When it comes to sourcing hemp, Canvaloop turned to Himalayan hemp which grows naturally in the mountain ranges of India and Nepal. It has been growing without interference from humans for over 5,000 years. Natural rainfall is the only source of water the crops receive and the seeds are not sown by anyone either but by nature twice a year. The hemp takes just 90 days to grow in comparison to the 160 days that cotton needs to be ready for harvesting.
Shreyans says: “It is also one of the strongest natural fibres and is at least three times more durable than cotton. The porous structure of the hemp fabric means it's extremely breathable, keeping sweat away. It makes it more comfortable to wear the jeans for long periods.”
Hemp has come a long way since its early days in the fashion industry where it wasn’t known for being soft or stylish. Companies are keen to change this image and improve the products available.
Gav Lawson became interested in hemp clothing when he was studying at University which has shaped his career in the garment industry. His range, THTC offers comfortable, stylish and soft hemp t-shirts, socks and other garments. He has been in the clothing industry for 22 years and has seen the progress of the fabric. THTC has, over the years, also produced hemp sweaters, hoodies, caps, belts, wallets and polo shirts, and will be doing so again in the coming months and years.
“It’s much easier now than it was. Hemp was originally very rough and you had to really be into hemp or saving the world to buy it back then,” says Gav.
“We wanted to create something that looked and felt as close to cotton as possible because we wanted people to buy it because it was cool and environmentally sound. The fabrics have come a long way.”
WORLD CBD AWARDS
Global warming has meant we have had to change the way we approach our shopping habits. Although we are much more conscious about our plastic use, there are still many hidden environmental horrors in our daily lives such as our wardrobes.
Rebecca Shaman of the British Hemp Alliance explained while hemp is a traditional fabric, it is now becoming a global success. However, Britain will need to invest in their industry to gain momentum.
“Hemp has always been known as a crop used for textiles. Some of the oldest dated fabrics are made from hemp. The Chinese are flying ahead with hemp textiles. One of the biggest purchasers of hemp clothing is the Chinese army for their socks and underwear. It's because it's a breathable and fantastic fabric to be wearing. It keeps you cool during winter but then doing winter it's very durable and comfortable. It’s also easy to grow whereas bamboo needs water and can only grow in certain climates of the world.”
“Hemp has always been known as a crop used for textiles. Some of the oldest dated fabrics are made from hemp. The Chinese are flying ahead with hemp textiles. One of the biggest purchasers of hemp clothing is the Chinese army for their socks and underwear. It's because it's a breathable and fantastic fabric to be wearing. It keeps you cool during winter but then doing winter it's very durable and comfortable. It’s also easy to grow whereas bamboo needs water and can only grow in certain climates of the world.”
She added: “It can grow on any soil. So you could grow a lot of hemp for textiles. The French provide a lot of textiles for the upholstery of cars like Porsche or Mercedes Benz. They use hemp for car seats as it's durable. India is also starting to create a hemp market. I don’t think Britain will be able to compete financially on hemp unless we have some really good decorticated machines that will make it easier to do that.”
Rebecca stressed that we need to move away from fast fashion and into a slower market.
“The saddest thing about this whole situation is that cotton should be a very high premium product and never the cheapest one. If we had balanced that out then we would still have a lot of groundwater left on this plant.”
To learn more about this year’s nominees or buy a ticket to attend this year’s event, visit our website.
He explains: “It’s really entrenched in our lives where people don’t appreciate the costs of just one cotton t-shirt. The whole buying something, then throwing it away after a couple of washes, l is a real problem. It takes around 40,000 litres of freshwater to grow one t-shirt from cotton.
“Hemp uses less water to grow than conventional cotton. It is still relatively expensive to produce as there is not a lot being grown for textile production but when it's all over the place then the price will come down. Environmentally, it makes sense to include hemp across many different industries and products, but we also need to consume less - resources are finite.”
But even if the fabrics are labelled as sustainable or ethical, Gav highlights that consumers still have to be wary.
