Hemp fabric has the potential to be critical in building a more pleasant, sustainable environment.
What would you do if we told you that you could buy a T-shirt that is more durable, less expensive, and less harmful to the environment than your ordinary cotton T-shirt? You’d probably say that’s impossible, but you’d be mistaken. Very, so wrong.
That’s because hemp clothing exists, and it offers all of the benefits stated above, plus more.
What Makes Hemp Fabric Stand Out?
There are several advantages to wearing hemp clothes.
Hemp fabric is delightfully smooth against the skin and is noted for softening with each use. Hemp is naturally resistant to germs and offers UV protection. That is, it is more skin-friendly and maintains color better than other textiles. As you can see, hemp cloth is quite useful. It physically keeps you from stinking up the place, softens with usage, and is stronger and lasts longer than cotton.
But Hemp fabric on the other hand has some drawbacks, such as a more limited color palette than synthetics, but we believe the benefits outweigh this.
It’s not only functional but also fashionable. Hemp fashion is a genuine thing, and several firms make attractive hemp clothes. Hemptology for one makes hemp clothing that contains 100% organic Hemp extracted from the foothills of the Himalayas.
However, fashion isn’t the only advantage of hemp. The most significant advantages of hemp fabric are its manufacturing processes and the environmental effect of hemp (or lack thereof).
What Is The Process Behind Making Hemp Fabric?
Most individuals do not consider the manufacturing of the garments they wear daily. Clothes are simply something that we purchase and wear.
Most of us are unaware of the intricate supply chain processes required to get a basic cotton t-shirt to our local Walmart. This attitude applies to all textiles, including hemp.
Take a look below to find out more:
- Cultivation
- Harvesting
- Retting (The process by which naturally occurring bacteria and fungi, as well as chemicals, break down the pectins that bind hemp fibres and allow them to be freed. Soaking in water or lying on the ground and letting dew do the retting) are common ways.
- Breaking
- Scutching (Beating stems to remove desirable fibres from the woody core of hemp)
- Snarling (combing of the stems to remove unwanted particles)
- Relocating (improves strength)
- Whirling (can be wet and dry spun)
Modern hemp production methods are closely comparable to ancient ways but are significantly more efficient due to the introduction of more efficient modern equipment.
The fundamental concepts remain the same: cultivate hemp, break it down, separate the fibres, and spin it into cloth.
What Is The Difference Between Hemp Cloth And Other Natural Fabrics?
- Organic Cotton: Cotton, like hemp, is cultivated in fields and gathered by cotton harvesters, large machines that can pick cotton at superhuman speeds. Cotton, like hemp, is next subjected to a “ginning” process in which the fibres are removed from the seeds.
Multiple procedures, including scutching, hackling, and roving, are used to further enhance the fibres. When the cotton is finished, it is spun into fabric.
- Sheep Wool: This material is simpler to process since it requires fewer processes to obtain its final result. The wool must be harvested, then processed using ‘carding’ and ‘combing’ processes that smooth and polish the wool before weaving or knitting it into the cloth.
Cattle farming, while easier to handle, has a carbon footprint and generates a lot of waste. You must not only utilize energy and water to process wool, but you must also feed, clean, and maintain the sheep. Sheep, which generate methane-dense excrement and require more nutrients to exist compared to plants.
Currently, most hemp products in the United Kingdom, particularly CBD oil, are manufactured from imported hemp. This raises both the carbon footprint, or environmental cost, of hemp goods and the final price you, the customer, pay to purchase them.
We expect that when hemp becomes completely legalized in the United Kingdom shortly, some of this will change.
It’s Just The Beginning
While hemp is collected and processed in the same manner as other textiles, its major benefit comes from the hemp plant itself.
Hemp requires roughly 5% of the water required to cultivate cotton and is frequently rain-fed. Hemp can grow in nearly any soil type, and unlike cotton, which depletes the earth of nutrients, hemp’s deep roots retain the topsoil and subsoil.
Hemp also grows thickly, leaving no place for weeds or competing plants, and it is less sensitive to insects, requiring little to no pesticide application. Finally, hemp grows incredibly quickly, taking just 120 days to mature. We’ve already compared hemp and cotton, and while not everyone agrees, we believe hemp is the victor.
We’ve reached a conclusion which we’ve preached many times before: hemp fabric is superior in many ways, accept it or not.
From practical applications to environmental sustainability, the hemp plant outperforms all its rivals.
