Whether or not you consider yourself a champion of the environment or are just looking for a better option for your performance wear, bamboo clothing is a great option.  Eco-friendly and sustainable, bamboo fabric is a textile that not only lends itself to fantastic performance-driven qualities naturally, it is also processed and manufactured by companies that are responsible and careful, and high themselves to a higher ethos than most.  

Performance-driven clothing has to perform under arduous circumstances.  Whether we expect our clothing to keep up on a long run, keep us warm on a cold hike, or keep us shielded from the sun while we’re hanging off the face of a rock, we need it to be reliable every time it is worn.  

If you’ve gotten fed up with synthetic fabrics that fail, retain odor no matter how many times they are washed (and “stripped”), or are simply bad for you and the environment, fear not.  Bamboo performance wear is just what you need to keep moving in comfort and satisfaction.  If you aren’t convinced an all-natural fabric that hasn’t been chemically treated can hold a candle to your favorite synthetic performance gear, we challenge to take some bamboo pieces for a test drive.  

Here are six benefits of bamboo fabric that make it completely superior in form and function to your synthetic attire.

6 Benefits of Bamboo Fabric

We know you love your pricey boutique yoga brand; we get it.  But does that pricey boutique yoga brand love the environment?  Do they love you enough to tell you exactly what chemicals they spray their fabric with to develop its ability to be moisture-wicking?  We didn’t think so.  There’s a better option.  Bamboo naturally has many of the features we look for in performance gear, so it doesn’t have to be chemically treated.  This is good for your body, and good for the environment.  Don’t believe it can be true?  Read on.  

1. Bamboo clothing is naturally capable of wicking moisture.  In order for any fabric to be able to wick moisture, it must either come from a naturally occurring fiber that has the ability to retain moisture naturally, or it must be chemically treated with something that allows it to pull moisture from the air.  Synthetic fibers cannot retain moisture on their own; therefore the only way any synthetic performance piece can claim it is “moisture-wicking” is by having been treated with a chemical spray during the manufacturing process.  

Bamboo, on the other hand, is grown in hot, humid climates where it naturally pulls moisture from the air and ground to grow quickly.  When harvested and manufactured properly, bamboo that is converted to fiber will retain this ability to harvest moisture.  Because this is a naturally occurring phenomenon of bamboo fabric, you won’t have to worry that your bamboo clothing will fail after being washed and dried.  Unlike synthetic fabrics which can fail because the chemical treatment on the fabric wears off, bamboo clothing will remain moisture-wicking wash after wash.

2. Bamboo clothing resists odor.  You know the smell; something that hasn’t gotten fully dried in the drier; that smell of mildew or of sweat and funk from your last workout?  Even if your synthetic performance clothing says it is odor resistant, it’s only because it’s been treated with chemicals to make it so.  Unfortunately, that chemical treatment is famous for failing within a few washes, and you’re left with fabric that grips odors in a chokehold and doesn’t let go.  The surest sign you’ve got an odor problem is smelling that funky, dingy smell on your clothing after you begin to sweat lightly.  No matter how many times you try to “strip” your clothing, it’s just never coming out.  

The great thing about bamboo fabric’s odor resistance is that it is naturally occurring and never treated with chemicals.   No matter how many times you wash and/or dry a piece of bamboo clothing, it will be fresh through your entire workout, hike, or hot yoga class.  

3. Bamboo clothing can provide UV protection synthetic clothing cannot.  We all know smoking is bad for us and directly linked to lung cancer.  As such, most of us don’t smoke; it’s literally a dying trend.  However, it’s shocking that so many of us still practice some form of sun worship without applying sunscreen and/or wearing sun-protective clothing.  Just like with smoking and lung cancer, sun exposure and skin cancer go hand in hand.  It’s vitally important we protect ourselves from the sun, so many of us choose to wear sun-protective clothing.  

We hate to break it to you, but the UV protectant clothing you’re likely using is probably made that way by use of chemicals.  Chemicals applied to clothing during production allow it to be UV protectant, but the scarier part is that the UV protection fades and wears away after it has been washed numerous times.  

Bamboo clothing has an average SPF rating of 50+ naturally, and that protection survives every sweat session, washing machine clean, and anything else you can throw at it.

4. Bamboo clothing is great for sensitive skin.  Because there’s zero need to treat bamboo with chemicals, there’s virtually nothing in the fabric of bamboo clothing that can be harsh and irritating on even the most sensitive of skin types.   If you’ve ever had a reaction from synthetic performance gear, you may find bamboo clothing to be more gentle on your skin.
5. Bamboo clothing regulates temperature.  The fibers of the bamboo plant have tiny holes that allow the fiber to breathe and ventilate.  When bamboo is turned into fabric, those same pores allow the fabric to become breathable as well.  
6. Bamboo clothing is easy to care for and clean.  If you’ve been hanging your favorite yoga flow leggings to let them air dry out of fear you’ll ruin what likely cost close to $200, you’ll be happy to hear you can get even better performance from bamboo clothing and toss these pieces right into the washer and dryer.  Bamboo is the ultimate in easy-care fabrics and requires no special techniques for washing and drying.    Additionally, you’ll never ever have to pull out the iron for a piece of bamboo performance wear; bamboo is naturally wrinkle resistant.  

If you’re looking for a great option for performance gear that is environmentally safe, performs better than synthetic pieces, and is completely low-maintenance, bamboo clothing is a win.