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The UK's widest range of sustainable hemp fabrics
Discover our full range of 100% hemp fabrics and hemp fabric blends with other sustainable materials such as organic cotton, bamboo, silk fabrics. - even fur!
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Historically, Romanian people have traditionally grown hemp for its fibre. In some Romanian regions, the old traditional ways of growing and processing hemp within the household have remained unchanged until today. Our fibres from Romania are spun, milled, woven, dyed and finished without toxic chemicals (often with no chemicals at all) and without using huge amounts of fresh water. The mill produces the Hemp fabrics from organic yarn, which, although not certified, is grown/cultivated, produced and spun, organically. The Hemp is grown in Romania and Ukraine, it is farmed organically but due to the current cost for testing each and every field (most of the fibre comes from farming collectives) it is too expensive for the farmers to pay for the actual certification.
Our Romanian fabrics are made from hemp fibres that have been mechanically processed with a chemical-free, environmentally-sound technology. This natural processing preserves the innate integrity of hemp fibre with its long molecular structure and inherent strength and durability. It is accomplished with a series of increasingly fine mechanical combings done in two stages known as scutching and hackling, the traditional methods used for hemp processing in Eastern Europe.
The production facility for our Romanian hemp fabrics has been assessed by Sedex, one of the world’s leading online platforms for companies to manage and improve working conditions in global supply chains. A SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Report) report has been conducted for the company and their facility. SMETA reports cover labour standards, health & safety, environment and business ethics in-depth. They were found to be compliant in all areas of the report.
Hemp first grew on planet earth in China. Our Chinese fabric begins life in small farms in Shanxi, a farming region in northern China. The climate and soil of the region offer the ideal environment for hemp to grow successfully and this, together with the expertise long passed down through the generations, makes it an economically viable plant for even the smallest of farms to grow.
Although the demand for hemp is constantly increasing, its demonisation alongside marijuana in the US and Western Europe which resulted in a ban on planting the crop has meant that its growth has been slow and its reach much smaller than cotton. This is also why our hemp is sourced from lots of small farms. While it is great to support these farmers it does make it difficult to certify to an organic standard: organic certification is not economically viable for these family-run farms. This is unlike the organic cotton yarns that are found in some of our Hemp and Cotton blended fabrics, which is certified.
1. Minimum labour standards Working hours: 8 hours per day. From 8am to 11am then 1pm to 6pm. Wage: In comparison to the average standard wages in the province according to Chinese government's figures, the wages paid at the mill are between 52% & 104% higher. No use of child labour or forced labour. No discrimination or harassment. We have assurances according to the Chinese labour law. And the mill also organises sporting activities for the workers.
2. Adding value, fair trade and sustainable livelihoods The mill emphasis is on the environmental protection and energy saving for hemp production; also looking for new methods to save time and lessen the waste. The mill is the pioneer in this industry, both a leader of hemp fabrics in China & the world as well.
3. Environmental standards. Almost all of our Chinese fabrics are organic, with the Hemp sourced from China and the cotton from Turkey. The mill we work with is the leader in the hemp field, they also work as a research institute for hemp, and they follow the environment protection law of China for production. The Organic Cotton in almost every fabric we sell from the Chinese mills is GOTS & OEKO-TEX Standard 100 approved, with the finished yarns being OCS certified. The Hemp is grown organically (being so easy to grow organically) but is not currently certified as the hemp is grown on hundreds of small farms and those individual farmers cannot afford the certification process.