Rapanui Goes the Extra Mile to Make Sure Their Clothing Is as Green as It Gets

on 25th Jan 2013

Panda T-Shirt from Rapanui. Image: http://shop.urbantimes.co/shop/

This article was originally published on our new platform for “good” goods, Urban Market.

Featured brand Rapanui is making t-shirts and tops from so-called “bamboo fabric”. Now there’s been a lot of marketing going on about this type of viscose, made from bamboo cellulosis, most of it misleading or just false. In fact, clothes that have bamboo as a raw material could have been made through a harmful chemical process, but not always is and it’s incredibly tricky for the consumer to find out details. Our advice: try to find out more info on the company’s production process and supply chain and check if they have any relevant certificates.

Read here why Rapanui’s “bamboo clothing” is the good stuff:

“Cotton is the most popular choice for soft clothing worldwide. It requires around 20’000 litres of water per kilogram to grow and the chemicals needed to sustain its growth, and prevent pests destroying it, are extremely hazardous to the health of ecosystems. Bamboo fabric is an alternative. Despite being a hard woody grass crop, it is possible to derive an incredibly soft, breathable fabric from it. In fact the bamboo fabric we use feels softer and more breathable than our organic cotton.

What’s so good about Bamboo?

Bamboo thrives naturally without using any pesticides or fertilizers. It is unlike all other natural textiles plants: The yield per hectare is 10 times greater than cotton and the input of water, fertilisers and other resources is almost zero. It’s a grass too, so it doesn’t need replanting – which helps reduce topsoil erosion. It grows up to a yard a day in places, efficiently pulling in sunlight and greenhouse gases and converting it into biomass. For these reasons, Bamboo is amongst the world’s most sustainable resources.