ECO-FRIENDLY BAMBOO GARMENTS

More about bamboo
More about Organic Cotton
More about recycled polyester

PROCESSING BAMBOO INTO SOFT CLOTHING

Bamboo chips are boiled in a bath of sodium hydroxide and carbon disulphide. Techniques are continuously improving, and waste materials are now reused to ensure they do not contaminate the environment. These techniques are not yet perfect, but developments continue at a rapid pace. This process results in a mushy mass known as bamboo pulp.

After a few days, the cooled bamboo pulp is pressed through small holes in a sulphuric acid bath, where it hardens and forms fine threads. These threads are used to spin bamboo yarns of varying thickness.

Now that we’ve processed the bamboo, it is called bamboo viscose. These bamboo viscose yarns are washed, bleached and dried – these are the final steps before the yarn is woven into soft bamboo clothing.

After washing, bleaching and drying, the bamboo yarn is combined with other materials such as cotton yarn. This careful fusion of threads reinforces the fabric. The result is the most comfortable clothing in which bamboo is by far the most important component. In the next chapter, we explain how to minimise the impact of cotton use.

Baby-Box
Workwear remixed
Feeling Creative

PERKS OF WEARING BAMBOO GARMENTS

Extended freshness

Thanks to the microscopic holes in bamboo fibres our products offer excellent ventilation, which will keep you feeling fresh and dry significantly longer.

Silky soft

The smooth structure of the bamboo fibre offers unique softness and excellent comfort.

Hypoallergenic

Bamboo does not trigger any allergic reactions, hence it is particularly convenient for those who have sensitive skin, or suffer from allergies.

UV radiation protection

Natural UV protection, and it can filter up to 97.5 % of harmful UV rays.

Crease-free

Forget ironing! Due to the properties of bamboo fibres, the fabric is almost impossible to wrinkle, and even after frequent washing, it holds its shape exceptionally well.

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visbatex cares

C02 EMISSIONEN
C02 EMISSION
WIR RECYCELN
WE RECYCLE
WIR ACHTEN AUF MUTTER ERDE
WE CARE ABOUT SOIL
WIR SPAREN WASSER
WE SAVE WATER
WIR ARBEITEN OHNE CHEMIKALIEN
CHEMICAL FREE
KEIN KÜNSTLICHER DÜNGER
NO ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZERS
C02 EMISSIONEN
C02 EMISSION
WIR RECYCELN
WE RECYCLE
WIR ACHTEN AUF MUTTER ERDE
WE CARE ABOUT SOIL
WIR SPAREN WASSER
WE SAVE WATER
WIR ARBEITEN OHNE CHEMIKALIEN
CHEMICAL FREE
KEIN KÜNSTLICHER DÜNGER
NO ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZERS
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Certification

The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) is recognized as the world's leading processing standard for textiles made from organic fibers. Not only does it ensure that the plants are grown organically, it also requires environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing 

This label verifies the presence and amount (95-100 percent) of organic material in a final product and tracks the flow of the raw material from its source to the final product.

A global certification system for environmentally friendly and socially responsible production facilities in the textile and clothing industry. If clothing bears the OEKO-TEX quality mark, it does not contain any harmful substances.  Therefore our products are better for your skin and your overall health.  

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CONTACT US

  • Waldheimstr. 12, 82166 Gräfelfing
  • 089 - 897961050
  • visbatex[at]visbatex.com
  • firstwear[at]firstwear.com

What is a bamboo plant?

Imagine a green stalk like plant and we are on the right track. Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word Bamboo comes from the Malay word. “Mambu”. Malay is the national language of Malaysia and Indonesia. During the 16th century (1590-1600) the Dutch changed the name ti “Bamboes” after which it got its Neo-Latin name “Bambusa”

What does a bamboo consist of?

As most people have, perhaps you’ve always thought that bamboo is a type of wood. While bamboo may be hard and have impressively strength, it’s important to remember that it’s a species of grass. Like any plant, bamboo has roots. Unlike other plants, however, the bamboo stem has a characteristic round shape and hollow structure.

Uniqueness of the plant

Here you can see the inside of a bamboo stem, otherwise known as a bamboo shoot. In addition to its unique shape, the trunk has transverse bulkheads at irregular intervals in the cavity, which are visible as outer ridges. These transverse bulkheads are permeable to water and air. The cells in the wall of the bamboo stem consist of 50% lignin, 40% cellulose fibres and 10% vascular bundles.

