Hemp Fiber and Fabrics

The textile material used to make hemp clothing comes from the long strands of bast fiber that make up the stalk of the hemp plant. The long bast fibers are the most desirable for the manufacturing of textile. They can be spun and woven into a fine, linen-like fabric. This fabric can then be used alone, or blended with cotton, linen, silk, or man-made fibers such as lycra and lyocell. Hemp fibers are mildew and microbe resistant, which make them valuable for the production of sails, tarps, awnings, carpets, and clothing.

When compared to other bast fibers such as flax, ramie and jute, hemp ranks second in fiber length, ultimate fiber length, aspect ratio, tenacity, tensile strength, and breaking length, and third in cellulose content.
Flax is the dominant bast fiber in North America. The following are the primary differences between hemp and flax:

Hemp fibers can reach longer lengths although most processing methods and machinery reduce the lengths of hemp fiber. New processing techniques for hemp may be developed to enable fiber length to become an advantage in certain applications.

Flax is reported to have a "farm odor" when used in making composite board whereas hemp exhibits little odor.

A significant difference is the versatility and characteristics of hemp hurd verses flax shives. The hurd has a longer fiber than shives. This longer fiber is able to add strength to paper and perhaps other types of products.

Hemp is colorless.

Less processing is required to produce long line flax fiber of textile quality. Hemp is larger and the bonds are stronger to separate the fibers.

Flax is thinner than hemp therefore retting is easier. This is an important issue and is a critical factor affecting the quality of fiber.

Flax is preferred to hemp in the textile industry, even in geographic areas where there have no restrictions on growing hemp.

Hemp fabric is naturally more suitable to people with chemical sensitivities such as Multiple Chemical Sensitivities than cotton. Hemp grows well without herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides. The production of cotton, on the other hand, consumes almost half of the agricultural chemicals used on American crops. Hemp bast fibers are one of the longest natural soft fibers. They are longer, stronger, more absorbent, more mildew-resistant, and more insulative than cotton. This means that hemp will keep you warmer in winter and cooler in summer than cotton. Hemp is more effective at blocking the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.

The nature of hemp fibers makes them more absorbent to dyes, which coupled with hemp's ability to better screen out ultraviolet rays, means that hemp material is less prone to fading than cotton fabrics are. Like cotton, hemp can be made into a variety of fabrics, including high quality linen. When blended with materials such as cotton, linen, and silk, hemp provides a sturdier, longer lasting product, while maintaining quality and softness.