How is Bamboo fiber manufactured?
Much like the paper-making process, the bamboo pulp needs to be broken down and separated until it becomes cellulose, which can then be spun in to thread and woven in to fabric. There are essentially two methods of manufacturing bamboo into bamboo rayon or thread; mechanical and chemical. The mechanical process uses natural enzymes to help break down the bamboo walls into mush so it can be combed out and spun into yarn. The resulting fabric is often called “bamboo linen”. While this process is very eco-friendly it is also labor intensive and costly, so most manufacturers opt for the chemical method. This is why most bamboo clothing cannot be called “organic”. With the chemical method, chemicals are used to break down the cellulose (in a multi-phase chemical process) which is then spun into bamboo thread, and finally, woven fabrics. This process is commonly referred to as viscose (for more information on the viscose process, visit Wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viscose ) and