Bamboo fibers

Let’s take a closer look at the cellulose fibers that are used to produce bamboo clothing. In the elongitudinal direction of the trunk wall, bamboo consists of these unique cellulose fibers. They are strong and play an essential role in determining the trunk’s compressive strength. Compressive strength is the degree to which a material can withstand compressive forces without warping. This is comparable to the reinforcement of concrete. In the cross-section displayed to the left, the increasing number of fibre bundles towards the inner edge of the trunk is clearly visible

Natural material

The hollow shape of the bamboo trunk is 1.9 times more efficient as a building material as the rectangular cross-section of a wooden beam. This leads to material savings. Combined with the strong fibres, this makes bamboo an exceptionally suitable building material. One of Mother Nature’s most brilliant inventions!

Processing techniques

Not surprisingly, bamboo is frequently used in the construction of products and buildings. The use of bamboo is more evident in some products than others. A bamboo raft, for example, clearly demonstrates the materials used, while bamboo clothing leaves more to the imagination. This is to do with the fact that there are several techniques available for the processing of bamboo. Each of the four processing techniques is mentioned below:
SAWING
SHREDDING
CRUSHING
TRIMMING

The Cotton Plant

The cotton plant it has a height that can reach 1,5 meters depending on the country of origin: Asia, Africa, America are the favorite places for this type of cultivation.

Cotton it is a great resource for human civilization, however in recent years it has created a status of forced occupation and impoverishment of land, exploitation of cheap labor, waste of energy resources and pollution of the aquifers. If all this were not enough to reduce the cultivation of standard cotton, we insert in the negative notes all the subsequent production phases (spinning, weaving, washing, dyeing, etc.): they use a disproportionate amount of water, waste energy, make extensive use of more harmful toxic substances.

There are so many downsides to cotton, but most of them fall apart when it comes to organic cotton.

Cultivation of Organic Cotton

The cultivation rules of the organic cotton are very strict: in addition to excluding thousands of toxic substances and polluting manufacturing processes, these rules protect the social aspect of workers, especially in those countries where workers’ rights do not exist, or where they are superficial.

Organic cotton it is certified by international organizations such as GOTS – Global Organic Textile Standard, a certification that plays a key role when it comes to sustainable fashion,


Besides GOTS there are others textile certifications which attest to the biological origin of cotton such as OCS – Organic Content Standard, but this has less impact, since it bases its foundations exclusively on the verification of the biological origin of the raw material (cotton), but not on the social aspect of production.

In addition to reducing the use of chemicals and respecting the rights of workers, one of the primary aspects in the cultivation of organic cotton it is the rotation of agricultural land: the land contains a limited quantity of nutrients (minerals), but in intensive cultivation the land is exploited until these resources are exhausted.

The Organic Cotton Revolution

The environmental pollution caused by the cultivation of standard cotton is clearly more felt in developing countries, where disinformation reigns, in addition to the scarcity of national laws to protect the environment and workers.

Farmers are forced to pollute their own land, the land that provides them with food and water. Pollution causes disease and death due to long exposure to toxic substances, mainly used in cotton cultivation.

Human health is heavily affected by daily exposure to these harmful substances, especially where masks or other safety tools are not used, but it is good to know that these problems are highlighted in the intensive agriculture in general, not only in the cultivation of cotton.

The cultivation of organic cotton protects millions of workers (especially farmers) who work in this sector, only thanks to the standards dictated by organic farming.

The advantages of organic cotton:

  • Substances harmful to the environment and human health are banned.
  • The land is not exploited and abandoned, but enters the rotation regime.
  • The rights and minimum wages of fair work are guaranteed.
  • Farmers are protected against forced labor, child labor, discrimination.
  • The physical and mental health of the workers is taken into consideration.

Differences between Organic Cotton and Traditional Cotton

Organic Cotton

  • No GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms).
  • Healthy soil due to the spraying of organic matter.
  • Land always alive thanks to crop rotation.
  • Natural defoliation due to atmospheric agents.
  • The dyes used have a low environmental impact.
  • Guarantee of fair work throughout the textile supply chain.

Standard Cotton

  • Treated with fungicides and insecticides, often GMOs.
  • Polluted soil due to the use of synthetic fertilizers.
  • Dead land after several years of intensive use.
  • Defoliation induced with synthetic chemicals.
  • Dyes with a high percentage of heavy metals and sulfur.
  • Exploitation of cheap labor.

