What do pandas and a pair of Philadelphia-area clothing designers have in common?
They love bamboo. Luckily for both, it is incredibly fast-growing and very durable. Bamboo can also be grown with little water and little or no pesticides, grows up to a foot in a day, grows well in a variety of climates and absorbs more carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas — and releases more oxygen than a similarly-sized stand of trees.
But where the pandas are eating bamboo, the duo comprising Denise Shardlow Designs are clothing their customers in it.
Clothing designer Shardlow and business manager Glenn Kohler, a 1982 graduate of Muhlenberg High School, are marketing a line of clothing made from bamboo, which they say is a more environmentally-friendly fabric than the more common cotton.
“We hope to be on the forefront of bamboo fashion,” Kohler said.
As consumers grow more environmentally conscious, more designers nationwide are introducing clothing made from bamboo.
The fabric also has plenty to recommend it, its proponents say: A soft feel similar to cashmere, a silk-like drape, odor and stain resistance, thermal regulating and moisture wicking.
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