Buzzby

They're High On Hemp
No jokes, please -- the natural fibre has hit the mainstream
John Mackie | Vancouver Sun | 08/09/2005

Hemp people can be like religious zealots, going on and on about the benefits of "the world's strongest natural fibre."

Growing hemp instead of cotton uses less water and no pesticides! Hemp can be used to make clothes, paper and soap! Hemp is kind to children, animals and other living things!

But there seems to be something to it. All sorts of mainstream companies are jumping on the hemp bandwagon.

Tilley Endurables, makers of the famous Tilley hats, has a line of hemp hats and they're selling like gangbusters.

"Everybody loves them," says Barbara Tilley of the company's Granville flagship store. "They're so different. They breathe well -- my husband wears his golfing."

The hats have been so successful that Tilley has introduced a stylish new wide-brimmed hemp hat for women -- the only Tilley hat specifically made for females. There is also a regular-style Tilley hemp hat for $75, and one with sides that snap up for $69.

That's not all. Tilley also sells men's pants for $129 and shirts for $98, and women's cabana pants for $119, shirt jackets for $89 and tank tops for $45 -- all made from hemp.

At Hemptown, located at Venables and Clark in Vancouver, you can get hemp bikinis and tankinis, hemp yoga clothes, and hemp T-shirts and sweatshirts galore. Not to mention hemp burgers, hemp ice cream, hemp chocolate, hemp waffles, hemp soap, and hemp and beer shampoo.

"The reaction to all of our products has been pretty overwhelming," says Hemptown president Jason Finnis, who started the company 10 years ago with $300 and has watched it grow into an international enterprise with $2 million in annual sales. "Last year our company was named the sixth fastest-growing company in B.C."

You might think that hemp would be a bit coarse for something like a bikini. But Finnis points out hemp can be quite soft.

"Hemp is as soft as cotton," he claims. "And it is about four times stronger than cotton. It's comfortable to wear and cool in the summer -- it breathes well."

Hemptown designs most of its own products, but also carries lines from other companies. It is mainly a mail-order business, and ships a lot of stock to the United States, Germany and Japan.

The Vancouver store's bread and butter is T-shirts, but this year's hit has been the hemp bikini.

"It definitely gets a little bit of attention," says Finnis, noting the bikinis and tankinis are made by another Vancouver company, Happy Camper.

"It's $69.99 for the set, top and bottom. We've had them for a month and they've been selling quickly."

They also sell hemp bikinis for $80 in the world-renowned "Pot Block" downtown. But asking the question "Who buys hemp bikinis?" did not amuse Heidi Farmola at the B.C. Marijuana Party store on West Hastings.

"Why wouldn't you buy a hemp bikini? Is this a joke?" she said. "If you want to ask me some serious questions about hemp, I can answer them for you. If you want to mock the hemp, I'm not going to answer your questions anymore."

Hemptown's Finnis was a little more accommodating.

"The customer we're typically getting into the store is a female, usually between 25 and 45," he said.

"You might think we'd get skaters in here and young guys -- wrong crowd. We don't get many of them in here at all."

Finnis stresses that hemp plants and pot plants are very different things -- one is used to make stuff, while the other is used as an intoxicant.

He also says hemp products and Hemptown have nothing to do with all the foofaraw surrounding the legalization of marijuana and the recent arrest of pot crusader Marc Emery.

"It's like comparing poppy seed bagels to opium, or a shih tzu [dog] to a Rottweiler," he says. "They're very different breeds."

We may be just seeing the beginning of the hemp age. Most of the products Hemptown sells are made in China, but Canada is apparently a very good place to grow hemp. Hemptown is growing about 24 hectares (60 acres) of hemp on a farm in Craik, Sask. and plans to build a processing facility there, so we may soon have a homegrown hemp-garment industry.

"Our goal is to be 'dirt to shirt' within Canada," says Finnis.

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BC.Buddy

Excellent, they're doing a great job of promoting hemp in Canada. And the more usage in Canada may spill over into the U.S. Then again, maybe not.

It would be nice however, if they'd get off their political pedestal and take advantage of the hundreds of beneficial uses hemp has.

Of course, the media (refer to title of the article) makes a joke out of it and it's never taken seriously.

Maybe one day hemp will prevail! Then again, maybe not!

HEMP
Nature's way of saying, "screw you prohibitionists!"

That was lame...

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BC Marijuana Party
"Overgrow The Government"
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