Why choose organic cotton?

In comparison with the common cotton the organic cotton it is a winning product under the two aspects that interest us most: environmental and social.

Analyzes such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (Thu find the LCA analysis of a standard cotton t-shirt) clearly show how the organic cotton has become a mandatory choice to make fashion more sustainable, above all due to the environmental and social damage caused in the last twenty years by Fast Fashion and from low cost fashion.

Organic Cotton Textile Fiber

We have ascertained that organic cotton is more sustainable than standard cotton. But putting environmental and social benefits aside, is organic cotton softer and more breathable than standard cotton? Does it offer any advantages in terms of comfort? Is it better than standard cotton?

Theoretically there should be no difference, although to the touch (based on our experience) it is evident: organic cotton is softer and more comfortable than traditional cotton.

Not being treated with aggressive chemicals such as bleach and formaldehyde, and being “respected” at every stage of production, organic cotton is comparable to medium quality cotton.

Keep in mind that fashion brands have cut production costs in recent years. It is a goal of all companies to cut costs, and it is evident – compared to the 90s – the loss of quality of cotton, especially in terms of wear resistance if we have low-cost fashion products in our hands. we are used to.

Characteristics of Organic Cotton

Organic Cotton Clothing

By purchasing garments of organic cotton clothing we contribute directly to the protection of the environment and human rights, limiting the environmental and social impact of intensive cotton cultivation.

Thanks to the minimal use of chemicals, organic clothing can be defined as hypoallergenic, but we must pay attention to the labels (especially to read the amount of organic cotton in the garment).

What is recycled polyester?

Recycled polyester fibres extracted from recycled plastic bottles (PET) are being increasingly used in fabric manufacturing.

What would otherwise be considered waste is being transformed into something new and useful – a huge win since virgin polyester is not a particularly sustainable raw material. Recycled polyester is used in garments within a variety of industries. It is an exceptionally versatile material and an overall eco-friendly fibre.

Recycled materials like recycled polyester are crucial content for eco-designs. They produce a smaller environmental footprint and contribute to the European aim(s) of being climate neutral in 2050. One of the objectives supported by the German government is to include at least 63% recycled materials in newly produced textiles by 2030.

The advantages of recycled polyester - sustainable, durable & economical

When compared to virgin polyester, recycled polyester offers almost the same properties, albeit with significant environmental gains.

It is durable, lightweight, crease-resistant, colourfast, quick-drying, stain resistant, eco-friendly, and economical. This is the reason why polyester is often used in all textiles, spanning across home textiles, fashion, sports and outdoor clothing, to name just a few.

A crucial advantage of using recycled polyester over virgin polyester is the reduction of bottles in landfills.

Plastic bottles are reused in the fibre production process of recycled polyester and this in turn has major benefits for reducing contamination of the earth as well as water and air pollution. This also means reduced use of petroleum which is used in the creation of virgin polyester.


Recycled polyester results in huge energy savings (of up to 45%) during the fibre production process compared to virgin polyester.

Choosing recycled polyester over its virgin counterpart also means a 20% reduction in water consumption and 30% less CO2 emissions.

At FirstWear, the recycled polyester fibre that we use is produced through a mechanical process. As a result, no chemicals are used in the production process — another big win for the environment.

Manufacturing process of recycled polyester

It is important to be aware that many garment manufacturers often claim to use 100% recycled polyester in their fabrics, when unfortunately this is not the case. It may indeed be true that their fabric comprises recycled polyester, but the overall percentage of recycled polyester that some companies use is very often limited. Moreover, recycled polyester is in fact mixed with virgin polyester in a blend. True 100% recycled polyester within garment fabrics is what we strive for to drastically improve sustainability and become more eco-friendly.


At FirstWear, we use recycled polyester fibres that are made from 80% recycled plastic bottles (what is called post-consumer waste) and 20% waste from polyester production (dubbed ‘post- industrial waste’).

Recycled polyester: the pros

1. Keeping plastics from going to landfill and the ocean – Recycled polyester gives a second life to a material that’s not biodegradable and would otherwise end up in landfill or the ocean.

According to the NGO Ocean Conservancy, 8 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean every year, on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate in marine environments. If we keep this pace, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Plastic has been found in 60 percent of all seabirds and 100 percent of all sea turtle species, because they mistake plastic for food.

