As one of the sturdiest and most long-lasting organic fibers now on the market, hemp is a great material for outerwear. Even more than cotton, hemp clothing is reported to have three times the tensile strength.
A crop with a very high yield that belongs to the cannabis sativa plant family, hemp is used to make sustainable textiles like hemp cloth. Hemp has a long history of industrial application, such as rope and sailcloth. It is one of the most adaptable and resilient natural fibers. Compared to cotton and linen fibers, hemp fabrics are also more robust. Linen and hemp both absorb moisture.
In comparison to cotton (8%), linen (10–12%) and hemp (12%), hemp retains moisture somewhat greater (12%). The lifetime of Hemp is the longest of all the natural fibers.
Hemp fiber bundles are often longer than flax fiber bundles.Therefore, the length of the fibers is the first point of differentiation. Hemp is strong; with appropriate care, the cloth may last for decades, perhaps up to 20 or 30 years! The fibers of hemp won’t disintegrate with time, but they will become softer.
Hemp cloth is extremely resistant to pilling and does not shrink easily. Hemp fabric is particularly soft and durable since the plant’s fibers are long and strong; whereas a conventional cotton T-shirt lasts at most ten years, a hemp T-shirt may last twice as long as that.
Does hemp have a similar texture to cotton? Both cotton and hemp feel similar against the skin and become more comfortable with use and washing. Hemp fabric offers UV protection and is lightweight and quick-drying like cotton. Hemp-made clothing softens with each wash, just like cotton does, although the process is comparatively gradual. Hemp clothing is more durable than cotton because of the tensile and strong strands that make it more comfortable in every way.
Over time, cotton thins down and becomes more prone to tearing. Hemp’s toughness has long been recognized; after all, it is used to make sturdy ropes for the construction industry. While this implies that hemp fabric is not always as soft as cotton at first, it also means that it gets softer with use.
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which strengthened federal regulations, essentially outlawed the cultivation of industrial hemp during the drug war. “The 1970 Act removed the taxing strategy [of the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act] and essentially rendered all cannabis growing illegal,” claims a business association.
