Hemp
Quick growing and requiring minimal inputs, hemp has been a favored fiber since 8000 BC.
Hemp is misunderstood, often grouped together with illicit drugs or with the ill-fitting, itchy, and uncomfortable clothes of the 1970s.
However, hemp is a sustainability hero and deserves to be reintroduced as such.
Growing hemp gained a bad reputation when the United States banned it in 1937 for political reasons and its ties to drug use. However, hemp is a distant cousin to marijuana and does not share the narcotic’s naturally high production of the psychoactive property THC that gives users euphoria.
American Hemp Use
In fact, hemp was cultivated before 1937 purely to be used in manufacturing and fiber production, with the ability to produce over 25,000 different products. It was utilized by Betsy Ross to create the first American flag, as well as used to create soldiers' uniforms and the parchment with which the Declaration of Independence was written on. At the hand of George Washington, hemp was even grown at Mount Vernon!
Environmental Potential of Hemp
Experts suggest that hemp should be a core crop in sustainable development, and since hemp is now legal to grow under the 2018 Farm Bill and Hemp Act, we see huge potential to expand the sustainability journey here at Aventura and within the fashion industry.
Hemp is a reliable crop that has the ability to grow up to 13 feet in just three months in a variety of climates without the use of fertilizers, pesticides, or irrigation. It not only saves the environment from these artificial and chemical inputs, but it also gives back to the environment enriching and protecting delicate topsoil.
Modern Comfort
Even if hemp is the most sustainable fiber option, no one wants to wear the itchy, stiff stereotypical hippy clothes of the past. We understand...we still have nightmares of college dorms filled with stoners in Baja Hoodies! Which is why we’re happy to report that modern hemp fiber has stepped forth with an elegant resemblance to cotton.
Lightweight Feel
It has even been featured in New York Fashion Week in recent years. Hemp mixes delightfully well with Lenzing™ products, giving the finished garment a soft, drapey, and lightweight feel.
Best of all, and unique to hemp, clothes made with this sustainable fiber have a broken-in feel directly from the package that gets better with each wash.
Benefits of Hemp
Softer After Each Wash
Absorbent
Machine Washable
Long Lasting
Strong
Anti-Microbial
Did You Know?
Here in the States, it was required, and considered an act of patriotism, that farmers grow hemp until the 19th century.
Henry Ford built a sustainable car that featured plastic material derived from hemp, as well as other plants, and was designed to use hemp as a fuel source.
The word canvas can be traced back to the Greek kannabis and Latin cannabis, since it was originally woven with hemp.