Our story begins with me, an exchange student, who at the beginning of this month found themselves buying things like, bed sheets and pillows. In the quest I found bamboo sheets which is a product I have only sort of heard of before. I was introduced last summer when a friend came back from China and he said “My parents bought bamboo sheets, in China, and they are the greatest product ever in life!” something among those lines. So when I found bamboo sheets, I was sold at the first touch. I tried them out and they were indeed the best product in life (not really, but they were pretty awesome). They are the softest fabric I have ever touched. I was really surprised because for me it is a completely new product. After my fist classes of COMM486 I started questioning how green some of the things I own were, so I made some research on bamboo fabric.
This bamboo fabric was invented in early 2000s at Beijing University. It took a long time to develop commercially viable bamboo clothing, nevertheless the trend for more environmentally sustainable textiles pushed the commercialization of bamboo fabrics.
It’s too early too tell if bamboo textile is really sustainable, but most research suggest it is. Some articles argue bamboos are tall, resistant, can regenerate, exist in large quantities, and grow quickly. Bamboo minimizes CO2 and generate more oxygen than trees. They are cheap to maintain and produce more goods than jus textiles. There are many other sustainable advantages, nevertheless, some people argue bamboo fabric is made out of a process, with horrible chemicals that could damage more on the long run. Though, there is still not sufficient evidence on this arguments, and the only place I could find a this kind of opinion was off blogs not actual academics.
The product may be somewhat expensive. It’s a luxury good as a result of it’s process, high quality and softness. However, consumers might choose this sustainable products over other for different reason. Primarily people from different segments (beyond true-blue greens or Greenback greens) could find value in bamboo fabric, because of its quality. The price is somewhat equivalent to other luxury sleeping goods, and more people are hearing about it in recent years. It has value beyond sustainability, the green part is really just an extra.
Sources:
http://newsroom.cariloha.com/history-of-bamboo-clothing-where-it-came-from-and-where-its-going/
http://www.bamboocentral.org/shareinrepair/faq.htm
http://www.ecouterre.com/how-eco-friendly-is-bamboo-fabric-really/
http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/questions/are-bamboo-textiles-really-not-green
I really enjoy how you investigated further about the process of bamboo production! I had no idea there was a discussion around the “legitness” of sustainable bamboo production. I always assumed it was a green product, better than cotton production. It is interesting to think we assume bamboo is sustainable just because marketers advertise it in this way. As a student, it is interesting to see at the moment of buying products what drives you to select among products. It seems that your friend had a special interest in comfort but your own behaviour was changed by the advertisement.
This in a way, shows me that you always find mixes of consumer bases (I see university students as a mix of naturalites and conventionals). When you analyze the whole process of information intake it is more clear to understand where people train o though and action come from.