AHMEDABAD: After furs and skins, fancy wearing bamboo pulp? If the department of Garment Production Technology and Apparel Designing, (GPTAD) in National Institute of Design and Technology (NIFT), Gandhinagar and its student, Vishal Chhawchharia, have their way, soon the country will be wearing bamboo!
Though the fabric made out of bamboo fibre is popular in countries like China and the US, it is yet to gain popularity in our country, thanks to some of the materials inherent drawbacks. However, GPTAD is now trying to add suitable properties to the fabric to make it more suitable for our country's climatic conditions.
One of the main drawbacks of the fabric is that it tends to get deformed when wet, besides its high prices owing to it being imported from China. These prohibit it from becoming popular in the country.
A student of GPTAD in NIFT, Vishal Chhawchharia, who is working on the project of popularising the fabric by ironing out its faults, said: “The climatic condition of China and USA are different from ours. This makes the fabric popular and widely used there.”
However, he said that with some research put into it and making suitable amends in the quality of the bamboo fabric, it would soon be suitable for our country too.
While citing the advantages of the bamboo fabric, Chhawchharia said, "Bamboo fabrics have good antibacterial quality which makes it odour resistant and ideal for innerwear.
Its water absorption property is higher than cotton and also evaporates faster. This make the fabrics stay cool in the summer and warm in winter. Apart from this, the fabric's softness, UV protection and its quality of not being an allergen to sensitive skins are its added qualities."
GPTAD's extensive research would include repeated wetting and drying of the material and recording its measurements each time to analyse its shrinkage and deforming tendencies. On the basis of these findings, solutions to reduce or prevent the unwanted character of the fabric would be worked out.
Chhawchharia said, "Our research will seek to find a better blend of different fibres with the bamboo fibre to keep its natural and eco-friendly properties intact."
Pawan Godiawala, coordinator of GPTAD in NIFT said, "This fabric is a good supplement for cotton.”
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