How Viscose Rayon Fabric Masquerades as Bamboo Clothing
‘Fake Bamboo’ Fabric Floods and Fools the Market
Not all bamboo clothing is what it seems. Conscientious clothiers are working to distinguish themselves from those who use materials, mainly viscose rayon fabric, that require toxic production methods. Here’s an explainer of the market, and what to look for.
By Haniya Rae
In December 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined four major retailers — Nordstrom, Bed Bath & Beyond, Backcountry, and J.C. Penney — a combined total of $1.3 million for mislabeling textile goods made of viscose rayon as “bamboo” under the Textile Products Identification Act. Some of the biggest U.S. retailers in the country, including Amazon, Macy’s, Kmart and Sears have paid hefty fines for not updating their labels after the agency first began to crack down on fake bamboo fabrics in 2009.
Clothing made from bamboo has been marketed as more environmentally friendly than clothing made from other fabrics because bamboo is a tree-like plant — technically a grass — that grows rapidly and thrives all over the planet without artificial fertilizers or irrigation. But most of that clothing has historically been made from viscose rayon, which is created from bamboo or wood pulp processed in a toxic soup of chemicals that generates significant pollution. Today, a lot of experts believe that the “bamboo” label on rayon clothing is fundamentally a misrepresentation.
“The average consumer who purchases clothing relies on the brand to provide information that is accurate and trustworthy,” says Shamini Dhana, founder and CEO of Dhana, a fair-trade, Certified B Corporation children’s clothing line. Bamboo used to be in a gray area because rayon may actually contain bamboo pulp. “But even this is a subjective component today,” Dhana says. Consumers need to know how a fabric was made before they can decide whether a product represents their values. “We all have different baseline value systems — each consumer has separate ideas about what is ethical or good for the planet.”
Of the 4.9-million-ton global viscose rayon market, more than 65 percent is produced in China. By 2021, the global output of viscose rayon is projected to be worth about $16 billion per year. The largest producer of bamboo? Also China, which exports more than a third of the world total.
The Viscose Rayon Fabric Chemical Conundrum
Sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide are the two toxic chemicals combined with wood pulp to form viscose rayon “bamboo” fabric. Many companies, such as the large retailers that the FTC has fined over the years, choose to remain ignorant of the process behind the production of viscose and instead rely on the manufacturer to provide accurate information. The FTC in turn has issued new labeling guidelines to make the distinction clearer.
Paul D. Blanc, who teaches occupational and environmental medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, describes how viscose rayon is made: Bamboo or wood chips are soaked in carbon disulfide, and then the syrupy substance is pumped through a pipe and forced through a screen into a vat of sulfuric acid. The substance coagulates as it comes out and can be formed into thread.
Blanc published a 2016 book on the topic titled Fake Silk: The Lethal History of Viscose Rayon. He says you can’t even buy U.S.-made rayon because the manufacturing process is too damaging to the environment through wastewater discharges — the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations caused the last of the rayon factories to close down more than a decade ago.
Although carbon-disulfide-based viscose is no longer made within the U.S., “throughout most of the 20th century, viscose rayon manufacturing was inextricably linked to widespread, severe and often lethal illness among those employed in making it,” Blanc wrote in Fake Silk. Regular exposure to high levels of carbon disulfide has been shown to damage the nervous system. Blanc wrote that, for workers in viscose rayon factories, poisoning caused insanity, nerve damage, and increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
“If you buy something that has even 50 percent viscose rayon, don’t kid yourself [that you’re] buying a ‘green’ product,” says Blanc, meaning that any percentage of viscose guarantees that a harmful human and environmental process occurred when making the garment.
Less damaging is Tencel, a branded version of “lyocell,” which is rayon formed through a different process that pollutes little and is normally made out of wood pulp, not bamboo. Patagonia, another B Corporation clothier with a history of environmental sensitivity, says the Tencel in its clothing is made out of wood pulp from eucalyptus trees, and that the pulp is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
Bamboo Clothing: Certified Safe and Sound?
“If a brand says they give 25 percent of net profits to an NGO, or if they say they use organic cotton, a consumer might say, ‘Oh, that sounds good to me.’ It ends there for a lot of consumers,” Dhana says. “Brands should be forced to unveil their supply chain.”
For concerned shoppers, the Ecolabel Index is a helpful resource for researching certifications that companies use to qualify their clothing as ethical and sustainable.
Instead of carbon-disulfide-based alternatives to viscose rayon, Blanc believes consumers should look into buying real silk that’s ecologically friendly. Some companies that make fair-trade silk, such as Mehera Shaw, sell their wares to brands such as The Ethical Silk Company.
