A Word on Bamboo Socks

Ever since I started this blog I have been brainstorming rants to publish to my non-existing audience.  Today was the first I wore boots and socks in a long while which reminded me of how awesome bamboo socks are.  The bamboo plant can grow 16 feet in a day making it the largest grass and greatest potential for biomass on earth.  A bamboo patch that has been pruned for 4 years is mature for harvest.  There are two methods for making bamboo fiber: one involves using enzymes that break down the lignin that holds the strands of cellulose together but this method takes about three weeks as lignin makes very unstandardized bonds with itself and cellulose and enzymes are very stereospecific meaning they require a specific substrate to work properly.  This delay makes this method not commercially viable so instead most processors favor adding hydrogen sulfide which breaks lignin bonds very quickly but the chemical is highly toxic although it is not in the finished product.  The resulting cellulose from the chemical seperation is raw and unstable so the fibers must be spun at high speed to create microstrands or viscouse fiber also known as rayon.  This rayon is not very strong as the fiber length is tiny so another fiber must be added to the mix to create a thread often cotton or spandex.  This gives you a fantastically soft cloth from which to make clothing.  Bamboo viscouse is the fabric of the future hands down.  It is as soft as silk-I can attest the first time I put my socks on I felt as though I was walking on a cloud.  The fabric is super absorbant, it breathes better than almost any other fabric and here is the kicker: bamboo kun is a compound in the cellulose that is antibacterial and antifungal essentially making your bamboo socks resistant to odor.  It is amazing, I have done my own case study.  I wore my socks for three weeks straight even during sleep but not the gym as I was lazy at this point in my life so it is applicable to the average sedentary American and would you believe the socks smelled the same from one day of use to the end of the third week.  Incredible!!!  If you know someone who does have very stinky feet that are never fresh give bamboo socks a try.  You will not regret it I promise.  Granted the socks will cost upwards of $6 a pair but you buy one pair a year wear it for a week straight then wash it.  I say a year because the bamboo kun has about 50 washes worth of effectiveness so assuming you only do laundry once a week the socks are a great investment.  I have these socks myself http://www.ecosox.com/apps/webstore/products/show/3043792 and I must say they are wonderful and American made.  I assure you I have much more to say about alternative fiber-for example my cotton jeans cannot stand up to the wear of my crotch causing holes to form over only two years time PREPOSTEROUS!!!- but I will save it for later all I can say is cotton is out of date and not ideal in almost any circumstance so be smart, choose free will above apathy and wear what feels the best.

Dutch out