San Francisco-based start-up, Selective, launches their new viscose (from bamboo) undershirts on Kickstarter.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – 28 Aug, 2017
Selective proudly announces the first collection, The Undershirt, made of bamboo viscose, a special fabric that provides exceptional touch and functional features to solve many problems with traditional cotton undershirts.
Selective Viscose Undershirts (Features)
- Kickstarter (link)
- Price: $13-$16
- Styles: Shallow V-Neck, Crew Neck
- Colors: White, Grey, Black
- Fabric: 95/5 Viscose (from Bamboo)/Spandex
- Manufactured In: Central China
As of today, Selective has raised a little over 2x their $5k Kickstarter campaign goal.
The campaign ends on 9/22 and they state they’re delivering rewards as soon as October, so I suspect they are already producing their undershirts at the China manufacturer.
A note about “bamboo”
Nothing against Selective, but brands go out of their way to use “bamboo” in their fabric description to infer that:
- it’s eco friendly
- the many characteristics of bamboo trees make their way to the end fabric
While I personally love the feel of viscose/rayon, the reality is that:
- The FTC doesn’t want brands to mislead consumers about bamboo
- There is very little chance that a large percentage of specific characteristics (anti-bacteria, anti-odor) can survive the fairly caustic processing that is required to turn a tree into a form that can be made into a fiber
Mind you, I’m not suggesting that viscose doesn’t have some anti-odor or anti-bacterial characteristics. Nor am I saying that bamboo trees don’t require less natural resources to grow than cotton.
I’m just saying that fiber manufacturers do a great job in creating marketing collateral identifying the so-called advantages of a fiber, and brands normally just regurgitate them in an embellished form.
If you want to save the planet, there are a lot more impactful ways to do that then buying would-be eco-friendly products.
Buy viscose/rayon/modal undershirts because you love the feel of them, not because a brand claims it’s more eco-friendly than cotton.
Selective Viscose Undershirts (Photos)
