayon socks over default cotton ones – although i’d suggest trying wool for even better moisture properties. merino socks cost money, but are a real game changer!)
all in all, i’d say it’s much more about choosing the right material for a given use case, not inherently high and low quality materials. you like something with ok insulation and it’s no problem that it becomes useless the moment it gets moist? cotton’s not a bad choice, especially for your wallet. your use involves more sweat and probably constant movement against skin in that state (think underwear, athletic shirts)? rayon is probably better. you want something that doesn’t absorb much moisture to begin with and retains its insulation when wet? antibacterial properties a worthy tradeoff for durability? wool is your friend, not just in sweater weight for winter. you need something that only wicks and doesn’t absorb moisture, and also needs to be durable? buy synthetics, but beware the day the antibacterial treatment wears out.
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