Transforming Bamboo into Boody

Bamboo has traditionally been used for making huts, baskets, rafts and scaffolding... so how do bamboo shoots become beautifully soft, comfortable Boody garments? Here's the process by which we transform bamboo into Boody Bamboo Eco Wear.

Organically grown bamboo

Grown organic & harvest

Our bamboo is grown without fertilisers or pesticides and no irrigation, only rain water. First, the green shoots are cut into chunks of raw bamboo.

Process

Next, the bamboo is soaked in a solution to soften it. The system is closed loop - all liquid is recycled and all solvents are captured and removed to ensure that the process is as eco-friendly as the bamboo itself.

Dehydrate

The dehydration process allows us to extract the bamboo pulp that is then dried into flat sheets.

Grind

When the bamboo sheets are completely dry, they are ground into a soft, feathery material.

Did you know...

Bamboo is in fact a type of grass - a very fast growing and giant grass which can grow up to 3 feet a day

Our garments are knitted by computers which means no fabric is wasted in production

Once spun into yarn the Boody bamboo is treated with natural dyes

Boody LYOLYTTE™

Wood to Pulp

Lyocell fiber is produced from dissolving pulp, which contains cellulose in high purity with little hemicellulose and no lignin. The Bamboo stems are chipped into squares about the size of postage stamps.

Dissolving

The chips are digested chemically to remove the lignin and hemicellulose. At the lyocell mill, rolls of pulp are broken into one-inch squares and dissolved in N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO), biodegrades without producing harmful products, giving a solution called "dope".

Spinning

The filtered cellulose solution is then pumped through spinnerets. The spinneret is pierced with small holes rather like a showerhead; when the solution is forced through it, continuous strands of filament come out. The fibres are drawn in air to align the cellulose molecules, giving the lyocell fibres its characteristic high strength. 

Washing

The fibres are then immersed into a water bath, where desolvation of the cellulose sets the fibre strands. The bath contains some dilute amine oxide in a steady state concentration. Then the fibres are washed with de-mineralised water.

Did you know...

The entire manufacturing process, from unrolling the raw cellulose to baling the fibre, takes about two hours.

Carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web suitable for subsequent processing

Lyocell is 50% more absorbent than cotton, and has a longer wicking distance compared to modal fabrics of similar weave.

Organically Grown Cotton

Grown organic & harvest

Our cotton is grown without fertilisers or pesticides and no irrigation, only rain water. 

Preparation

Raw seed cotton must cleaned and free of debris. Seeds, burrs, dirt, stems and leaf material are removed from the cotton during a process called ginning.

Combing

Once free from debris, the cotton goes to the gin stand where circular saws with small, sharp teeth pluck the fibre from the seed. This process makes the sliver smoother so more uniform yarns can be produced. Then the cotton is packed tightly into bales, ready to be processed into textiles.

Cleaning and straightening

Even though the cotton is cleaned during the ginning process, it's not nearly as clean as it needs to be. Cotton fibres are shaved from the bales and sent through a series of cleaning and drying machines. The mixed and fluffed-up cotton goes into a carding machine which finishes the cleaning and straightening of the fibres, making them into a soft, untwisted rope called a sliver (pronounced sly-ver).

Did you know

Cotton seed which is removed from the cotton lint is sold as livestock feed, particularly for dairy cows containting 23 protein, 20 fat, and 25 fibre

Cotton seed is milled into cotton seed oil which is a common ingredient in salad dressings and mayonnaise

Cotton takes about 5 months to grow