You may have heard that bamboo fiber is the fastest growing plant on the planet. Indeed, the bamboo fibre can grow up to 3 feet in height in 24 hours and unlike other woody plants, bamboo reaches maturity in as little 3 years while many trees take decades !

The power of bamboo is actually a forage, ornamental and medicinal plant. It comes from India and China. These large, lined pieces of wood, as they are called, can grow to more than 10 metres. They have a strong growth rate of up to 30 cm per day! The cooked bamboo shoots are eaten as vegetables, but the stem, roots, leaves and buds are used for their medicinal properties.

Are you curious to find out more about this rapidly growing plant? Keep on reading this article to discover the world of bamboo fibre.

Why Bamboo?

                                        

There are many advantages to this fun plant, it has many uses outside of food for panda bears! Bamboo can be used as a great livestock feed alternative with the leaves and stems containing up to 22% protein. Bamboo can be eaten even by humans, millions of people for thousands of years have been eating the new shoots of bamboo.

But it can also be used in concrete reinforcement, it can be machined into numerous forms of lumber to create a more ecological wood option for furniture, household items, and more.

The Power of Bamboo has innumerable benefits: It allows the regeneration and reconstruction of cartilage, it stimulates and strengthens the immune system. It has antioxidant properties. It is also a good treatment for the skin, because it is rich in silicon, which helps to fight against skin ageing. It can also improve the quality of teeth, brittle nails and very dry and damaged hair, and helps to maintain the hybrid balance of the scalp.

However the usage that we are the most interested in today is the bamboo fibre used in clothing. The plant fibres behave much like cotton and can be used to produce a number of clothes such as our BellePaga premium socks.

Bamboo in Clothing

                                              

Anti-odour: Bamboo fibres allow for clothing naturally fight odour as it has anti-bacterial properties. This means that the bamboo will keep you smelling fresh all day long.

Moisture Wicking Properties: Bamboo in nature is very absorbent to water, in fact, it is three to four times more absorbent than cotton. This allows the bamboo fibre allows to wick away any unwanted moisture or perspiration away from the person wearing it. The bamboo fibres in the clothing will keep you comfortable, dry, and clean.

Temperature Regulation: Bamboo fibres allow your skin to breath as it has a natural ventilation system. In the summertime, bamboo helps to trap cool air against your skin while in the winter time it will keep you warm using the heat that your body is producing. This means bamboo will keep you a few degrees cooler when its hot and warm when its cold.

Extremely Soft: Bamboo fibre is soft to the touch and it can feel like a mix between silk and cotton. Sometimes it is even called the ‘cashmere of plants’ because of its luxurious texture.

Non-irritating Material: If you have sensitive skin you do not have to worry about bamboo fibre. The plant has naturally smooth fibers, which unlike other plant fibres, lie flat against the skin, which is essential as it limits the friction against the skin.

Bamboo and Alpacas                                              

If you are already familiar with Alpaca wool, you may have noticed that it has many similarities with bamboo fibres. Indeed, Alpaca wool is also a very soft, non-irritating material with thermo-regulating properties. Much like bamboo, alpaca wool is anti-odour and moisture wicking as well. Alpaca and bamboo are a match made in heaven!

Alpaca wool also has the added bonus of being the only wool that does not pill after consistent usages, it is also luxuriously soft and can come in different grades of quality. Our items are made with the wool quality grade called ‘Baby Alpaca’ but do not worry it does not come from baby alpacas! It refers to the wool from the first shearing of alpacas which is very soft.

Sustainability and Bamboo

   

Bamboo plays a crucial role in balancing of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the world’s atmosphere. This is because a grove of bamboo trees, on average, release about 35% more oxygen than an equivalent amount of many other types of common trees (i.e pine trees, oak trees, palm trees, etc). So fewer trees produce more oxygen and take in more carbon dioxide. As this is the case, planting bamboo trees is a great way to reduce the carbon footprint and help fight against global warming.

Not only that, but as we have mentioned bamboo is fast growing and can grow in many types of environments. Making it an ideal plant for production in virtually any country. This is coupled with the fact that the power of bamboo is also excellent at soil conservation. It dramatically helps to reduce the erosion of the soil it is planted in. This is because it reduces rain run-off, preventing the soil from becoming too soft and breaking away.


So therefore, with a closet full of bamboo fibres and alpaca wool, you are unstoppable!

Try our Alpaca wool socks for women and men ! 

Contact us for any further information, we will be happy to answer your questions! 

Don't hesitate to also consult our Men's, Women's and Home & Decoration collections to discover all our Alpaca wool products!