How ethical is bamboo?

Lily Barclay

Bamboo © Maceo - Fotolia.com

Bamboo has been hailed as the new sustainable fabric, but is it as green and ethical as it seems?

Bamboo is no longer just for pandas – designers and consumers alike have embraced it as one of the best ‘eco-friendly’ materials on the market. Sustainable, strong and absorbent, it is soft to the touch and currently used in everything from nappies and towels to underwear.

Some companies even claim that bamboo has natural anti-bacterial properties and can help keep you warm in cold weather and cool in hotter temperatures. But is it really the green fabric of the future?

Bamboo’s green credentials

Bamboo enjoys a host of strong green credentials; it needs very little water, is pest resistant and can even help rebuild eroded soil. 

Bamboo also naturally replenishes itself and grows incredibly fast – up to one foot a day. As a result, it doesn’t need replanting, and requires minimal fertilisers and pesticides.

With so much going for bamboo, it's perhaps not surprising that environmentally conscious retailers are increasingly keen to use it in their clothing.

Back to the source

In theory, the new popularity of bamboo is a good thing. But in reality, it isn't always farmed with the environment in mind.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that there are no official environmental guidelines for farmers in China, where all bamboo is manufactured. This also extends to the process of turning the bamboo into fibre for fabric or clothing. If you're trying to source eco-friendly bamboo, there are often more questions than answers.

Money and mono-crops

Ironically, the popularity of bamboo as an eco-alternative to cotton could also be responsible for additional environmental damage. As demand increases, forests are being culled to make room for more crops. 

This introduces the issue of mono-crops. This practice - where the same crop is grown year after year on the same land, without crop rotation - is an increasingly common problem in China.

It reduces biodiversity and can result in greater numbers of pests, which in turn leads to higher pesticide use. There have also been reports of fertiliser use to maximise growth and production. 

The ethical debate

The farming and production of bamboo in China is a critical source of income for many of the country’s rural citizens. It provides an estimated 6 million people with work and 600 million people worldwide reportedly rely on it for an income. 

But it is often very hard to determine the working conditions of the farmers and manufacturers. There is currently very little transparency on whether bamboo is produced ethically or not, and no Fairtrade certification.

Some critics also believe that chemicals used in bamboo production can cause serious health problems, such as neural disorders, among workers. 

Organic issues

With information about production so hard to come by, the Soil Association has not yet been able to accredit any type of bamboo with certification.

In 2008, the Soil Association's Sarah Compson told the Guardian, “In theory we could certify the crop- but the problem is the processing ... we’ve yet to see a method that would come anywhere close to complying with our production standards.”

Greener ways of creating bamboo fabric are being worked on, but at present the result is a more coarse, linen-like product. It doesn’t have the trademark silky texture of most bamboo products on the market.

Fabric of the future

Without a clear and sustainable process for production, it’s hard to justify bamboo’s green reputation. But the natural benefits of bamboo may suggest it is a more environmentally friendly option than conventional cotton and petroleum-derived nylon and polyester synthetics. The World Wildlife Fund claim that conventional cotton uses more water than any other agricultural commodity.

So where does that leave you when it comes to shopping for bamboo fabrics? 

It really depends on the product, but it is worth talking to the people you are thinking of buying from. If the shop has a close relationship with its suppliers, they may be able to assure you about the production methods used in the making of your clothes.