Natural fiber with its eco-friendly aspect always makes people love to try, especially during the rising awareness of waste and global warming. Among those fibers‘ material, you are likely to hear about kapok fiber. What is it and where does it come from? Believe it or not, kapok probably is one of the natural wonders.

Kapok Tree (Ceiba Pentandra)

If you are looking and interested in kapok, the first thing to learn is its source. Kapok is a natural product harvested from a huge tree called Java Cotton, java kapok, or ceiba. The soft fiber itself is part of the tree’s kapok that has thousands of seed hairs. In its natural habitat and environment, the kapok tree can stand tall over its surrounding.

It goes with the fact that the kapok tree has the characteristic of a huge trunk and is as tall as 50 meters. The yearly growth can reach up to 4 meters per year. In a forest, this typical humongous tree is perfect foliage for surrounding areas. But, the huge physical itself is the reason it can strive to live without any human interference.

Harvesting The Kapok Before Processed 

While the tree can grow 4 meters per year, it does not yield flowers as often. The ideal and fully matured tree can take 5-10 years without flowering. However, during its harvest people can yield more than 4,000 fruits. The harvesting process is manual. Then the pods from flowers will have more than 200 seed hairs that are later processed to make clean and usable silk cotton.

When talking about a natural product, kapok deserves attention. The tree is naturally grown in tropical rainforest with a lack of human meddling. Not only that, it is 100% organic even in the harvesting processes. Kapok deserves known as a highly sustainable product, which should help encounter the global warming and waste problem.