Terri Bly
When I first heard about the new trend in clothing made from bamboo, I thought, Wow, bamboo, that sounds comfortable. I pictured pandas chomping on stiff little hollow branches and could not visualize how one could transform that into something I would want to wear (the bamboo, not the panda).
Sandy Skinner, creator of ecoSkin, did not have that problem. After over 17 years in the apparel business, she saw the potential to use sustainable materials like bamboo and tencel (100% organic, biodegradable material extracted from wood pulp – another unlikely source of super-soft fabric, in my opinion), and turned her vision into ecoSkin.
If all Skinner made were yoga pants and hoodies, I’d probably have to resign myself to spending the rest of my life visiting only those places where super-casual was the dress code. Her fabrics are the kind you cannot bring yourself to remove once you put them on, except to wash them…and even then you might wait longer than is probably advisable. Fortunately for me, and for all of you who like to dine out once in a while, or get invited to the occasional wedding, her designs range from casual t-shirts to dresses you could wear to a cocktail party in Manhattan.
Now back to bamboo. Turns out, not only can it be made into surreal-soft fabric, it is also biodegradable, easily renewable, keeps you dry by whisking away moisture, and is antibacterial, antifungal, and antistatic. Why all manufacturers don’t use bamboo is now as perplexing to me as the concept of turning it into wearable fabric was before I found ecoSkin.
For more information about this fabulous company, check out their website, at www.ecoskincollections.com. You can also find most of their current line at nimli.com. I happened to notice some good sales going on there, too. If you happen to be in the Twin Cities area, check out some of their best stuff at Ecotique on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.
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