bamboo

Bamboo users......sonds like some sort of addiction group.

My name is Chris and I've been using Bamboo for 5 years.  I just can't grow tomatos without it!

I'm not sure - some folk do I think use carbonised bamboo as an anti smell measure, like in the Cocona stuff that gets used by Marmot and others. Offical OM first look review here. That could certainly be a valid alternative.

There are however also some things with genuinely large bamboo content (50%+), which is fibres extracted from the bamboo - Wikipedia has a few details about this. Could certainly make a potentially interesting cotton substitute long term.

No idea as to the original question though. Other potential alternatives - midweight merino is unsurprisingly a little more durable than its lighter weight cousins. Mostly in danger from things snagging the inside of the weave that. A hole on the first day sounds like a watch strap / belt buckle perhaps?

Or maybe the merino/polyester blends like in Montanes bionics. SOme of the silver treatments meant to be all right too etc. Don't forget that whatever you get has to fit

To add to what martin said, I have recently bought the Marmot Ramble L/S baselayer (on sale as ever!) which uses their "natural Cocona technology". I have used it for two long day walks (20km ish) in the last two months and was very pleased. Comfortable, kept me dry and didn't smell. It falls into the slightly silky end of the spectrum and in my experience those fabrics tend to bobble when they get caught, but that shouldn't be a problem for durability. Certainly couldn't see it tearing like merino.

Martin Carpenter wrote (see)

 A hole on the first day sounds like a watch strap / belt buckle perhaps?

FWIW The watch strap/belt buckle are 'known' hazards of merino - any sharp edge that can snag the relatively loose internal weave basically -  but I don't think the shoulder strap shouldn't be putting holes in it remotely that quickly, if at all.

I've had a couple of small 'internal' injuries - they darned quite nicely - on my merino (Icebreaker then Chocolate Fish), but nothing external as yet in a fair bit of wear.  

the part of the strap was a sharp velcro edge so understandable

Monkey Space Pilot wrote (see)

Its not really bamboo iirc, its charcoal created from bamboo, ground up and chemically treated and added to the polymers which creates the synthetic fibre.

Looking at the description in the trekmates website it seems that their bamboo stuff is a bit more than just a bit of bamboo carbon coating on synthetic fabric, they imply that it is actually made of bamboo fibres.

clicky

Mike fae Dundee mountainbolx.com wrote (see)

I think durability of merino is down to the manufacturer. I've read a few reports of Smartwool tops and Patagonia tops wearing/holing, but my Icebreaker tops have been fine.

Apart from being blatant spam and ressurecting a three old thread, beware of the  claims of the "Green Earth" website. Their shirts are apparently made from a blend of "viscose from viscose from bamboo" (sic).

In the US mentioning bamboo in advertising viscose made from bamboo is banned, the production being highly polluting and the end product no different from viscose made from cellulose. So the claims that "Bamboo has natural temperature regulating qualities" and a "unique ability to resist odor" are highly dubious. After the processing these shirts aren't bamboo they are viscose. No one calls viscose made from timber wood, do they?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/10/how-green-is-bamboo

Other bamboo products may be more environmentally friendly.

> There are however also some things with genuinely large bamboo content (50%+), which is fibres extracted from the bamboo - Wikipedia has a few details about this

Wiki entry confirms my recollection that most 'bamboo' fabric is merely viscose, (cellulose xanthate, the first synthetic fibre), using cellulose from bamboo as 'renewable source'.

However, there seems to be a genuine bast-fibre extraction and spinning process, too, rather like flax is processed to produce linen.

Can you point out any examples of clothes made from actual bamboo fibre? Despite being written by an apologist for bamboo viscose I can only see references in that wiki article to shoes and hats in Ancient China and the structural elements of corsets being made from bamboo itself. I knoiw the intro says that "Modern bamboo clothing is clothing made from either 100% bamboo yarn or a mix with cotton", but the section on "Modern Use" refers just to viscose, which is not 100% bamboo. Since it has been processed and chemically altered its akin to describing polyester as being made from natural crude oil.

North Face have been producing  shirts from mixes of modal (a form of viscose) and polyester for decades now. I've actually got a few. But they dont make claims about this either being a natural material or that its wicking or anti-odour or anything thats desirable for a base layer. In fact (like merino wool?) it absorbs more water than cotton and the material is soft and non-iron and so is pretty good for travel (which is when I wear them). But with their moisture absorbing qualities they aren't quick drying.