Bamboo Babies

Turns out that pandas have known the score for a long time. Bamboo is hot.

Bamboo, which is mixed with cotton to produce an incredibly soft, luxurious fabric, is a sustainably harvested and incredibly fast-growing crop. (At up to two feet per day, young bamboo shoots grow up even faster than our preschoolers!) It re-grows itself. It traps five times the greenhouse gas than an equivalent stand of timber trees, while releasing 35 per cent more oxygen. It doesn’t require pesticides or fertilizers.

What more could a mom ask for? Just this: it’s hypo-allergenic, anti-bacterial, and requires no special laundering. (Can we admit that is our fave part?) And to our relief, many ultra-tempting, cozy bamboo-based products have shown up in Vancouver over the past few months.

Leading the way in baby wear is Bamboobino, created by Sharon Chai who loved bamboo clothes for herself but couldn’t find any for her two children, now aged 2 and 5. So she designed five products to fill that gap, and they’re available online and in several Lower Mainland shops. From the cashmere-like enclosed baby wrap to an ultra-absorbent after-bath cap that dries off baby’s hair like nobody’s business, your wee one will find that it is, in fact, quite easy being green.

If you’re shopping for the whole family, check out Granville Island Organix, which carries a range of clothes and housewares created from bamboo and other organic fibres. Or you can visit HT Naturals in East Van. It’s a Vancouver-based business whose bamboo, hemp and soy clothing line is carried by retailers throughout North America. Try out its online calculator, and calculate the positive impact you’ve made by purchasing their eco-clothes. Want to buy two of their ladies’ Ts? You’ll save 1,000 gallons of water. An HT Naturals hoodie? That eliminates the use of almost half a pound of chemical fertilizer.

North Shore-ites will find gorgeous bamboo towels and silky-edged soft blankets (not that we need yet another excuse for a nap) at M, the designer housewares store in Park Royal Village, while Kits cats will find bamboo-based clothes at Oqoqo, Lululemon’s sister store on 4th. Out in the valley? Visit www.bambooclothes.ca for info on a Surrey set-up that sells bamboo fibre and yarn as well as clothing.

Seems like bamboo-based biz is big, and with good reason. Next time your child is longing to be a superhero, drape him in a bamboo towel and tell him he’s got Panda Power.

Bamboobino
www.bamboobino.com

Granville Island Organix
www.granvilleislandorganix.com
(604) 681-4243
1524 Duranleau St.

HT Naturals
www.htnaturals.com
(604) 255-5005
1307 Venables (at Clark)

Oqoqo
www.oqoqo.com
2123 West 4th Ave.
(604) 732-6188

M Store
(778) 280-3610
The Village at Park Royal (near Whole Foods)

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