I don't understand how people keep saying Bamboo is fast growing. Since when is 4 years fast?

 It is been tested by labs to show that it does not have any antibacterial properties.

 It is very weak and wears quickly.

 Not to mention that it is grown on the sides of mountains, displaces native species and is cut down by primarily women and children.

 This is why the green movement is stalled. So much false advertising and people are tired of getting fleeced.

"HELP SAVE PLANET EARTH STARTING WITH URANUS". The"uranus" brand boy short soy fabric women's uderwear is luxuriously soft and comfortable, often compared to silk or cashmere. Many of the product testers compared soyshorts to "being totally naked". Besides being softer than cotton, soy fabric is also more durable and long-lasting (and it keeps getting softer the more times you wash it). It dries quicker than cotton and is extremely easy to care for, being machine-washable and dryer-safe (use low heat or no heat to prevent shrinkage). It is warmer than wool, but absorbent and breathable, making it the ideal fabric for warm or cool weather. Soy fabric is eco-friendly and sustainable because of the way is made. Soy fabric is manufactured from the by-products of soy food products, like tofu and soybean oil. Since the process uses materials that would otherwise be waste, it is considered to "close the loop" on soy. Our Soyshorts are sold in sets of three per size: one pair natural beige, one pair black, and one pair moss green.  Our soyshorts are packaged in burlap drawstring sacks that are 100% biodegradable. We encourage you to compost your burlap bag or reuse it as a pouch to hold your most valuable treasures. Show the world you care; show the world "uranus".

Umbra, you forgot two very important problems with using bamboo to make consumer products!  

Bamboo is native to Southeast Asia.  Elsewhere, it is extremely invasive.  It tends to take over habitats...it displaces native plant species (as mentioned by SaraLaws above) and provides little to no food and cover value to native animals.  It can also easily escape crop situation and start growing in the wild.

Even if we harvest bamboo only from its native range in Asia, we then have all the energy costs of transporting it (raw or processed) back to the U.S.

It's only invasive if you plant a running rather than a clumping variety. There are thousands of breeds of bamboo. If you're going to plant some, I'd suggest some careful research first.

While I love shopping my local thrift and consignment stores, I don't think the world is going to stop buying new clothes.  I think most eco-solutions have both pros and cons, but I think we need to support the companies that are out there trying. I have full support for companies like Bamboosa and HT Naturals who are putting alternatives out there for reasonable prices.  Companies like this have a chance to change the way consumers think about shopping - and I don't mean the type of consumers who are already reading this blog.

Also, I'm not sure what evidence there is that bamboo is weak and wears quickly.  I have several Bamboosa shirts I've had for years and worn a lot and they still are in good shape.  With fibers like cotton, the quality often comes from both the length of the original fibers and the process through which they are spun.  Anyone have any research on this?

If you want to do the right thing concerning the environment stop supporting the manufacturing of new clothes by buying/trading for used clothing.

Bamboo, while very invasive out of its native habitat, is inherently sustainable. It is essentially a tall grass that grows from a substantial root system. Bamboo will regenerate even when the stems are cut flush to the ground. Bamboo also is very strong. In fact, it is used as scaffolding in some southeast Asian countries and in some cases as a replacement for steel beams in building construction. Bamboo is a poster child for sustainability.

I am a treehugger through and through, but I find the constant scrutiny of every product that comes on the market both disheartening and trite. Every product we use, no matter how hard we try, will have an impact on the environment. Every animal and plant impacts its environment. It's nature.

I believe a bigger concern with bamboo and every other "sustainable" product we mass produce (coffee, tea, chocolate, cork, etc.) is worker fairness, as several have already stated.

Give bamboo a try. Find something good about it. And find something good about other sustainable products too. Or better yet, make a superior product! Others will scrutinize your ideas and likely find some problems with them too. It's okay to find negative points, but try to focus on the positives or you'll give yourself an ulcer.  

 "...finding ways to cultivate bamboo domestically and responsibly." ???

Ugh...really?  The last thing we need is mass introductions of this highly invasive, notoriously stubborn foreign species in this country.  

Hey, let's plant kudzu too, because you can make jelly out of it.  And I hear that Ligustrum can be used in multivitamins!  Great sustainable business opportunities abound!