Blanc says that Bemberg cellulose, yet another form of rayon, is supposedly benign, as it doesn’t use the same harsh chemicals that viscose rayon does, and it meets the Japan Environment Association’s standards of an “environmentally useful product.” But because the process to produce Bemberg cellulose is much more time-consuming, it also costs more and isn’t as widely available.
For less expensive alternatives, Dhana recommends Tencel or modal, which is extracted from beechwood grown on nonarable land.
The National Resources Defense Council asserts that a truly environmentally sound, bamboo-only fabric must be spun directly from the tree fiber. Often called “bamboo linen,” the fibers are mechanically combed out and spun into yarn, instead of chemically processed with carbon disulfide and other toxic chemicals.
Blanc says workers in bamboo-manufacturing plants sometimes incur health problems from “retting” of the bamboo fibers, or soaking them to break down the outer husk. Retting, the same process used for most flax and hemp fiber production, can promote microbial growth, which could impact workers’ health with continued exposure.
Why Brands Do Bamboo Fabric Right
B Corporation fashion brand Eileen Fisher’s director of social consciousness, Amy Hall, admits that the company’s former top-selling viscose-based products were a problem. Eileen Fisher reduced its rayon usage by 12 percent between 2014 and 2015, and Hall says the company intends to eliminate it completely by 2020. Eileen Fisher’s goals and road map are documented on its website under the tab “Vision 2020.”
Improving fashion’s environmental and social impacts will require widespread education programs and changes in consumer behavior, Dhana says. “We’re so visually stimulated and seduced by the style or the color or the brand. All of those things come into play when people buy clothing, and they have to learn to reflect on their value system before making a purchase.”
Dhana says that even when brands are clear about their values, sometimes they have trouble knowing whether their vendors are honestly reporting environmental and working conditions. “I’ve been personally involved with companies that say that they’re in total compliance, and then they’ll say that they’re ‘pending’ when I ask for a certification,” Dhana says. “They could be telling the truth, but it’s impossible to know.”
This is especially true if a brand is dealing with vendors in foreign countries that have their own compliance standards and certifications. With current certification for brands varying widely, Dhana notes that finding ethical fabric can be just as confusing for a clothing brand as it is for a consumer.
All of this isn’t to suggest that there’s no way for a consumer to make a difference, Blanc says. Just because there isn’t perfect clarity doesn’t mean purchases don’t matter. It means consumers must identify who produced the item they want to buy, and decide whether they can trust the brand.
“When purchasing a piece of clothing, a consumer should think about the viscose and wonder about the person who made that, and what sort of place they made it in,” says Blanc. “Consumers should be waryof products made with toxic substances and should be mindful of the human suffering that goes into making these goods. Is it worth it to have this item of clothing at the expense of a human life?”
A Fake Bamboo Glossary
Bamboo: According to the Federal Trade Commission, a textile can be labeled “bamboo” if it is made entirely of bamboo fibers — not chemically processed into rayon.
Bemberg cellulose: Only made in Japan, Bemberg “silk,” also known as “cupro,” is a regenerated rayon fiber made from cotton linter, not wood pulp. It’s made by a process that’s more expensive than the production of viscose rayon, and is often used for luxury suit linings.
Carbon disulfide: Wood pulp is dipped into this chemical to make viscose rayon. Carbon disulfide can cause cardiovascular and nervous-system damage for workers.
Cellulose acetate: This rayon fiber is made from wood pulp or cotton linter treated with acetic acid, which is used to form films. The fabric is frequently sought out for bridal attire because of its sheen.
Modal: Wood from beech trees, which can grow in a wide range of soil types, form this less-toxic rayon fiber. Lenzing claims that its modal product is made with sustainably grown and harvested beech.
Sodium hydroxide: Also known as “lye,” this chemical is used when making viscose rayon, and it can cause corrosion and chemical burns to workers who handle it frequently and without protection.
Lyocell: Another form of rayon fiber that is made from wood pulp, processed with a nontoxic spinning solvent in a closed-loop system. Tencel, a branded version of lyocell, is made from eucalyptus trees.
Viscose rayon: Labels that state clothing is made of “viscose,” “rayon” or “viscose rayon” are the same thing: chemically processed cellulose fibers. If a product isn’t directly made from bamboo fiber, but is a manufactured fiber for which bamboo was the plant source, it should be labeled using the generic “rayon” or “rayon made from bamboo.”
This article was originally published in the Spring 2017 issue of B Magazine.
B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
