Why So Many Leggings? Part 2: BAM

As someone who works in environmental education, I try to practice what I preach and live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.

My downfall?

Leggings.

During lockdown/furlough, I have been practicing a lot of yoga and enjoying lots of runs on my local trails. I admit I have spent a lot of time on ebay looking at second hand leggings, and doing a fair bit of buying/selling. So I figured it was time to own up to my legging obsession, and share a little of what I've found out. It's tricky when you need leggings for running, leggings for yoga, leggings for hiking, leggings that can dress up/dress down, leggings for lounging... could there really be one pair to rule them all? And what are the eco credentials of the big brands?

Is bamboo the answer to environmentally friendly leggings? BAM think so

I absolutely love these leggings from BAM

I have followed BAM for years now, regularly receiving their catalogues and over the years I have made a few purchases from them. Interestingly, I remember their early catalogues boasting about their clothes being an environmentally friendly choice, and then for a while the catalogues stopped mentioning their eco credentials. Recently this has changed again, and BAM now have a whole Sustainability section on their website, and are striving to "become impact positive". They claim to now be "climate positive" through offsetting 100% of their manufacturing emissions. Their Instagram shows photos of their Sustainability Expert visiting the bamboo forests in Chongqing, China, highlighting the plant's fast growing, high yielding and non-pesticide-requiring characteristics.

But is bamboo all it's cracked up to be?  In this Patagonia article "Why We Don't Use Bamboo or PLA", the author states that the process of turning bamboo into clothing (or, more specifically, the fibre rayon) is not so environmentally friendly, as it requires a toxic solvent, carbon disulphide, about half of which goes back out into the natural environment. Instead, Patagonia has opted to use Tencel (fibres from the eucalyptus tree), a fabric used by other eco-clothing companies including Finisterre and Vildnis.

BAM leggings are great for hiking. Photo by Ben McKeown (@thebigbluetree)

Back to leggings. For me, BAM leggings do come close to being the one legging to rule them all. I like their thickness for hiking, they're soft and hugging for yoga, and the plain colours can be dressed up with a nice top for an evening out. The only thing I don't like using them for is running, preferring a lighter material which feels more sweat-wicking for jogs on the trails. I find their sizing hit and miss, sometimes sizing up, sometimes down, sometimes OK with my usual size. From an environmental perspective, I think the jury is still out with bamboo, but BAM are clearly making some positive steps in the age of climate emergency.