As for landfill, the United States Environmental Protection Agency reported that the country’s landfills received 26 million tons of plastic in 2015 alone. The EU estimates the same amount to be generated yearly by its members. Clothes are undoubtedly a big part of the problem: in the UK, a report by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) estimated that about 140 million pounds worth of clothes end up in landfills each year.

2. rPET is just as good as virgin polyester, but takes less resources to make Recycled polyester is almost the same as virgin polyester in terms of quality, but its production requires 59 percent less energy compared to virgin polyester, according to a 2017 study by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment. WRAP estimates rPET’s production to reduce CO2 emissions by 32 percent in comparison to regular polyester. In addition, recycled polyester can contribute to reduce the extraction of crude oil and natural gas from the Earth to make more plastic.

“Using recycled polyester lessens our dependence on petroleum as a source of raw materials,” says the website of outdoor brand Patagonia, best known for making fleece from used soda bottles, unusable manufacturing waste and worn-out garments. “It curbs discards, thereby prolonging landfill life and reducing toxic emissions from incinerators. It also helps to promote new recycling streams for polyester clothing that is no longer wearable,” adds the label.

“Because polyester accounts for approximately 60 percent of the world’s production of PET — about twice what’s used in plastic bottles — developing a non-virgin supply chain for polyester fiber has the potential to massively impact global energy and resource requirements,” argues American apparel brand Nau, also known for prioritizing sustainable fabric options.

 

What is a baby box?

Baby boxes are sturdy corrugated cardboard boxes that have been distributed to new moms in Finland since the 1930s. An inexpensive bassinet, they offer babies a safe sleeping environment and a whole lot more. The boxes often come equipped with essential products for mom and baby like diapers and clothing. Some say Finland’s baby box program have helped Finland achieve one of the World’s lowest infant mortality rate.

Are baby boxes safe?

The AAP notes that a large percentage of babies who die of SIDS are found with their heads covered, blocking their ability to breathe. For this reason, it is not recommended that parents share their bed with their baby. Baby boxes allow children to sleep close to the parents on a safe surface with room to breathe. Additionally, baby boxes are light and portable, so parents can provide a safe sleeping environment throughout the home or office. Most importantly, baby boxes are affordable.

Is there evidence to support the efficacy of baby boxes?

In 2015-2016, Temple University conducted a study in which 2,763 mothers completed a survey regarding the efficacy of baby boxes. The study showed that baby boxes combined with personalized sleep education, reduced the rate of a key unsafe infant sleep practice (bed sharing) during the first week of infancy. For exclusively breastfed infants, a population at increased risk of bed-sharing, bed-sharing was reduced by 50%.

High impact

Baby boxes are relatively inexpensive but can have a significant impact on a patient population or a community.

The impact can be far reaching and extend beyond health benefits.

Engagement

Baby box programs can help extend the patient relationship beyond the walls of the hospital. They can also be an innovative maternity or paternity benefit for your employees.

Let’s peek into our starting box:

  • Fitted sheet and warm blanket that fit the box perfectly
  • A selection of clothes from newborn up to age of 6 months
  • A travel changing mat, a bath towel, muslin cloth squares and a bib

Robust WorkWear or casual fashion?

Both in one- IT WORKS!

Functional clothing today can often hardly be distinguished from chic leisure and outdoor clothing.

But it has to be practical, but it can be fashionable, clothing hygiene, functional, physiological and image aspects play a role in the selection of work clothing and business outfits, economy is the trump card.

  • Hard-wearing, skin-friendly and with antibacterial effect
  • WorkWare made from new VisbaTex fibre material 60% bamboo viscose, 40% recycled polyester 180g/m2
  • Leading silver ion technology
  • Environmentally friendly with EPA Registration

With FirstWear there are no limits to your imagination.

We also offer the possibility of producing smaller quantities with an individual logo. From a quantity of 500 pieces, you can also order your desired textiles with your own company logo for a small surcharge. Various textile printing processes are available for this purpose.

Most of our products can be customized with your logo or design. You decide in which position you want your logo and in which quality.

So think of something nice. You will be surprised how quickly and easily you can get hold of your special requests as an individual custom-made product. In addition, we can offer our own design studio, which can graphically implement your own ideas and concepts. Just ask.