“Labeling can be very misleading. You can get a product that says ‘bamboo’ and how fantastic it is for the environment because it takes less water to grow or how fast it grows with no chemicals. This is all true. However, they don’t mention that in turning that into the fabric, if you use the closed-loop technique then you retain 99 per cent of the chemicals and release the water back into the environment.
“Bamboo absorbs five times more carbon and produces 35 per cent more oxygen than similar-sized trees. What is often not mentioned is that, although bamboo is the world's fastest growing plant and can easily be grown without the use of chemicals, most of it is produced as a viscose, and uses a chemical-heavy extraction process. Often, these chemicals such as carbon disulfide which, if handled without proper protective equipment or released back into the water supply can be extremely hazardous to health.”
Consumer attitudes towards hemp clothing are slowly changing, as Gav highlights that it wasn’t always ‘on trend’ to have an environmentally friendly brand.
“For the first 10 years, whenever I was trying to sell the range to shops, I would pick up the phone and describe us as an ethical fashion label before I even said hemp. They would always say, not for us. They already had negative preconceptions about what ethical fashion was or that it was not cool,” he says.
“A lot of our prints are about deforestation, overfishing or fast food. All of these things weren’t cool at the time. But now, Extinction Rebellion is mainstream and it's caught up. All of the things we have been shouting about for 20 years are coming home to roost.”
This means it has less odour, reduced chances of skin infection, can withstand multiple wears without washing and has natural anti-UV properties that act as a natural shield for your skin against harmful rays."
When it comes to sourcing hemp, Canvaloop turned to Himalayan hemp which grows naturally in the mountain ranges of India and Nepal. It has been growing without interference from humans for over 5,000 years. Natural rainfall is the only source of water the crops receive and the seeds are not sown by anyone either but by nature twice a year. The hemp takes just 90 days to grow in comparison to the 160 days that cotton needs to be ready for harvesting.
Shreyans says: “It is also one of the strongest natural fibres and is at least three times more durable than cotton. The porous structure of the hemp fabric means it's extremely breathable, keeping sweat away. It makes it more comfortable to wear the jeans for long periods.”
Hemp has come a long way since its early days in the fashion industry where it wasn’t known for being soft or stylish. Companies are keen to change this image and improve the products available.
Gav Lawson became interested in hemp clothing when he was studying at University which has shaped his career in the garment industry. His range, THTC offers comfortable, stylish and soft hemp t-shirts, socks and other garments. He has been in the clothing industry for 22 years and has seen the progress of the fabric. THTC has, over the years, also produced hemp sweaters, hoodies, caps, belts, wallets and polo shirts, and will be doing so again in the coming months and years.
“It’s much easier now than it was. Hemp was originally very rough and you had to really be into hemp or saving the world to buy it back then,” says Gav.
“We wanted to create something that looked and felt as close to cotton as possible because we wanted people to buy it because it was cool and environmentally sound. The fabrics have come a long way.”
20 April 2023
Could hemp be a trendsetter when it comes to sustainable fashion?
Consumers are looking for more alternatives to traditional fabrics such as cotton, which has resulted in a rise in hemp clothing. Hemp has had a fashionable make-over since it’s early days and is now available in skinny jeans, soft t-shirts, sunglasses and even lingerie
Hemp denim is a great example of how it can be used to create environmentally conscious alternatives. The fashion industry is notoriously bad for water wastage - it accounts for 20 per cent of all industrial water pollution. And when it comes to denim, Levi Jeans estimates that it takes 3,000 litres to make just one pair of their 501s.
It takes on average 50 per cent less water to grow hemp in comparison to cotton. Hemp is also able to bioaccumulate as it grows, pulling carbon from the air.
Canvaloop launched its first-ever campaign in December 2020 at the height of lockdown. They made three shades of hemp skinny jeans and decided to crowdfund through Kickstarter. The campaign raised thousands through 86 backers in 20 different countries.
Shreyans Kokra, founder of Canvaloop says: “In December, we concluded our first-ever Kickstarter campaign, Slow, which was our jeans line. They are the world’s first jeans made from the wild-growing cannabis in the Himalayan region.
