What is Jute?
You may be more familiar with jute than you think; common household uses of jute include shopping bags, woven rugs, laundry baskets and traditional sacks used for potatoes and flour. Jute is an amazing fabric due to its sustainability, affordability and versatility, but have you ever questioned what jute is and where it comes from?
Jute is a plant-based fibre which is grown in tropical countries and follows cotton as the second most commonly grown fibre used worldwide thanks to its versatile properties. Also known as the ‘golden fibre’, the long fibres are spun to produce strong threads which can be used for a whole host of items.
There are multiple forms of jute derived from different variations of plant but their properties remain almost the same. The use of jute dates back hundreds of years and was used by villagers to create clothing and ropes which could help with their day to day life but the process has since developed to offer more versatility with the creations possible.
What Is Jute Used For?
Jute possess natural fibres which can be easily shaped or modified yet is particularly sturdy which allows it to be used in the production of a whole range of durable products. The uses started with clothing and fishing baskets, developed to sandbags for World War 2 trenches and today see a whole lot more uses for household decoration. With the processes available in today’s day and age, advanced decorative finishes can be created for beautiful household products which can be enjoyed by many.
With its sturdy, low cost and sustainable properties, jute makes a great choice for bags. The use of plastic bags is sharply declining with the detrimental impact of single use plastic becoming widely understood and consumers looking to make more environmentally friendly choices. While we offer printed plastic bags that are 100% recyclable, unless you specifically require the waterproof properties of plastic, we would always recommend choosing a more eco-friendly option such as jute.
Perfect for the Environmentally Concerned
Jute is hard to beat in terms of sustainability, being both eco-friendly to produce and fully recyclable. The production of jute is significantly more environmentally friendly than the process behind other fabrics, in fact it actually provides benefits to the environment rather than harm. Jute adds nutrients to the soil during growth which is great for the production of further crops and no fertilisers or pesticides are needed to support growing, the crop relies purely on rainfall.
The fibres produced from jute are fully biodegradable, often the waste from jute is used for composting so it can be ethically disposed of and recycled but generally, jute products are long lasting and can be used time after time. When we began our quest to offer more sustainable packaging at The Printed Bag Shop, jute was one of our first choices, and remains a firm favourite with many customers.
Being ideal for holding more goods and being able to bear more weight than regular shopping bags, printed jute bags are a great promotional tool for businesses. Here at The Printed Bag Shop, we offer a range of jute bags which can be printed with your bespoke design using eco-friendly water based inks to offer your customers a stylish jute shopping bag which can be used time after time.
If you are interested in seeing how The Printed Bag Shop can help you add this wonderful material to your packaging offering, contact us today and we will be more than happy to assist you.