With apologies to the classic Irish tune, and to our friends at DannyShane: Oh Danny Boy, the bamboo, the bamboo is calling.
The eco-conscious cycling apparel company is doing something very unique with bamboo. While we heard about a bamboo water bottle previously, and even a bamboo bicycle, we never thought we’d ever have the chance to wear bamboo whilst riding. The whole grass skirt thing doesn’t seem ideal for use with a bike. But DannyShane will suit you up in the fast growing grass.
The has created a line of proprietary fabric blend materials that 44 to 50 percent bamboo white ash (BWA), the latest innovation in truly natural fibers. And according to reports the BWA should capture odor naturally, breathe easily and provide natural UV protection while still feeling soft. The fabric dries quickly too, as it provides the BWA into every weave of fabric, helping provide natural moisture-wicking capabilities. Continue reading Interbike 2010: Oh Danny Boy, Oh DannyShane
This month Deltron, Inc. announced that its Elasco Inc. manufacturing subsidiary has taken skateboarding in a new – and greener – direction. This latest move has enabled Sector 9, a manufacturer of skateboards and apparel, to offer eco-friendly skateboard wheels. Sector 9 has become one of the market leaders in design and manufacture of skate long boards, which is a fast-growing segment in the skateboard market. And now the company’s boards with have organic-based wheels to let them do the rolling. The new Elasco wheels are actually made with a soybean-based polyols.
“Founded in 1993, Sector 9 has a long and distinguished history of leadership in the boardsports industry,” said Deltron CEO Henry Larrucea. “The Sector 9 team has demonstrated a strong commitment to the environment, providing sustainable products as well as offering information on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel consumption in its corporate materials. When Elasco developed proprietary formulations to produce polyurethane wheels using soybean polyols, Sector 9 seized the opportunity to be the first skateboard company to offer more sustainable wheels. Increasing sales this year show that the ‘green’ wheels have strong appeal for environmentally conscious customers including surfers, skateboarders and the broader youth market.” Continue reading Wheels Keep Turning, and Now Are Spinning Green
Summer maybe winding down and even if the waves aren’t up for you to catch, you can still make like a surfer with a very different type of board. Enter the skimboard, a three to four-foot wooden plank that literally skims on just inches of water. It is one that is easy to learn, and can better still doesn’t require that would be riders need be near a large body of water.
Thus the sport has been catching on in many parts of the country, especially those regions where it isn’t always possible to catch the big waves. According to a recent story in The Bellingham Herald in Washington, skimboards have been around since the early 1980s as an alternative to surfing, but this year has seen a pick-up in the sport. As the article notes skimming can also be relatively cheap when compared to surfing or even snowboards. Continue reading When the Surf is Down, the Skimboard Can Still Let You Get Wet and Wild
With all the eco bottles on store shelves, you expect to see stainless steel or BPA-free plastic for the newest offering. Bamboo? Does it hold water? Glass? Won’t it break? Together they make a sturdy and attractive bottle to tote around your non-potable.
The Bamboo Bottle Company combines sustainable bamboo and glass to make its new bottle. The 17 oz. “original” bottle is BPA-free. It is constructed of a bamboo tube with a glass insert and top and bottom caps. Bamboo was selected for the outer because of the species’ stability, hardness and strength. Phyllostachys Pubescens bamboo, also known as Moso and Mau Tzu bamboo, are grown and harvested, then hand selected and hand cut for the bottle. While bamboo is sustainable, the hand harvesting allows for maturing and flowering strands of the plants to remain flourishing to their full 90 feet, which takes about nine months. It also avoids the use of heavy machinery to minimize impact on the ground soil. The cut bamboo continues to grow as it is a type of grass. Continue reading This Bamboo Holds Water
Handlebar mounted mobile phone complete with charger - your legs supply the power
Being able to burn some calories while charging a mobile phone might sound like a great combination, especially for those looking to go green. But this technology could be a life changer, especially in areas where reliable power isn’t always available. Nokia has shifted in high gear, basically by utilizing a familiar technology, but with a new twist. The Nokia Bicycle Charger Kit can help power a mobile phone as soon as you reach a walking speed (around 6 km/h), while at 12 km/h it can actually be as efficient as a plug-in charger. It can install on practically any bike, and it works much like those 1960-1970 era lighting systems, where it generated power as a wheel made contact with the actual bike tire. The faster you pedaled the brighter the light. It was so simple; it is a wonder why it hasn’t been used for other applications.