“There are so many materials claiming to be sustainable but hemp stands out. It requires significantly less water to grow, no insecticides or fertilisers. It rejuvenates the soil that it grows in and probably has the lowest carbon footprint among textile fibre crops.”
“One of the performance benefits includes how naturally antibacterial it is due to the high lignin and pectin content in the fibres. This means it has less odour, reduced chances of skin infection, can withstand multiple wears without washing and has natural anti-UV properties that act as a natural shield for your skin against harmful rays.”
Nevertheless, our findings strongly suggested that associations between measures of cannabis use and psychosis or psychotic disorders are far more nuanced than Di Forti and colleagues assume.
Nevertheless, our findings strongly suggested that associations between measures of cannabis use and psychosis or psychotic disorders are far more nuanced than Di Forti and colleagues assume.
He explains: “It’s really entrenched in our lives where people don’t appreciate the costs of just one cotton t-shirt. The whole buying something, then throwing it away after a couple of washes, l is a real problem. It takes around 40,000 litres of freshwater to grow one t-shirt from cotton.
“Hemp uses less water to grow than conventional cotton. It is still relatively expensive to produce as there is not a lot being grown for textile production but when it's all over the place then the price will come down. Environmentally, it makes sense to include hemp across many different industries and products, but we also need to consume less - resources are finite.”
But even if the fabrics are labelled as sustainable or ethical, Gav highlights that consumers still have to be wary.
“Labeling can be very misleading. You can get a product that says ‘bamboo’ and how fantastic it is for the environment because it takes less water to grow or how fast it grows with no chemicals. This is all true. However, they don’t mention that in turning that into the fabric, if you use the closed-loop technique then you retain 99 per cent of the chemicals and release the water back into the environment.
“Bamboo absorbs five times more carbon and produces 35 per cent more oxygen than similar-sized trees. What is often not mentioned is that, although bamboo is the world's fastest growing plant and can easily be grown without the use of chemicals, most of it is produced as a viscose, and uses a chemical-heavy extraction process. Often, these chemicals such as carbon disulfide which, if handled without proper protective equipment or released back into the water supply can be extremely hazardous to health.”
Consumer attitudes towards hemp clothing are slowly changing, as Gav highlights that it wasn’t always ‘on trend’ to have an environmentally friendly brand.
“For the first 10 years, whenever I was trying to sell the range to shops, I would pick up the phone and describe us as an ethical fashion label before I even said hemp. They would always say, not for us. They already had negative preconceptions about what ethical fashion was or that it was not cool,” he says.
“A lot of our prints are about deforestation, overfishing or fast food. All of these things weren’t cool at the time. But now, Extinction Rebellion is mainstream and it's caught up. All of the things we have been shouting about for 20 years are coming home to roost.”
Cultiva Kingdom was born out of a passion for sustainable design. It combines the best British design with natural materials including plant-based dyes. Its aim among many things is to improve water quality while reducing the levels of toxins and plastic entering our oceans.
Laura Bossom, designer and fibre consultant at Cultiva became interested in natural materials after struggling with a skin condition. She is pleased that we are moving away from a fast fashion model into one where we buy durable clothing. Something that hemp is perfectly suited towards.
She says: “We are moving away from this fast fashion lifestyle where we throw away things all the time. Hemp is one of the strongest fibres in the world so it is built with longevity and would last longer. It's also biodegradable so it reduces the amount of fashion that ends up in landfills by decomposing safely into the ground. I have a passion for working with natural dyes as well to make sure that all of our processes are reducing as many chemicals as possible.”
However, Laura stresses that parts of the world are getting better for more natural manufacturing processes but there is still not much choice.
“The issue we face is that there isn’t a huge amount of choice so it’s quite limited for production,” she explains.
“I’ve been working with the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) and they have created some great sustainable textile papers for the European Commission to get money to build infrastructure and research behind setting up more production sites in which we have a transparent supply chain.”
The effect of coronavirus on the fashion industry has highlighted inequality. Some of the world’s poorest countries where garment factories are located were forced to close immediately due to restrictions. Workers were often left without wages, support or any means of work.
