The #1 Complete Guide to Hemp Fabric Benefits & Uses

Due to the high price for 100% hemp fabrics, many people complain about the cost, so what you will find on the market is most often a blend.

The benefit of this is to help keep the cost down, while still being able to benefit from the anti-microbial and strength and durability and eco-friendliness of hemp fibers.

First and foremost, hemp has been proven throughout history to be a strong, durable, eco-friendly fabric.

Obviously, there are benefits to synthetic or petroleum-based fabrics that can beat hemp fabric in different ways… however, it’s at the expense of wars, pillaging and plundering our environment to acquire the raw materials to produce those toxic fabrics.

Hemp is indeed more expensive than many other types of fabric, but the more people use them the more we can drive the pricing down.

Hemp Fabric doesn’t require toxic herbicides or pesticides to be grown.

It requires nearly half the amount of water as cotton. No trees need to be cut down to produce it. And it’s 100% biodegradable.

Pros:

– Hemp is a sustainable resource

– Hemp fabric is durable

– Hemp fabric is comfortable

– Hemp Fabric is Antimicrobial

Cons:

– Hemp fabric is more expensive than some other fabrics

– Hemp fabric is not as widely available as some other fabrics

The biggest disadvantages of hemp fabric is that it can be a little hard to find the style and weave you’re looking for, it tends to be more expensive than cotton and synthetic fabrics, and it’s biodegradable.

Obviously the biodegradability is a benefit as well, but if you’re using hemp fabric in an environment where you don’t want it breaking down this could become an issue.

In many ways, hemp fabric is better than cotton fabric, but it’s really subjective answer.

Hemp is better as in better for the environment with how much water is required to grow it, and it does not require herbicides and pesticides. Hemp is not genetically modified, and is stronger, more durable and mold and mildew resistant.

Cotton can be softer, more readily available and cheaper. So it really depends on what is important to you when choosing a fabric.

In our opinion hemp IS the best fabric. But this is a subjective opinion based on our 18 years + of experience working with hemp fabrics. So if you’re asking if hemp is the best fabric, when it comes to the environmental benefits I would say yes. When it comes to the price and availability that’s where it may differ among other options like cotton, ramie, jute or other natural fibers.

After more than eighty years of prohibition, and the demonization of the hemp plant it’s no wonder why so many people lost touch with the reality of hemp fabric’s benefits and value.

It used to be the most popular fabric used among many different cultures as you have learned about in this article above.

Now that hemp is becoming legal in many different parts of the world, more and more people are becoming privy to the benefits and uses for hemp fabrics.

So although it’s not very popular now, it will certainly become more accepted and requested as the regulations fall around the use of hemp fibers for fabrics and other woven applications.

Hemp fabric is in fact used for many types of clothing, but some of the reasons why people avoid using hemp fabric for clothing is because it can be costly, or not provide the look and feel they are going for.

For example with hemp linen it can tend to wrinkle easily, so that’s why many designers will go for a synthetic option.

But to be clear, there are many types of clothing made from hemp fabric.

Depending on what type of hemp fabric, and if it’s been preshrunk it may or may not shrink when washing it or putting it in the dryer.

Knit fabrics tend to shrink more such as t-shirts or hoodies, whereas woven fabrics don’t seem to shrink as much when put in the dryer. So like blazers or dress pants that use a hemp linen, canvas or muslin won’t shrink as much.

There are several reasons why hemp fabrics and hemp clothing are more expensive that other fabrics and clothing made from cotton or synthetic fibers.

Hemp clothing and fabrics tend to be more expensive due to the very small amount that is being produced around the world.

In other words, when you have mass production of a particular product you have what’s called economies of scale.

So because very few farmers are growing hemp, and very few manufacturers and processors are turning the raw hemp fibers into fabrics, and the distance that the fabrics have to travel is what drives the prices up.

Also, with the cost of freight going up nearly every week and the massive tariffs imposed on imported goods all these things drive the cost higher for the end user.

Our hope is that as we help develop the hemp fabric industry within the USA we will be able to benefit from the economies of scale, but this is not likely to happen for another 5-10 years.

Just like any natural fiber fabric hemp can get wet, but it’s not a good idea to have it exposed to ongoing moisture or dampness.

Long periods of exposure to water or moisture can cause the natural fibers to develop mold or mildew and begin to deteriorate over time.

That said, if you have a hemp tarp or a hemp tent or a hemp shower curtain for example, as long as it gets completely dried out between each use it will last a very long time and do just fine being exposed to water or moisture.

Depending on the style of clothing and the hemp fabric being used for the garment you may or may not need to iron it.

Some examples of hemp clothing that doesn’t need to be ironed would be most knit fabric type clothing such as: t-shitrs, hoodies, tank tops, or anything that uses a jersey knit fabric.

On the other hand, if you’re wearing anything made from a hemp canvas, or hemp linen or any woven hemp fabric then you may want to have your vests, blazers, dresses, or dress shirts pressed or ironed to have them nice and smooth.