Kapok Pillows Information

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 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. Bolsters are used for 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.

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.
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.

Wholesale enquiries welcomed. Minimum quantities apply. Available uncovered in calico shell or covered. See item descriptions for colours available. Prices start from $5. Freight to destination is additional unless otherwise stated. You are welcome to nominate your own carrier.

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