Colombia makes clothing with non-psychoactive cannabis hemp

Colombia’s hemp industry is not often thought of as focusing on the clothing market. But that is what one company and the visionary at its head want to do. In order to change the perception of the plant in Colombia and abroad they are producing greener than ever textiles using hemp fibers for sale in Colombia as well as in the US, both markets that could benefit from a hemp paradigm shift.

Hemp Textiles, the fashion division of the Canadian holding company Flora Growth Corp, began marketing clothing made from non-psychoactive cannabis hemp grown in Colombia.

This initiative is a bet with which the company hopes to break the stigma of the plant and increase its exports to the United States, said on Tuesday the general manager of the company, Nicolas Vasquez.

“We are interested in the Colombian market because we know that there is more stigma facing the fiber of cannabis due to ignorance of the subject, and we want to change that,” said the businessman.

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Clothing to wear your hemp on your sleeve?

With the brand Stardog Loungewear, Hemp Textiles will present its inaugural collection that includes masks, jackets, T-shirts, pants and shoes, with prices ranging from 24,900 to 350,000 pesos (between 7 and 100 dollars). The clothing will be sold initially in two physical points in Bogota as well as online.

As for the United States, Hemp Textiles’ intention is to increase exports, which currently account for 70% of its sales.

To this end, Vasquez explained that the project is “to open stores in that country in the first quarter of 2021.”

Hemp clothing goes from illegal to rising industry

Although the clothes elaborated with nonpsychoactive cannabis hemp have been used for years and it is more of a tradition in Asia. The fact that the plant was declared illegal in the United States decades ago made difficult any massive production.

Nevertheless, after the decriminalization in several countries and as the industry of the medical cannabis began to arise, Hemp began to be considered an alternative for the sustainable fashion.

“Compared to cotton, hemp consumes significantly less water in its manufacturing process and once the finished textile product is left it offers greater thermal resistance, better absorption and dispersion of moisture,” said the manager.

Currently, Hemp Textiles buys the raw material in Turkey and Asia but in the medium term they want to carry out the complete transformation process in Colombia.

Could hemp clothing become a Colombian export?

Vasquez explained that “although almost all applications of cannabis have to do with the flower or leaves, where they get the ingredients for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, in hemp the key part is the stem, because that’s where you obtain the fibers.

After extracting the “longest and thinnest”, which are ideal for making fabrics, a component called lignin is removed and the yarn is made to later go to the weaving mill.

The result “are comfortable garments, which are designed to be used for a lifetime because their resistance is similar to that of nylon. In addition, it biodegrades in a period of about one year, once it is outdoors, while polyester can take more than 200 years,” said one expert.

Therefore, the objective of the businessman “is to educate Colombians about these benefits so that they demand greener textile products from the market and stop stigmatizing non-psychoactive cannabis.”

If that can be achieved, a study by the Foundation for Higher Education and Development (Fedesarrollo), indicates that Colombia has the potential to develop cannabis crops and conquer international markets with its products.

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(Featured image by xxolaxx via Pixabay)

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