But now Nokia has essentially taken the technology and adapted as a phone charger. It consists of a bottle dynamo, a charger and a phone holder. The bottle attaches to the front of the bike via a mounting bracket, while the charger and phone holder are mounted to the handlebars. To the serious rider this could be a turn off as it will add some weight, but except for race day it shouldn’t matter.
For those in less fashion-centric locations, where a bike is a means of everyday transportation, this could have a big impact. TMCnet is reporting that this technology is already being used in parts of Africa, where reliable power isn’t always readily available to users. This makes for an easy to use alternative, and unlike wind and solar recharging devices is good for those on the go.
Bamboo tubes and grips are accented by green or any other color of choice.
Steel, aluminum, carbon fiber, titanium, just a few metals and alloys that are used to make bikes. Add bamboo to the list. The Dylan Bamboo Bicycle from Organic Bikes uses the strong and sustainable wood for its tubing, and recycled alloy for frame lugs and chainstay tubing. Available in five sizes XS to XL, the bike is customized to your color and style specifications including a water bottle cage made from bamboo.
The bamboo is said to absorb some of the bumps in the road better than alloy and metal frames, producing a more comfortable ride. The Dylan is a three-speed cycle. Organic Bikes plans to release town bikes and road bike frames in the future. Committed to sustainability, the company also makes biodegradable water bottles as well as clothing and messenger bags made from recycled materials.
Wool is probably the last material you expect to wear while running or doing other exercise. All the new technical fibers, many made from old soda bottles, are known to wick sweat and keep you warm or cool, depending on their purpose. Many of those fibers mimic natural fibers such as wool. Now a company called Icebreaker features wool from New Zealand with just enough of the manmade stuff (lycra) to give you a snug fit and hold shape.
Icebreaker began as a base layer company, making thermal underwear and snug tops for layering made of wool. It’s still a strong part of the company’s business, but some of the new designs can take you from the office to the trail with style. The Amazon Scoop ($64.99), a women’s top that can easily be worn on the street, keep you warm on the plane, or wick sweat as you take your bike for a spin. Icebreaker outfits you from head to toe with foot specific wool socks for different sports.
If you’re curious about how your wool became an Amazon Scoop or other style, each garment comes with its own Baacode, which tracks back to the farm, or station, where it was raised. It doesn’t track to the specific sheep, but you get the flavor of the countryside.
Nike makes team uniforms from recycled plastic bottles.
The recent trend in sports and fitness clothing is green, sustainability. Nike is part of this trend and especially when it comes to football (that’s soccer to many of you), and the upcoming 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This year Nike is outfitting the Brazil team with home and away kits, plus eight away kits for other Nike-sponsored federations appearing in the games. What’s so sustainable about these kits or outfits you ask? Nike’s fabric suppliers sourced plastic bottles from landfill sites in Japan and Taiwan to produce the jerseys and shorts.
Eight plastic bottles produce one jersey. To turn bottle into soft, breathable fabric bottles the manufacturer melts the plastics down to produce new yarn and then convert that yarn into fabric to construct jerseys. Just because the jerseys are made from plastic doesn’t mean players will drown in their own sweat. Designed to keep players drier, cooler, and more comfortable, the outfit has a handful of features. The Dri-Fit fabric is 15 percent lighter than previous Nike kit fabrications, which also benefits players’ ability to do their stuff out on the field. The coordinating shorts have additional ventilation zones below the waistband and near the base of the spine to keep the outfit breathable.
The outfits have some protection built in as well. Nike Pro Combat, adds protection against light impact and abrasion in the Slider and Impact shorts. The Pro Combat also features a therma Mock that protects a player’s neck against harsh conditions such as sun.
The process saves raw materials and reduces energy consumption by up to 30 percent compared to the manufacture of virgin polyester. For the upcoming season and competition, Nike salvaged roughly 13 million plastic bottles, totaling around 254,000 kg of polyester waste from landfill sites. That’s enough to stretch a distance of 3,000 kilometers if the bottles are laid out end-to-end.
The games take place in South Africa with teams from Brazil, The Netherlands, Portugal, U.S.A., South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Serbia, and Slovenia. Get your own team kits at nike.com and nikefootball.com.
With apologies to the classic Irish tune, and to our friends at DannyShane: Oh Danny Boy, the bamboo, the bamboo is calling.
