North Face Bamboo Clothes for Spring ‘07
By Rocky Thompson on August 10th, 2006The North Face unveiled a new line of clothes at OR today made with fabric of blended cotton and bamboo. When I heard North Face was making bamboo clothes, I imagined that they would be something kind of like the bamboo armor Samurais wore in 70’s movies. It turns out that bamboo can be woven into a surprisingly soft cotton-feeling fabric.
North Face calls this Frankenstein creation ecoCloth and claim that it naturally resists odors and wicks sweat from your body. The ecoCloth clothes are part of North Face’s A5 casual line. It doesn’t seem to be any more durable than cotton, but the ‘eco’ in ecoCloth refers to the idea that bamboo is less damaging to the environment than cotton. Bamboo is the new hemp that doesn’t get you high.
Everyone seems to be profusely praising the merits of bamboo fabric, but it all sounds like the advertising copy. I bought a T-shirt at a local store to try it out because of its novelty and the eco-talk. However, I found that the fabric of the shirt started breaking down under the arms within a few months, far sooner than cotton ever did. I think some real-world testing may be needed before everyone jumps on the bandwagon.
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Namaste,
Rev. John Missing