Clothes and other textiles such as towels made from bamboo have been steadily gaining popularity for a number of years now, mainly in part to the sustainability and the organic nature of the crops. But did you also know that bamboo has a host of pros, which make it a much better alternative to cotton as well as man-made fabrics?

One of the apparent benefits from bamboo is how easy it is to grow. A bamboo shoot will usually need no more water than the average rain it receives, which is minute compared to the cotton plant. A bamboo plant is also able to grow at 60cm (around 24 inches) per day meaning it will reach its maximum height in about 3 months and will be ready to be harvested in 4 years. Bamboo also yields between 9-10 times more than your average cotton crop, which means that an area of bamboo can produce vastly more usable fibre than the same area of cotton. Bamboo can also be grown on slopes where others plants would not stand a chance.

Besides bamboo's notoriety for being one of the fastest growing plants in the world, it also makes for a very strong and durable fabric for your clothing, bed sheets and bath towels. But being so durable doesn't mean it isn't soft! Quite the opposite actually, as bamboo bath towel and sheets are both amazingly comfortable to dry off with or sleep on, reputedly as luxurious as silk, cashmere and Egyptian cotton to the touch.

Bamboo is also excellent for those of us who have skin that is very prone to allergies or is very sensitive in other ways. Bamboo is naturally antimicrobial as it has an inherent anti-fungal and antibacterial property which protects it in the wild from pests and pathogens. Because of this natural 'pesticide', bamboo doesn't require the use of man-made pesticides to keep the plant healthy in the natural environment. This property is kept intact during the processing of the fibres. On top of this, microbes are also known to be unable to breed on bamboo fabric, unlike on cottons of all kind. This will stop any possible nasties dead in their tracks as they will just die out after a couple of hours of not being able to breed. All this makes bamboo an excellent alternative for people with sensitive skin.

But bamboos brilliance doesn’t stop their, As bamboo is naturally breathable unlike cotton so in warm weather it absorbs then evaporates sweat in a way that's 3-4 times better than cotton. It will also keep you warmer in the cold weather as the cross sectional structure of the fibre is known to trap warm air. Bamboo is also UV protective which reduces the amount of UV rays that reach the skin, truly making it the perfect all-year round fabric for your clothing.

As bamboo is a grass, the harvesting process also uses only a fraction of the machine power needed for other types of crops. The bamboo is cut, rather than uprooted, saving fuel on tractors which would otherwise need to re-plant and cultivate new plants. After the bamboo is cut, it keeps sprouting new shoots naturally as if nothing every happened. More bamboo plantations also mean less greenhouse gas, as bamboo plantations are photosynthesis "factories" that reduce the greenhouse gases that are produced. Bamboo plants produce 35% more oxygen and absorb about 5 times the amount of carbon dioxide than an equivalent stand of trees.