ESSAY WRITTEN BY LEON KINGMA (CO-FOUNDER OF NOBODY CALLED TODAY)

Introduction

The textile industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world. That’s why the industry is in a constant state of innovation. One way for textile innovation is the search for new natural resources. One of those materials, which I am going to highlight in this paper, is bamboo fibre. The commercialization of bamboo textiles started in the early 2000s. However, Philipp Lichtenstadt already described a method to turn bamboo into fabrics in 1864 (Waite, 2009). Lichtenstadt probably came up with this method in the time, because people were scared that there was going to be a shortage of wood in Europe and thus people were looking for new alternatives to European wood (Du Pisani, 2006). Since the end of the 2010s and beginning of the 2020s bamboo-based underwear became a huge hype in The Netherlands. The commercials and advertisements of bamboo underwear popped up everywhere. This paper dives into the two most marketed brands: Bamigo and Bamboo Basics. They both use the same production process, but in a different matter. I will turn back to that matter later on. These brands aroused my interest, because they state in their marketing campaigns that their bamboo underwear is a fairly sustainable product. With the knowledge I gained by reading other reports and hearing lectures from people within the textile industry, I came to doubt those presumptions. This paper is constructed as follows: Firstly, I am going to tell you about bamboo fibre, its cultivation and its properties. Secondly, I will introduce different production processes of bamboo fibre. Then I will give some information about the recycling of bamboo, to give a full overview of the bamboo textile life cycle. After that I will discuss the brands Bamigo and Bamboo Basics. To conclude this paper, I will give an answer to the question: Is bamboo underwear sustainable?

1. The cultivation of bamboo

The cultivation of bamboo is very efficient and the bamboo plant itself also comes with a variety of benefits. The fibre of this plant is from a natural origin and thus renewable. Bamboo can be harvested in a sustainable way in cycles of 3 to 5 years. This makes bamboo fibre way more efficient than wood fibre from trees, because trees need around 60 years to recover from deforestation. Also, bamboo grows very fast (35 centimeters to 1 meter a day) and in many weather and climate conditions (depending on the bamboo species). But one of the most important aspects in the cultivation of bamboo is that the root system keeps intact after the harvesting of the plant, so the plant can regenerate. Those roots also improve the quality of the soil even when the soil was formerly eroded (Devi, 2007; Panda, 2011; Nieder 2009). 

Both Bamigo and Bamboo Basics among others, state that the plant adopts five times more CO2 than the average tree and it produces more than 35 percent of oxygen. However, these claims are doubted by Plant Biology researchers who investigated bamboo and concluded that the types they examined did not produce oxygen, but on the contrary, carbon dioxide (Zachariah et al., 2016).

The bamboo plant has natural antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. That is why it doesn’t need irrigation but grows with solely rainwater. Also, pesticides and herbicides are not needed in the cultivation due to its antimicrobial properties. This makes it very easy to keep the bamboo plantation organic (Wang, 2009; Kothari, 2011; Rathod, 2014).

2. The properties of bamboo fabric

Raw bamboo has natural antimicrobial properties. However, these properties get lost when the textile making process involves chemicals. Brands that use the bamboo-viscose process for their clothing items often grant antimicrobial properties to their products and use this as a tool in their marketing campaigns, which is a form of greenwashing. This problem was highlighted in 2009, when four companies were charged of greenwashing by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of America (Katz, 2009; Hardin, 2009; Rodie, 2008). Bamboo fibres have a hollow structure. This structure gives bamboo fibre some great benefits. The hollow structure of the fibres makes bamboo fabric very lightweight while the fabric often has more strength than fabrics made out of solid fibres. The structure of bamboo fibre also gives bamboo fabric high water absorbency and breathability properties, which makes it a great material for heat regulation. (Long, 2015; Nayak, 2016). 

3. The production process

In this part I will introduce you to the three main processes for manufacturing bamboo fabric. One is a mechanical production method and two methods are chemical. I will also present an alternative for the most used chemical manufacturing process. This is a brand called ‘Tanboocel’. This brand will be linked to Bamboo Basics later on in this paper. There are some other brands who use almost the same process as Tanboocel. The one thing they have in common is that they are manufacturing in a closed-loop system.

3.1 The mechanical process

The bamboo textile which is produced in the mechanical process is called ‘natural’ or ‘original’ bamboo fibre. The production process is comparable with the manufacturing process of Ramie (Waite, 2009). Mechanical manufacturing is the eco-friendliest way of bamboo manufacturing, because it does not require chemicals. The reason that this method is not widely in use lies in the fact that the process is very time consuming and labor intensive, thus very expensive (Nayak, 2016).