“It’s interesting that Covid has demonstrated some of the vulnerable points of fashion including the millions of people in Bangladesh who lost their job instantly,” says Laura. “Also, the chemicals that have gone into the production of these materials. Hemp provides so many solutions to this by creating long-lasting products. I hope the government starts to realise that it is not a dangerous drug but something that is environmentally friendly and can offer so much to the economy as well as green jobs.”
Covid lockdowns didn’t just encourage a boom in sourdough bread making, but also encouraged people to start getting creative with their clothing choices.
Laura explains: “We have noticed a lot of people asking themselves if they need this because a shop down the road is not open. We’ve been doing online workshops that encourage people to start mending their clothes. We are seeing a big shift in learning skills that can make things from scratch. That's supporting this idea of sustainable textiles and fashion.”
“The pandemic has given people a chance to stop this insane addiction of consuming whatever they want without thinking about it. They can become much more aware of where it is coming from. There is also a global slowdown in trading because of it. People are becoming much more aware of where their clothes are coming from and who is being affected by it. People are always willing to buy fast fashion but designers need to be more outspoken about it.”
It’s not just the UK that could benefit from increased hemp production particularly in the textile industry but Ireland too.
Chris Allen from the Hemp Federation Ireland said that this is already something their members are working on.
“There is lots of wonderful movement in this sector in Europe at present with advances in technology and processing delivering increasing choice and availability of hemp fashion options for people with an eye on style and sustainability.
The EU is moving ever closer to a whole plant approach to the development of the European hemp sector. This approach is generating a lot of positivity and a lot of investment, a lot of research, and supply chain development across the board for hemp applications.
Our members are involved in several research groups and high-level workshops on EU hemp textile production. Hemp is of course the fabric of choice for anyone interested in durable, quality, breathable, beautiful bio-degradable and uniquely sustainable fashion.
Chris believes that hemp needing less space and consuming more Co2 will make it an attractive option for circular economy
“It sequesters more Co2 than any forest or commercial crop and at the same time provides a uniquely valuable source of human health nutrition in its protein. All this can be harvested before you move on to the crop's to its fibre uses, which are not limited to textile production.”
The saddest thing about this whole situation is that cotton should be a very high premium product and never the cheapest one. If we had balanced that out then we would still have a lot of groundwater left on this plant.”
Rebecca Shaman of the British Hemp Alliance explained while hemp is a traditional fabric, it is now becoming a global success. However, Britain will need to invest in their industry to gain momentum.
“Hemp has always been known as a crop used for textiles. Some of the oldest dated fabrics are made from hemp. The Chinese are flying ahead with hemp textiles. One of the biggest purchasers of hemp clothing is the Chinese army for their socks and underwear. It's because it's a breathable and fantastic fabric to be wearing. It keeps you cool during winter but then doing winter it's very durable and comfortable. It’s also easy to grow whereas bamboo needs water and can only grow in certain climates of the world.”
“Hemp has always been known as a crop used for textiles. Some of the oldest dated fabrics are made from hemp. The Chinese are flying ahead with hemp textiles. One of the biggest purchasers of hemp clothing is the Chinese army for their socks and underwear. It's because it's a breathable and fantastic fabric to be wearing. It keeps you cool during winter but then doing winter it's very durable and comfortable. It’s also easy to grow whereas bamboo needs water and can only grow in certain climates of the world.”
She added: “It can grow on any soil. So you could grow a lot of hemp for textiles. The French provide a lot of textiles for the upholstery of cars like Porsche or Mercedes Benz. They use hemp for car seats as it's durable. India is also starting to create a hemp market. I don’t think Britain will be able to compete financially on hemp unless we have some really good decorticated machines that will make it easier to do that.”
Rebecca stressed that we need to move away from fast fashion and into a slower market.
“The saddest thing about this whole situation is that cotton should be a very high premium product and never the cheapest one. If we had balanced that out then we would still have a lot of groundwater left on this plant.”
20 April 2023
Could hemp be a trendsetter
when it comes
to sustainable fashion?
BACK
The saddest thing about this whole situation is that cotton should be a very high premium product and never the cheapest one. If we had balanced that out then we would still have a lot of groundwater left on this plant.”
BACK
