The original Levi’s jeans were made not from cotton but from hemp and we could all be wearing hemp clothes soon if trials by Bioregional prove successful.
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Bioregional’s 2003 Hemp Open Day. BioRegional produced the first UK-grown hemp and produced the first UK hemp clothing for decades in their 1996 trials. Above right: a stylish hemp jacket designed by Katharine Hamnett. Photo © Bioregional
At one time hemp was widely used for many things such as textiles, rope, paper and even oil but powerful industrialists caused it to be banned in 1939 because it was too big a threat to the up and coming synthetic fibre industry and also the new tree paper pulping technique. Now hemp textiles are only produced in Asia or Eastern Europe either by hand or using machines. This would be uneconomic and inefficient for use in the UK, but Bioregional are trying out a new processing technology, developed by Fibrenova, an Australian company, which revolutionises the harvesting process.

The new technology is expected to be cost-effective, producing high quality hemp fibre at prices, which will allow it to compete in the global textile market. Hemp is a low input alternative to cotton that is easy to grow organically in the UK. It requires no agricultural chemical inputs and is not water hungry. Hemp is also a cool, comfortable and attractive product with similar properties to linen. Cotton, on the other hand, causes the greatest environmental damage of all textiles and accounts for 14 per cent of the world’s pesticide use. It is also the world’s most water-intensive crop and has had disastrous consequences in areas such as the Aral Sea.

Production of hemp textile could strengthen the regional economy and provide an alternative to unsustainably produced cotton and fossil oil-based synthetics. UK textile producers could then use materials produced in the UK. Initial trials in Australia indicate that hemp textile fibre could be efficiently produced at comparable prices to cotton. To evaluate the environmental impacts, The Stockholm Institute will also be carrying out an ecological footprint analysis of UK hemp versus cotton and synthetics.
FURTHER INFORMATION : Jennie Organ, BioRegional Development Group. Tel: 020 8404 4881
WEB SITE : http://​www​.bioregional​.com