By Karissa Kilgore
Hemp: Tough and tender
If you think "drug" when I say "hemp," that's sad (but not surprising). While, yes, it has been used as a drug and is illegal to grow in the United States, hemp has many other uses, one of which is as a fiber.
Cannabis is the plant that produces hemp. It is a natural pest-repellant and so it is grown without using pesticides—how ideal! About 30 countries worldwide grow hemp. Tall stalks are harvested and the fibers separated. The fiber is processed, and is used in industrial production as well as for clothing.
The strength and durability of the fiber is impressive. While sometimes a little rougher than cotton, hemp clothing softens over time for lovable, worn-in comfort. It's machine washable and can be dyed both chemically and naturally.
Finding hemp clothing might seem tough (especially if you live in the U.S. where the plant itself is prohibited), but, again, online shopping makes every country in the world as close as the corner store, bringing you what you want. Some online boutiques specialize in hemp clothing while others sell items featuring blends with silk, wool, and cotton. Your best bet to find great hemp-wear is to look for specific items—like shirts or pants—instead of just general clothing.
Less Popular, but Still Green
Other options for when you're buying green aren't as popular yet, but you can help to make them so! These fabrics have their own unique qualities, but are frequently used in combination with other eco-friendly materials (most commonly organic cotton).
Soy is being marketed as the "vegetable cashmere." Originally, Henry Ford made a suit and tie out of soy in the 1940s with the hope that its use would catch on. Clearly it didn’t, but it is now becoming known as the premier luxury fiber in green-wear. It's soft, durable, and washable like bamboo. However, it's also naturally renewable and can be harvested as a byproduct of food manufacturing. The downfall is that it's rather expensive and somewhat hard to find. Very few eco-clothing stores carry soy clothing. Those that do generally have very limited selection and sell mostly fabric blends rather than 100% soy products.
Tencel, also known as Lyocell, is made from the cellulose in wood pulp. It's a synthetic material, but has most of the important characteristics of green clothing. Tencel is known for its drape, which, in the fabric world, is comparable to rayon (but much better for the environment!). Resistant to wrinkling and shrinking, tencel is machine washable and dries quickly. It's strong, biodegradable and blends well with cotton, wool, and other natural materials. It also absorbs color very well, allowing for vibrant colors to punctuate your wardrobe. The only drawback of this textile is the process for dyeing. The solvent involved in the process is toxic, but 99% of what is needed is continually reused to cut back on waste. The dyes used on this fabric may irritate allergies. Like soy, tencel clothing is also somewhat more difficult to find than other green fabrics.
Finally, there's EcoSpun—polyester made from recycled plastic bottles. A bottled soda you had last year could be on someone's shoulders in the form of fleece. Wellman, Inc. developed EcoSpun to use post-consumer bottles so they don't end up in landfills. The process involves sorting, sterilizing, and breaking down the plastic bottles into flakes. The flakes are melted and spun to create threads, and those are used to create a fabric like fleece or polyester. Not only does EcoSpun cut down on heaps in landfills, it's colorfast, shrink resistant, and quite strong. EcoSpun clothing, however, is a little bit more difficult to come by, even on the web.
Paint the Town Green
So the next time you're shopping around town, ask store clerks if they carry any clothing made with these materials. If they do, good for them! Give them your business, and then tell others about it. If they don't, maybe they should… Look around online at some of your favorite retailers and see if they're in on the eco-revolution, or try browsing an online boutique that's totally new to you. You might find a new style you love that's green! And if others ask about your green-wear? Be sure to share the wealth for our planet's health.
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