The process (Figure 1.) starts with the mechanically splitting of bamboo culms. After that all the woody parts are rasped off. In the next step the fibrous material is separated from the bamboo parts by using enzymes. After combing this fibrous material out, the bamboo fibres are ready to be spun into yarns.

       Figure 1.

The mechanical process. This figure shows the steps within the mechanical bamboo process. By: L. Kingma.

3.2 The bamboo-viscose process

This process is the most used process within the bamboo manufacturing industry. This is due to the fact that this process is far less expensive than the mechanical process or other chemical processes. However, the bamboo-viscose process is also the most unsustainable way of production. The Made-By list of textile materials’ environmental impact put bamboo-viscose in class E, which marks the class where the textiles make the worst environmental impact. Unless the chemicals are used and recycled in a closed-loop system, for instance, in the Tanboocel process. Otherwise, the byproducts and chemicals used during the process can be released into the air and water (Nayak, 2016; Niinimäki, 2013). I will give you an example of this later on, when I discuss the brand Bamigo.

The process of bamboo-viscose goes as follows (figure 2.): Bamboo culms are shred into smaller pieces and soaked for one up to three hours in a solvent bath, which contains 18% sodium hydroxide by a temperature of 20 to 25 degrees Celsius. Here the alkali cellulose is produced. Then, the excess sodium hydroxide is removed by pressure, crushed by a grinder and left to dry for about twenty-four hours. Then the dried bamboo alkali cellulose is solidified by adding carbon disulfide. After that, remnants of the carbon disulfide are removed by reducing the air pressure, this results in sodium ethyl xanthate. Thereafter, the sodium ethyl xanthate goes in another solvent bath whereby a diluted solution of sodium hydroxide is added. This mixture dissolves into a viscose solution. In the last phase of the process, the viscose solution goes through spinneret nozzles and is mixed with diluted sulfuric acid, which hardens the viscose and reconverts it to cellulose bamboo fibre that can be spun into yarns (Nayak, 2016; Nielsen, 2015).

            Figure 2.

The bamboo-viscose process. This figure shows the steps within the bamboo-viscose process. By: L. Kingma.

The carbon disulfide used in this process is very harmful for the people working with it and the environmental impacts are disastrous. This toxin can cause amnesia, limpness and by inhaling to much of this toxin even death. When the toxin is not reused in a close-loop system, they have to be brought to special toxin management places. However, many times factories dispose their toxins illegally into nature. Hereby, drinking water can be contaminated and the biodiversity will radically change because animals (fishes) and plants will die (Keuringsdienst van Waarde, 2022; Nielsen, 2015).

3.3 The bamboo-lyocell process

This process of manufacturing bamboo, in a more environmentally friendly chemical way, is relatively new. It was discovered in 2018 by Peter Hauser. This bamboo-lyocell process uses other chemicals than the bamboo-viscose process and works in a closed-loop system, up to 99,5% of all the chemicals can be recycled, the rest is absorbed in the air. All the solvents used within this process are non-toxic for humans. This method is still not used widely, because it is way more expensive than the viscose process (Nayak, 2016).

This process (figure 3.) starts with the bamboo cellulose that is turned into a viscose solution with the usage of 4-methylmorpholine-4-oxide. This solvent is less harmful than sodium hydroxide and simulates the first 10 steps in the viscose process. In the next step, hydrogen peroxide goes into the viscose solution and is thereafter pushed through spinneret nozzles into a bath of methanol or ethanol. This alcohol turns the solution into hardened bamboo cellulose fibres. Now the bamboo fibres are ready to be spun into yarns (Nayak, 2016; Nielsen, 2015; Keuringsdienst van Waarde, 2022).

                  Figure 3.

The bamboo-lyocell process. This figure shows the steps within the bamboo-lyocell process. By: L. Kingma.

3.4 Tanboocel

Tanboocel is a brand name for a manufacturing process. This process is the same as the bamboo-viscose process (figure 2.) but then all the chemicals used are recycled, whereby a closed-loop system arises. The brand is owned by the Chinese company JIGAO Trading Co. which is part of Jilin Chemical Fibre Stock Co. (United States Patent and Trademark Office, 2007). 

