Bamboo yarn struggled to be a forerunner in the manufacturing world. For hundreds of years prior, one of the few ways bamboo was used to make garments was by stripping the wood and fashioning it into a hat by weaving as seen in picture above.There had been many attempts to re-purpose bamboo into a fiber functional enough to make cloth.The initial patents for turning bamboo into a textile occurred back in 1864 by a man named Philip Lichtenstadt, whom envisioned a unique method to expand the uses of this ever-useful plant.In the patent, it is explained how he wanted to create a new and helpful procedure for disintegrating the fiber of bamboo so that it might be utilized as a part of the manufacturing cordage, cloth, tangles, or pulp of pape.

Following the patent approval, bamboo never really manifested into a product which could be mass produced as a workable fabric. Not until 1881 did another patent bring about the notion of using wool with bamboo to create cloth. Yet, due to expensive costs from equipment and other processes, such as transporting, the sought after production of bamboo textiles still did not stick as anticipated.It took another century before Bamboo clothing even became a thing. In the year 2001, Beijing University found a way of configuring the process of making fabric out of bamboo. Mixed with modern bleaching compounds, finally bamboo was set to be sold commercially across the world. Since that point in time, bamboo textiles have paved the way for several new innovations in fiber mixing processes, such as more advanced rayon methods.It is hard to say exactly what caused the slow development of bamboo as an available textile.

One critical explanation, as to the causation of bamboo fibers only garnering traction recently, may be due to the overpowering domination of the cotton industry, which had existed long before it, along with the current social movement of pressing for sustainable resources.There are two different processes in which bamboo fibers are manufactured: mechanically and chemically. The mechanical process entails mashing up the part of the plant comprised of wood, then adding in natural enzymes to create a mushy mixture. This mass is then sifted through to comb out the natural fibers to then spin into yarn. Most yarn is not made this mechanical way, due to it being time-consuming, laborious, and costly.

Typically, chemical production is the method most commonly used to comprise bamboo textiles. Through the use of the viscose process, hydrolysis is performed. Essentially, the bamboo shoots and leaves are cooked in chemical solvents, then pushed through a sieve, where it is placed in a chemical bath, in which it hardens and forms into strands. This is then followed by a multi-stage bleaching process. Bamboo yarns come in most every weight category, which means it can be applied to almost any knitting or crochet works imaginable. Ideal projects to create with bamboo yarn would be any sort of top, especially a tunic or a dress. The reason for this is explained later in this article. Other wonderful options to consider making are sweaters, shawls, shrugs, and socks.