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Friday, October 27, 2006
No pandas were harmed in the opening of this store
Text and photos by Helen Anne Travis
Just add water: You're handed a quarter-size packet and told there's a bamboo towel inside. Yeah right! And then you add a little water to the small pulpy object, and sure enough, a bamboo hand towel emerges. Use it until it disintegrates, really. Ten pack of towels, $4.
All right, enough joking around: Absorbent and quick-to-dry are qualities you do want in towels. $48 for a set.
Don't get a splinter: Jacobs says she got caught outside in a Florida summer monsoon with nothing but a bamboo shirt to shield her from the rain. Attesting to the material's quick-drying quality, she said the shirt dried in less than 30 minutes. Another garment you want to dry quickly: underwear. (In case you spill coffee in your lap! Why else?) Bamboo panties, $9.
Wear it well: All the shirts sold are a solid color, but Jacobs said she is looking into eco-friendly screen printing. Shirt, $24.

To Lisa Jacobs, cotton feels like sandpaper.

Jacobs doesn't suffer from some strange hypersensitivity disease, nor is she a little meshuga. Jacobs has been wearing clothes made out of bamboo for the past year and has no intention of returning to cotton.

Whoa, bamboo clothes?

Lisa and Daniel Jacobs opened Shirts of Bamboo in St. Petersburg in May. They sell clothes and accessories made from bamboo fibers. The two discovered the product last year and have been bamboo converts ever since. They find bamboo to be softer, more absorbent and faster-drying than cotton.

Bamboo clothes also permit you to put down the Ladies Speed Stick. The Jacobs say the bamboo has a natural agent, called bamboo kun, that prevents the bacteria growth and keeps you odor-free. The Jacobs seem like trustworthy folks, but we're not going to stop visiting the deodorant aisle anytime soon.

People come in and marvel at the products' qualities, then suddenly their brows furrow. They look at the Jacobs suspiciously, their eyes flashing with rage, and ask: "What about the pandas?"

The couple promises the bamboo is not ripped from the mouths of baby pandas. Instead it's grown on farms for manufacturing purposes. The Jacobs are so panda-friendly in fact, they give a portion of their profits to help protect the red panda and other endangered species.

Shirts of Bamboo invites everyone to their customer appreciation party Friday. There will be free chair massages.

Shirts of Bamboo

2414 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. (727) 388-6913; www.shirtsofbamboo.com. Hours: 10-6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10-5 p.m. Saturday.

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