Home > Hemp: Plant of the past that will save our future

by Dru Lawson from The Hemp Trading Company (THTC)

The Hemp plant is one of mankind’s oldest friends. Used by civilisations for at least the last 10,000 years, the Columbia History of the World states that the oldest relic of human industry is a bit of hemp fabric dating back to approximately 8,000 BC. Hemp products were traded internationally for centuries until the early part of the 20th Century.

Industrial hemp is the name given to varieties of the plant species Cannabis Sativa that grow with only trace elements of the psychoactive compound THC. There are many varieties, and in the United Kingdom it has been legal to cultivate several strains since 1994. This marked the beginning of a return for the hemp plant in the UK; it had been out of favour for several decades.

A combination of economic and political forces saw hemp fall out of the mainstream during the 1920’s and 30’s. The plant was traditionally very labour intensive to harvest and process, and this made it expensive. Cotton had overtaken Hemp as the primary fibre source, and timber pulp for paper had eclipsed hemp and corn straw papers. We were enjoying a love affair with the man-made, and there was intensive use of pesticides and fertilisers as their polluting effects were yet to be realised or experienced. Coupled with this, there were political influences being exerted from the Timber, Petroleum and cotton industries all of which viewed the hemp plant as a major threat to their own market shares.

It has been estimated that some 50,000 products could be replaced with hemp-based alternatives. It is one of the fastest growing plants on Earth, and produces a large amount of good quality cellulose and fibre, and a very nutritious seed, considered to be excellent for human nutrition.

Of all the possible applications for hemp products, THTC chose to enter the clothing market with a range of hemp/cotton blend clothes for a combination of reasons. Hemp blend fabrics were just starting to reach the level of quality required to make them competitive to other fabrics, and we felt we had a skill set that could be applied successfully to a streetwear company.

We also wanted to get a message to the teenage and 20 something’s, and we felt it was much easier to do this via a clothing brand than a nutritious hemp seed bar, cosmetics range or writing paper. And it was also where we thought we would have the most fun.

My brother Gav and I entered the hemp industry with a dual purpose in mind. Firstly it was to run a successful company trading ethical and organic products- secondly it was to help get hemp clothing and products accepted by mainstream consumers. Our sales have doubled each year since we started trading in autumn 1999, and although we have a very long way to go we feel we are achieving both goals, while having fun, almost earning a salary, and being unique and creative. Our new goals include starting an organic hemp farm, getting an external audit for our factory and increasing our wages to a sustainable level. And moving from a T-Shirt company to a clothing company.

Hemp is re-emerging as the backbone of a sustainable agriculture system and already we are seeing applications realised in industries as diverse as automobiles, plastics, health foods, clothing, paper and construction. In the near future we will be surprised how we could manage to live without the benefits of the most useful plant in the world. Whatever your tastes and style there are hemp products to suit you, go find them!

Good luck and many thanks, Dru

 

© Ethical Earth Limited / The Hemp trading Company 1st February 2006

 

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