The carbon footprint of the fashion industry
The global fashion industry is the second biggest polluter in the world, he says Forbes Article – commodity. Report the same issue, interested in trade It was reported in October 2019 that 10% of all carbon emissions worldwide come from the fashion industry.
This is more than the total carbon footprint of all cruises and marine activities combined. We have become somewhat aware of the polluting effects of automobiles, heavy industry, use of single-use plastics, etc. Fashion has become an invisible offender in the meantime.
Global clothing purchases doubled in 2014 compared to 2000 while keeping it at half. Results? The discarded clothes that are put into landfills every year can fill Sydney Harbour.
Laundry releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into our water systems annually – an amount equivalent to 50 billion plastic bottles. Polyester fibers make up approximately 60% of these microfibers, It chokes our bodies of water and plays havoc with marine life. Of all the microplastics found in the oceans, 35% come from washing synthetic clothing.
Obviously, replacing synthetic fibers with cotton is not a solution. The other big abuse of the fashion industry is its water consumption: the second largest water consumption globally. Much of it is due to the use of water-intensive cotton.
If the current trend of buying and throwing away clothing continues unchanged, the polluting footprint of the fashion industry will rise to 26% of the global total by 2050, experts say. It is clear that we need to change our consumption patterns. But it doesn’t have to be in the form of reducing our purchases.
Nature offered a viable solution, and luckily fashion brands are starting to wake up to it. We’re talking about hemp fabric – made from the fibers of the hemp plant. biodegradable as pure cotton, hemp fabrics It has many advantages over cotton.
Hemp and hemp fabric: some basic facts
Hemp is a non-narcotic cousin to hemp or marijuana. They both belong to the same plant species as Cannabis Sativa, but no amount of cannabis smoking will give you a high. It does not contain enough tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a substance with psychoactive properties found at high concentration levels in cannabis.
The need for half as much water as cotton is certainly not the only advantage of hemp fabrics. Hemp fabric like cotton and linen: soft against the body and gets softer with every wash. However, it is a winner over cotton in its durability.
can hemp fabric Completely blocks the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays It saves our skin from its harmful effects that cause cancer. It also retains color better than cotton in the process. Hemp clothing is easy to maintain as it is naturally resistant to pests and mildew.
Make natural ventilation clothes Made of hemp fabric eminently suitable for warm climates. Its natural heat capacity also makes it effective in cold climates.
Big brands are waking up to hemp fabric
Fashion brands have become aware of the huge impact on the industry of pollution. More and more brands are preparing to use hemp fabric to produce fashionable clothes of a wide range – from underwear to fashionable clothes for different temperature zones.
Significantly helped the decriminalization of cannabis after nearly a century of prohibition due to the wrong classification of the drug. Market gurus say hemp fabrics are emerging to be The next big thing in the fashion industry.
One clarification before we present our Top 10 Hemp Fashion Brands List: We’ve done rigorous research to make sure we feature said brands on a wide variety of fashion websites. However, no data points are available on the exact ranking of these brands.
We were unable to find information either in terms of the total amount of hemp clothing that these fashion brands offer, or the revenue they generate. The numbering here is just a sequence, and therefore – not an order.
1. Levi’s Hemp Clothes
We have to start with Levi of course. Legend has it that the first pair of Levi’s jeans were made from hemp. Whether or not that’s true, the denim icon surely launched her first line of hemp apparel in March 2019.
Made from a blend of 31% soft hemp and 69% cotton, the premiere included jeans and a jacket. “Hemp made from cotton,” as Paul Dillinger, Levi’s global head of product innovation, calls it, forms the core of the company’s research and development today.
Dillinger says it’s a long-term research and development effort. The goal is to produce clothes made of 100% hemp cotton within five years: clothes made of hemp with a cotton feel. Dillinger says consumer response has been encouraging.
Levi’s Cotton Hemp Clothes: image source
1. Jungmaven
Washington-based Jungmaven specializes in casual wear with ultra-simplicity as its trademark. I launched the Hemp 2020 campaign with a noble goal: to have everyone in the United States own at least one hemp t-shirt by 2020. To give this brand credit, they’ve used hemp fabric for years.
2. Hemp Trading Company (THTC)
Looking at the brands that have tried to get people to realize the environmental advantages of hemp over cotton for a while takes us further away from the United States. THTC is a UK based brand founded in 1999 by brothers Lawson Drew and Gavin with Daniel Sodergren.
Globally favored as a street fashion brand, THTC was named the UK’s most ethical menswear brand in 2016. The brand has led the fight to make fashion use more eco-friendly materials such as hemp, bamboo and even recycled plastic fibres.
3. Hempy
Surfer Albert Lewis founded this brand in 1995 with a firm belief that hemp is, in fact, the answer to a whole host of sustainability issues staring at us. Aside from hemp fabric clothing, Hempy’s offers a wide range of other hemp-based products, from ropes and strings to lip balms.
4. Hoodlamp
This Amsterdam-based brand calls itself “The Hemp Tailors.” Founded in the mid-1990s, Hoodlamb is credited with being the first company to produce a hemp winter jacket.
5. Teaching assistant
Founded in 2012, this brand has been at the forefront of the fight to legalize cannabis in the United States. With the brand slogan “From Seeds to Stitch,” Recreator has a variety of cannabis apparel on offer.
6. Wearing Bedouin cannabis
The brand has been promoting summer and winter hemp clothing since 2002. The combination of this eco-friendly fabric with a contemporary urban feel is its hallmark.
7. Hemp
Founded in 1995, this Boston-based brand supplies hemp fibers from all over the world. They have a strong relationship with hemp growers and mills in China, the largest producer of hemp.
8. Patagonia
This company debuted an impressive summer clothing line made from hemp fabric in 2017.
9. As for the underwear
This PETA-certified vegan brand with Green America certification enhances men’s and women’s hemp underwear. The company firmly believes that its antibacterial and antifungal properties make hemp fabric the best for covering our private parts.
Switch to hemp fashion for your shopping this year!
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