Two doors down from Java Kai in Kapaa, Bamboo Works is well worth a mooch. I've never seen a store before that's completely devoted to bamboo, and it's fascinating to see how many things can be made from this one sustainable material. They had a nice selection of kitchen stuff from Totally Bamboo in CA, like a Kauai cutting board for $20 and a long rolling pin for $27 (see pics). There's a good selection of clothes containing bamboo viscose, which is made by deconstructing the cellulose from bamboo pith or leaves. There are some Hawaiian shirts containing 65% bamboo viscose and 35% cotton ($69), some T-shirts made by Spun Bamboo (70% bamboo viscose, 30% organic cotton, $29) and some very nice T-shirts with prints for $35. Some of the socks looked a bit sketchy - it would be nice to see bamboo socks from Footprint and boxers from TexereSilk. There were some beautiful surfboards and paddleboards from Blue Planet Surf in Honolulu (which unfortunately only contain bamboo veneers over standard expanded polystyrene cores - we need greener surfboards and SUPs!). There are also some non-bamboo items such as slippahs (flip-flips to non-locals) from Zoz (HI), made from natural rubber (50% recycled content) and recyclable, with 20% of profits going to local youth foundations.
Besides the normal rating above I'm giving Bamboo Works 5/5 green stars for social and environmental impact. On their website, Bamboo Works list some reasons why bamboo is a good choice - the very high growth rate which means the ability to remove a lot of CO2, produce a lot of oxygen, and supply a lot of material from very little land. Bamboo also requires very few agricultural inputs (pesticides, insecticides, nitrogen, water), grows well with compost as a fertilizer and can also remediate land that's saturated in nitrogen (common these days). It can also be harvested without disturbing the soil, the roots remaining intact and fresh plants regenerating quickly. For textiles, bamboo compares especially well to cotton, which is responsible for almost one quarter of global insecticide use (and some nasty ones too) and over one tenth of pesticides. The viscose process does have some downsides (mainly the carbon disulfide solvent used in the process) so it would be great to see some more bamboo fabrics made by the linen or Tencel processes if Julian can find and stock them. The owner (Julian) is experimenting with different varieties of bamboo to see which ones are best suited to the Hawaii, and could have a big impact on sustainability of construction needs on the islands in the future. In the meantime, the store does a great job at educating and enthusing people about the many uses for one of the best plants on the planet.
If you're looking for sustainable textiles in particular, then also check out some of the nearby stores in Kapaa that feature clothes made from hemp and flax (two stores within a 2-min walk that sell hemp clothing, and for flax linen check out the Kauai Plantation Store, a mile south beside Kauai Pasta). read more