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With the growing trend of ecologically friendly everything, including clothing, hemp is making a big splash in the fashion industry. Of course, cotton is still king. But there are many good reasons for consumers to support a hemp coup. It’s stronger, better for the environment and easier to grow than cotton. And it has many other uses, such as making rope, strengthening building materials, creating paper and detoxifying industrial waste sites.

The Failings of Cotton
While cotton was (and still is) the fashion backbone of America, the crop itself has severe limitations, disadvantages and vulnerabilities. Cotton can be grown only in certain climates and falls prey to many insects and diseases. It uses around 25% of the world’s pesticides and 10% of the world’s insecticides. Its diseases and pests, especially the boll weevil, can quickly wipe out entire cotton plantations. While insecticides keep the boll weevil under control, US cotton producers spend $300 million a year to combat this problem. More importantly, the toxins sprayed on the cotton are dangerous to humans—both to workers who tend to cotton crops and to those wearing cotton clothes sprayed with these chemicals. The World Health Organization estimates that 20,000 deaths occur each year from pesticide poisonings in developing countries.

To reduce the need for pesticides and insecticides, scientists have created genetically modified cotton that contains a protein from the Bacillus thuringiensis. This protein creates a toxin harmful to a handful of insects (moths, butterflies, flies and beetles) that destroy cotton. While genetically modified cotton reduces the amount of poisons on the plant, the growth and harvesting of cotton itself is extremely detrimental to the environment.

Normal cotton plantations are planted and harvested every year on the same plots of land. Since cotton is a very thirsty crop, this can lead to desertification and salination as occurred on a massive scale in Uzbekistan.

To combat many of cotton’s environmental issues, eco-conscious farmers and textile producers have introduced organic cotton. Unlike normal cotton, organic cotton is rotated every year, allowing time for the nutrients and water in the ground to be replenished and, of course, it does not use pesticides.

Hemp to the Rescue
But compared to even organic cotton, hemp is more eco-friendly and can be used in much the same way. In fact, hemp has been utilized by humans far longer than cotton—and for good reason. Unlike cotton, hemp can be planted almost anywhere, requires very little care and is one of the fastest growing biomasses in the world. And hemp has hundreds of beneficial uses in the areas of clothing and accessories (shoes, purses, etc.), rope, building materials, paper, and land and water detoxification.

It isn’t just hemp fibers that are usable; almost every part of the hemp plant is. The seeds contain essential amino acids for humans and can be eaten raw or cooked—even made into hemp milk, tofu and butter. The seeds contain almost as much protein as milk, meat, eggs or soy and are high in calcium and iron. Hemp oil has been shown to relieve symptoms of eczema and also has anti-inflammatory properties. And like vegetable oil, hempseed oil can also be used as a biofuel to allow diesel cars to run off of something more sustainable.

Besides utilizing the plant for food or textiles, the planting of hemp is also extremely beneficial to the environment. Hemp, unlike cotton, does not drain excessive amounts of nutrients and water from the soil and requires very little, if any, pesticides and herbicides. In fact, hemp is often employed in weed control due to its height and dense foliage. More importantly, hemp has water and soil purification capabilities. For example, it is being used to clean up the radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear accident site.

Despite all of these beneficial uses for hemp, its cultivation is prohibited in the US. It was made illegal at the same time as marijuana. They are related plants, but hemp contains only a very small amount of the active drug in marijuana, tetrahydrocannibonoi (THC) and cannot be used to “get high.” Many other countries—over 30 in all, including the UK and Japan—produce industrial hemp and some states in the US have even passed laws making hemp farms a possibility if federal laws are changed.

Once the ridiculous legal prohibitions in US are eliminated, this highly adaptable and versatile plant should regain its rightful title as king. Without the vulnerabilities of cotton and given its numerous ecological advantages, hemp is already making a comeback in the fashion world. And with myriad other uses, it is poised to become the darling of many other industries as well.. Like a 1940s US government WWII PSA says, we need to start using “Hemp for Victory”—albeit this time an environmental one.

Additional resources:
Hemp for Victory
Hemp vs. Cotton

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