CONSIDER KAPOK:

Help reduce your environmental footprint & create balanced alignment while you sleep, during pregnancy, in your yoga practice, meditation & support for breast feeding. Kapok has long been used throughout Asia, South America and in Japan as filling for bolsters & cushions, sitting, sleeping & Zen Thai Shiatsu massage mats.

Over the centuries it has also been used, because of its warmth, in padded suits in the artic, as life vests because of its water resistant hollow fibres, as bullet proof vests (in the days of shot guns), in sleeping bags and by jungle tribes on poison tipped arrows and darts for hunting. A wonderful lightweight alternative to chemically treated cotton and synthetics Kapok fibre is finer than cotton, with shorter strands making it ideal for filling yoga bolsters, cushions, doonas & mattresses.

Kapok Pillows, Bolsters, Mats and Mattresses are no longer hard to find thanks to our extensive range and they are well worth the small extra price to practice living gently on the earth. We offer 4 sizes of Bolsters for use in restorative yoga poses, especially back stretching and Body pillows assist sleep and pregnant women really appreciate the support given in latter stages. They also make great 'yoga lounge's for reclining meditations, sleeping or just relaxing. Ideally they come stuffed firmly with environmentally-friendly kapok with an inner cover of 100% calico cotton and a removable washable cotton cover. Kapok will ‘fluff up’ when placed in sunlight and is a third of the weight of cotton.

We use only Grade One 1 Javanese Kapok Fiber which is gathered throughout the length and breadth of the islands of Indonesia, it is hand cleaned in the villages awaiting collection for transport to the larger town centers. From there the kapok is shipped to various major cities with Kapok Cleaning machines very similar to our wool carding and brushing machines to fill our great range of products. Calico unbleached cotton is the medium we use as the shell and we make covers here.  We have a great relationship with our supplier who provides us with a high quality well made product for you to select from and with whom we have negotiated a minimum wages and work conditions deal for the people working on this project. We also supply tools to make the task easier and are proud with our fairly traded products.

You have the choice of Certified Organic Cotton Shell Heavenly Head Sleeping Pillows that have a zipper down the center of the back to allow for easy removal or topping up of Kapok fiber to suit your individual needs. These Organic cotton pillows are made and filled here in Australia by us. Care instructions are on the labels. We were the first to re-introduce KAPOK products into Australia and have been trading in Kapok products for 10 years with humble beginnings in the highlands of West Timor.

Kapok, a pale silky fibre, is almost magical. It is soft, smooth, hygienic, non-toxic, hypoallergenic and environmentally friendly. It is breathable, allows air circulation and has healthful benefits. It can be reused for generations, without developing mould or decaying. Kapok, Ceiba pentandra (Bombacaceae), is a tree as tall as 150ft in its native environment. The fibre itself comes from the seed pod of the majestic kapok tree. Much of the world´s kapok is wild harvested by locals therefore chemicals are not needed nor is the ground tilled in order to harvest its bounty, this helps keep the forest alive and healthy and provides sustainable jobs within the forests of Timor and Indonesia.
Kapok is one of the few sustainable rainforest crops. Historically used by gurus, saints and masters kapok represented a prized possession and they marvelled at its unique characteristics such as its ability to shape to the body then rebound to its original fluffy shape because of its fibrous air-filled tubes, it even floats! In Mayan myths the Kapok tree was sacred. They believed that the souls of the dead would climb into the branches which reached up and delivered them to heaven. *With a density of only 0,35 gr/cm³ Kapok is the lightest natural fibre in the world and is also called vegetal down, vegetal silk or vegetal cashmere. 

Now a quick look at conventional cotton growing practices around the world. The *Sustainable Cotton Project estimates that the average acre of California cotton grown in 1995 received 1/3 pound of fertilizer to raise every pound of cotton. Synthetic fertilizers have been found to contaminate drinking wells in farm communities and pose other long-term threats to farm land. Of all insecticides used in the nineteen cotton growing states in America each year, the estimated amount used on traditional cotton is a staggering 25%.Cotton-growing practices in Third World countries have been implicated in ecological destruction as well as unjust treatment of labourers. Furthermore, conventional cotton farming worldwide, aside from using huge amounts of chemicals, requires vast quantities of fossil fuels to produce the chemicals and consumes vast amounts of topsoil and water in irrigating the fields. And Cotton absorbs moisture from the air, especially from perspiration, which leads to mould growth and allergens in pillows and bolsters. 

Become a stockist in an ever growing market of savvy consumers looking to de-toxify and be more sustainable in their lives. Contact Julie 07 54484715 . Minimum quantities apply. Available uncovered in calico shell or covered. See item descriptions for covers available. Prices start from just $5.

Copyright Julie Emery & Kapok Pillows.com.au 2009. Information from Wikipedia, Various Internet Sources, Julie Emery, Sustainable Cotton Project. & *Piumafil Co.Germany