Hemp; The new black?

OK; So we all know that GREEN IS THE NEW BLACK, but hemp is pretty green, so we figure it is pretty cool. When we think of fashion, we rarely think of where it comes from. Sweat shop free clothing has had a lot of press recently but perhaps we also need to think about what is happening to the material before it hits the the manufacturing stage. Is the item cotton? Cotton uses 25% of the worlds pesticides while taking up only 3% of the arable land. These pesticides put the health of farm workers at risk, pollute our waterways, degrade our soil and potentially threaten our health as they off-gas from our clothes and linen.

So what are the options;

Hemp is a fantastic crop that requires very little pesticide use in its natural form. Every part of the plant is used and can produce material, paper, seeds for cooking and an extremely healthy oil to eat too! (The oil is still not legal for consumption in Australia but we would eat it regularly whilst living in the UK, it gives you super soft skin!).

For some of you hemp may bring back memories of ugly green polo shirts with the marajurana symbol on the right hand side of the chest (apologies to those who have one of these in their wardrobe and sincere apologies to those wearing one right now!). Things have come along way and you can now get some really trendy hoodies, yoga pants and well just about everything. I am not suggesting you should convert your entire wardrobe to hemp clothing but just check it out. It is a really hard wearing fabric and seems to last forever, which is fantastic from an ecological perspective and explains the recent citings of ugly green hemp polo shirts!!

We would love to hear all about any hemp product you have used and tried, so please share your experiences with the CleanLife community.

Signing off

Clean Gina