JIGAO writes on the Tanboocel website: ‘With our innovative products and services, JIGAO is committed to a green fashion and textile industry and welfares of human beings’ (JIGAO, n.d.). This statement is supported by the annual examination report that is executed by Preferred by Nature. Their first report, carried out in 2019, state that Jilin Chemical (where JIGAO is a part of) have well-trained staff that are aware of the problems that come with deforestation.  They also score high on all the environmental aspects throughout the supply chain and are very open when it comes to sharing information (Langdon, 2019).

4. Recycling of bamboo

Bamboo is usually blended with other materials to make the textiles stretchy and give the textiles more strength. In sub-topic 5, I will give some more information about the brands Bamigo and Bamboo Basics. Therefore, I will use their bamboo underwear as base, to tell you something about the recycling of bamboo-viscose underwear.

Reusing and repairing clothing items is the most desirable method in a circular economy. When we look to bamboo-viscose underwear, this is not so easy. Repairing fabrics with a high stretchiness is often very hard to do and reselling underwear comes with hygienic issues. Therefore, we will have to recycle them to keep them in the circular economy (Heikkilä, 2024). 

Bamigo and Bamboo Basics use 28% of biologic cotton in their products for additional strength and 4% of elastane to give their products more elasticity. Adding other materials to create a blend, can be seen as a way to improve the comfort and durability of the product. However, durable fibres need to be reusable and recyclable to take their place within the circular economy. Blends indeed give some better properties to the end-product, but these blends are also very hard and sometimes even impossible to recycle. (Niinimäki, 2022; Heikkilä, 2024).

Luckily researchers are developing an innovative way to separate blends by using protease enzymes. These enzymes can separate different fibres from natural as well as chemical origin, without changing the quality of the textile fibre properties. These separated fibres are comparable in quality and strength with virgin fibres. Also, dyes can be extracted using this method. This technique is exciting, but right now it is too expensive to commercialize this method (Navone et al., 2020).

When we have separated the fibres, there are multiple ways to recycle the cellulosic bamboo fibres. Take Ioncell for instance, Ioncell is a recycling technology developed at Aalto University that turns the cellulosic pulp into new textile fibres. This recycling process is done in a sustainable way and does not require any harmful chemicals. In addition, Ioncell uses a closed-loop operation system where the chemicals are reused, resulting in no emissions or losses (Niinimäki, 2022).

Another way to recycle bamboo fibres is the Circulose® technology, which is developed by Renwecell. They already upscaled their recycling technique in Sweden and is currently recycling bamboo fibres from Chinese manufacturer Tangshan Sanyou. Tangshan Sanyou is responsible for over 40% of China’s viscose export and they work together with global fashion brands like H&M and Levi’s, which both use the recycled fibres to replace virgin fibres. This co-operation between Renewcell, Tangshan Sanyou and global fashion brands, shows the potential bamboo-viscose recycling has when it comes to commercialization (Renewcell, 2020).

5. Brands and marketing

Bamboo underwear is a real hype in the Netherlands. Bamigo and Bamboo Basics are the two biggest brands on the Dutch market when it comes to bamboo underclothing. They came up out of nowhere and rapidly grew to big (international) brands by enrolling various campaigns to address their ‘sustainable’ substitute for regular cotton underwear.  On the surface they appear the same, however they differ substantial when it comes to giving information and transparency. Also, they use the same bamboo-viscose process, but in a different way. So, are they both as sustainable as they claim to be?

5.1 Bamigo

Bamigo is a Dutch brand established in 2016 which focuses on bamboo textiles, mainly underwear. The brand launched their first commercial campaign in 2017 and soon marketed their products as ‘high quality, comfortable and sustainable’ (Bamigo, 2019). Keuringsdienst van waarde, a Dutch consumer-oriented television program conducted an investigation into the production of Bamigo’s underwear. This led to some shocking discoveries.

Bamigo works together with the Tangshan Sanyou Group, located in Tangshan (the Bohai Bay area) in China. We have already discussed the good side of manufacturer Tangshan Sanyou when it comes to recycling fibres. However, there is also another side to the coin. The Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment, who wrote down a government report in 2012, state: ‘Tangshan Sanyou Chemical Corporation has dumped 2,2 million cubic meters of corrosive waste in a former storage area’. The government report of 2022 says that fish in the Bohai Bay around the bamboo-viscose manufacturing mill died and that the city of Tangshan was polluted both through air-pollution and water-pollution. Groundwater was contaminated and this had an effect on the water resource of the local villagers. (Keuringsdienst van Waarde, 2022; Hurley, 2017). By these discoveries, we can conclude that the chemical waste wasn’t only deposited in the former storage area, but also in the local river. And it shows that the viscose-process used to make Bamigo underwear is an open-loop viscose-process, which is not sustainable at all.