Now, this may not matter to people who don't care about fabric and clothes and such, but bamboo fabric is an excellent replacement for traditional rayon fabrics.  Rayon, acetate, and tencel are all cellulosic fibers with are usually made from trees.  So replacing those with bamboo rayon (not to mention replacing wooden spoons and cutting boards and floors with bamboo) is a great step in the right direction.

Here's why rayon is a good type of fabric: it is very soft, has good drape and hand, and is much less expensive than silk. bamboofabricstore.com has a great selection of bamboo fabric by the yard which is Oeko-Tek certified.  This fabric is basically made using the tencel process, which uses much less chemicals than the traditional rayon and acetate processes.

I work for a Canadian retailer called Mountain Equipment Coop, next to Patagonia (who our ethical models are based off of) we have about the strictest ethical standards out there. And we (like Patagonia) do NOT carry Bamboo because, as compared to organic cotton, it uses such a massive amount of chemicals in production. It also produces an inferior product (our testers found that it stretched like crazy when wet and wore fast). We also don't produce hemp products because of the same chemical-intensive process in manufacturing a cloth from the fiber. (Patagonia does make hemp products, don't know how they do it so efficiently though!). Basically, recycled synthetics (you can now get virtually 100% recycled polyester and nylon products) and organic cotton are still the best way to go it seems!

Bamboo produces between 2 to five times as much fiber per acre as cotton does. Cotton is probably THE single most damaging crop in the world with cotton production being a direct cause of the Aral sea disaster. If it takes 2 bamboo shirts to replace one cotton shirt the planet is ahead.

Bamboo groves preserve and grow soils and hold soils tightly to hillsides where no other productive crop could be raised. Even timbering or orcharding sloping land leads to erosion in comparison. There are bamboos native to all continents except Antarctica with commercially harvested varieties in North and South America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia.

Whatever the problems with bamboo fabrics are it is unlikely that they are as damaging, pesticide drenched or soil erosive as cotton. As for the recycled plastic fabrics; they ignite AND melt onto the skin in a fire. Kind of like wearing a gasoline shirt.

This is my first post - just getting my barrings on posting, but your answer to how do you know if your bamboo is sustainable was just so funny and such a clarifying moment in the green vs. greenwash environment - a true belly laugh, thanks. Answer: Telepathy is the only way. Close your eyes, put your hand on the fabric, and let a vision of a Giant Panda come in to your mind. If the panda is frolicking, all is well.

SaraLaws, why do you say "Since when is 4 years fast?"  Do you think it takes 4 years for one crop?  Not so.  

The reason people say bamboo grows fast is because it can grow up to 4 feet in 24 hours.  Would you call that fast?

Xedri says: "Bamboo is native to Southeast Asia."

That is not quite the whole truth.

Bamboo is native to USA.  And to South America.  And to Africa.  And to India and to most of Asia.

There are more than 1200 different varieties of bamboo and they come from all over the world.

Yes, you read that right: there are bamboo that are native to the States.

Yes, some varieties are also native of SE Asia, but what is special about that?  Where do you get the idea that it all started in SE Asia?  

SaraLaws says: "(bamboo) displaces native species"

What examples can you give of this.  It is interesting that I have heard people say that bamboo is "invasive" and "displaces native species" but they never give examples.  

I suppose this goes without saying.  Everyone knows it.  Sorry, it isn't true.  

Check and see if you can find a single state where any variety of bamboo is listed as a pest or invasive plant or anything like that.  I would be surprised if you found any.  I'd be glad to know.

There are a couple varieties of bamboo that are native to the USA and they haven't taken over.

There are hundreds of other varieties that have been introduced from Asia, Africa, and South America and none of them have "taken over" any part of the USA.  What is the problem?

One variety known as "Black Bamboo" was first introduced to the USA in 1827.  It is still considered to be one of the most popular bamboo around, but it has never taken over anywhere.  It is a pachymorph "runner" bamboo.  Oooh!  Hide.

There are no other varieties of bamboo that are taking over the countryside.  This is a myth.  

SaraLaws, I expect you have never seen this happen, have you?  Anyone else?  Why not?  Because it isn't happening.  This is just part of the bamboo hysteria that is running wild on this page.