Bamboo Basics: the whole base layer from one brand
Bamboo Basics is an international brand that makes exactly what the name says: basics. No seasonal collections, no prints, nothing that has to be replaced come spring. The range is built around the garments you wear out and buy again, and it is made in bamboo viscose all the way through.
That is a different way of running a clothing brand from most. When a brand only makes basics, they can keep improving the same pair of knickers instead of designing a new one every six months, and you can top up your drawer without discovering that the model has been discontinued. For a product you buy five of at a time, that is worth more than novelty.
Bamboo Basics in our range
The brand covers both women and men, with the weight on the women's side. The single largest area is bamboo panties with close to twenty styles, from hipster to high waisted, followed by wireless bras, the type people choose when they want to wear it all day and forget about it.
Underwear is where the choice of material is felt most clearly, because the fabric sits against the skin all day with nothing in between. Bamboo viscose has two properties that count here. The fibres are round and fine, so the surface is smooth rather than coarse, and there are no hard edges to chafe. And the material carries moisture away instead of holding on to it, which means less heat and damp exactly where irritation otherwise begins.
It is the same reason bamboo works well in a wireless bra. Without a wire it is the fabric that has to do the carrying, and a material with stretch and softness sits better across a full day than a stiff one.
Why basics are worth spending money on
There is a logic to spending more on what nobody sees than on what everybody does. Base layers are what you wear for the most hours, they are what touches the skin, and they are what gets washed most often. A pair of knickers from a three pack at supermarket prices is worn out in six months, chafes along the way and gets replaced anyway. A good pair lasts for years and feels right every single day.
The arithmetic favours the expensive item as soon as you divide the price by the number of days it is used. It is also why Bamboo Basics does not make anything else: there is plenty to work with in making the same pair of knickers slightly better.
On fit and sizing
Bamboo viscose has more stretch than cotton, so the clothes follow the body more closely. If you are between two sizes in underwear, stay in your normal one, because it is the close fit that keeps knickers and boxers where they belong. On T-shirts and tops you can go one up for a looser drape, and one down if the shirt is to be worn as a layer under other clothes.
Building a drawer
There is a practical reason to buy basics in the same brand and colour at a time: everything matches, everything washes the same way, and you do not have to sort after the wash. Most people start with five to seven pairs of underwear, so there is enough between two washes, and add T-shirts as needed.
If you want to try the brand first, take one item of the type you use most. If it is knickers, buy a single pair and see how they feel over a few days. If the cut works, you can safely buy the rest, because Bamboo Basics makes the same models year after year.
Washing and care
40 degrees, no fabric softener. Softener leaves a film on the fibres that closes off the moisture transport which is the whole point of the material. A tumble dryer on low heat is fine, but the clothes hold their shape longest if taken out while still slightly damp. Elastic in underwear lives longer without the high heat.
Where it fits in
Bamboo Basics sits close to Boody in both range and philosophy, and to Copenhagen Bamboo in breadth. If you are comparing, those three are the ones that resemble each other most.