Bamigo tries to fool the customers who have not yet seen the television broadcast of Keuringsdienst van Waarde, by stating on their website that they were in the telecast as an example of a sustainable brand which ‘is committed to prevent the used chemicals from ending up in nature’ (Bamigo, n.d.). This is a form of green-washing. 

The information on their website gives a little transparency when it comes to certificates and the production process used to make Bamigo underwear. However, Life Cycle Assessments or other documents to support their claims are non-existing. On top of that they make false claims, for instance by saying: ‘We as a sustainable oriented company, make the very best clothes, with the finest, most high-quality materials, in the most sustainable way possible’ (Bamigo, n.d.). By the information we have got from the Chinese reports, we can say that this claim is not true.

5.2 Bamboo Basics

Bamboo Basics is a Dutch brand established in 2019 which focuses on bamboo textiles, mainly underwear. The brand launched their first commercial campaign in 2021 and marketed their products as follows: ‘Bamboo Basics is softer to touch, better for you and better for the environment’ (Bamboo Basics, 2021).

Bamboo basics works together with the Chinese company JIGAO Trading Co. mentioned earlier on in this paper. They use the Tanboocel process to make their bamboo underwear. This process is the same as the process Bamigo uses, but the substantial difference is the fact that the Tanboocel process is a closed-loop system and thus the chemicals are recycled and reused. This makes it a lot more environmentally friendly than the regular bamboo-viscose process. 

Bamboo Basics is very transparent when it comes to sharing information. The brand even shares their annual Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on their website. This LCA is collected by Ecochain and put into their database called Eco-invent. Within their LCA they make use of the Mobius Ecochain tool, which investigates the environmental impact of a product in the categories: carbon footprint, water use and land use. Within the LCA a Bamboo Basics t-shirt is compared to a standard cotton t-shirt. Ecochain concluded that a ‘Bamboo Basics t-shirt is a more sustainable alternative in comparison to an industry standard cotton t-shirt. This contributes in the vision of Bamboo Basics to accelerate the transition to a fair and non-polluting fashion industry’ (Ecochain & Bamboo Basics, 2022). 

In addition to their collaboration with Ecochain, Bamboo Basics also works together with tex.tracer. This is a platform that collects data throughout the supply chain and maps out the journey of an item to give insightful information to all people involved in the supply-chain (tex.tracer, n.d.).

Almost all the information and claims Bamboo Basics makes are proven with reports that can be traced down easily through provided links and citations. However, Bamboo Basics also presents the consumers some not proven claims as factuality’s, which is a kind of greenwashing. For instance, it is not proven that bamboo actually turns CO2 into oxygen (as stated earlier on in this paper). While Bamboo Basics claims that bamboo adopts CO2 and transforms this into 35% of oxygen production. They also claim: ‘Bamboo Basics makes use of bamboo grown in the largest bamboo forest in China in the province Sichuan. There are no panda bears living in this forest’ (Bamboo Basics, n.d.). The largest bamboo forest in the Sichuan area is called the Shunan Bamboo Forest. And actually, this forest is the home of the Giant Panda (Chinatripedia, n.d.).

While Bamboo Basics is on a good way to become totally transparent, they still have some fact-checking to do.

Conclusion

Now I will answer the question I asked myself in the introduction of this paper: Is bamboo underwear sustainable? Well, there is still no clear answer to give on this question. It all depends on the steps that brands take throughout their product’s life cycle. You have read that a different product process for instance, can have a totally different outcome when it comes to the sustainability of bamboo underwear. But we can take steps towards a more sustainable bamboo underwear market. For instance, by innovating the mechanical and the bamboo-lyocell process, so it will be more advanced and affordable in the future. 

Because of hygiene issues, we cannot reuse bamboo underwear, so we will have to invest in the new innovations like the protease enzyme technique and Ioncell. By investing in these innovations, the processes can be commercialized, which will eventually make the processes more affordable and more common within the industry. 

But first, more research has to be done on the carbon dioxide emissions of the bamboo plant in the cultivation phase. When it is proven that bamboo emits carbon dioxide, it is not a good idea to boost the plantation of bamboo at all and this will change the overall sustainable image of bamboo.

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