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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHEMP HEMP HOORAY! CA legalizes Cultivation, but Is Fashion Ready to Embrace the Fiber?
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Courtesy of Jungmaven
HEMP SHIRT: Los Angeles–headquartered label Jungmaven makes hemp-blend garments such as this long-sleeve shirt.
After being celebrated as a wonder plant and reviled as a public danger, hemp could be on the cusp of mainstream acceptance with the passage of a new law in California.
Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed Senate Bill 566. It will allow California farmers to cultivate industrial hemp and to sell it to manufacturers, who will make it into a myriad of products ranging from soaps to foods, building materials and fashion. However, the law will not be implemented unless hemp cultivation is authorized by the federal government.
The bill’s co-authors, state Sens. Mark Leno (D–San Francisco) and Allan Monsoor (R–Costa Mesa), said SB 566 is something of a first step toward the legalization of hemp. While the sale of hemp products is legal in America, the cultivation of hemp is currently heavily restricted by the federal government.
If grown without approval from the feds, hemp growers might have to forfeit their property to the government or serve time in prison. However, the law is rarely enforced, said Patrick Goggin, a San Francisco–based lawyer and a board member of the hemp-advocacy group Vote Hemp.
With this passage of SB 566, Leno said it is only a matter of time before the feds give the cultivation of industrial hemp the green light. “It has great potential to revitalize family farms, create new jobs and stimulate the economy,” he said.
MORE HERE: http://www.apparelnews.net/news/2013/oct/31/california-legalizes-hemp-cultivation-fashion-read/
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polichick
(37,626 posts)That's a gorgeous field in the op!
k&r
Uncle Joe
(65,040 posts)Thanks for the thread, Bennyboy.
TeamPooka
(25,577 posts)The first diesel fuel was made from oil pressed from hemp seeds. It’s non-toxic, a nitrogen fixer, grows well nearly everywhere, a renewable resource, makes food, fuel, paper, rope, medicine, cosmetics, plastic, housing and much more.
The seeds can be pressed and used for diesel. Leaves and stalks can be fermented and used for fuel grade alcohol. Hemp harvests the most ethanol per acre compared to the alternatives, up to 10 times more than corn ethanol. Low THC hemp plants produce less seed and ethanol per acre compared to other strains. Some varieties mature in 60-90 days.
....
ForgoTheConsequence
(5,180 posts)It's insanely soft and American made. I hope it catches on.
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)into the farming areas of California. I don't know what made Brown change his mind (he vetoed the last hemp bill) but I'm glad he did.
nolabear
(43,850 posts)Had it for years.
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)
Excellent thread.
Faux pas
(16,333 posts)Many designers are going green, this should be a fashion must.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Richard D
(10,018 posts). . . and had hemp jeans at one point. I like it a lot more than cotton.
hopemountain
(3,919 posts)however, make sure you have a good brand and the cloth is woven and product manufactured by people who understand how weaves can be sturdy and not unravel at the seams - as have 2 of my garments, a pocket book, and my handbag. it was the retailer as i have seen other products that have worn exceptionally well.
and, this fiber takes dyes beautifully.
haele
(15,364 posts)The thread consistency, strength and wear is perfect for a duck canvas or linen style fabric, and it washes soft and flexible. Takes natural dyes very well (which means it holds stains well, too...)
Not so good for anything sheer or "fancy" (like a rolled and heated "satin" treatment - silk and rayon is better for the natural shiny and slick fabrics), but it's great for weaving and knitting casual clothes, jackets, suiting and some upholstery fabric.
I'd like to see what can be done with hemp, and I would hope some of our congress-kritters from here can make some changes on the federal level.
As for being restricted by the Feds, it's Industrial grade Hemp, not Marijuana... no cannibanoids worth speaking of, and no THC.
You'd have a better chance getting high snorting nutmeg, and you'd get as much health "problems" smoking paper.
The primary question I would have for growing it here in California is whether or not Hemp is drought resistant. There's a reason we can't grow cotton here...
Haele
hunter
(40,657 posts)... make hemp the full equivalent of cotton.
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Cotton is the most water intensive crop you can possibly grow.
It is also uses more pesticides and fungicides than any other crop (think Kesterson toxic site)
they are building tunnels right now to carry water from NORCAL to the cotton farmers in the San Joaquin and Imperial Valleys.
HEMP, takes 1/3 less water to grow. It is drought tolerant. Higher yield, no natural insect enemies and can be grown close together to choke off invasive plants...
In production ONE WHITE T-Shirt from cotton takes 8 gallons of water to produce, along with the bleach to make it white whereas hemp shirts take half that.
See the posting in this thread, HEMP vs Cotton..... and you will see that in this very specific area, HEMP is far superior than cotton.
In many other areas, HEMP can save CALIFORNIA.
We can make our plastics out of hemp that are bio degradable. We can make paper products, wood pulp producst like fiberboard (they are closing the plant in Rocklin I used to work in) and create industry here in our state and alleviate many problems facing us.
Imagine if water usage went down by 2/3, that would solve our water problems.
RandiFan1290
(6,710 posts)I love this old thread
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)This petition calls to amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of "marihuana." To define "industrial hemp" to mean the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of such plant, whether growing or not, with a delta-nine tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.
To deem Cannabis sativa L. to meet that concentration limit if a person grows or processes it for purposes of making industrial hemp in accordance with state law.
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Building with hempcrete is carbon negative, since there is more CO2 locked-up in the process of growing and harvesting of the hemp than is released in the production of the lime binder. Of course the equation is more complicated than that, but hempcrete is still amazing!
http://www.hempreport.com/issues/17/research17.html
Interesting HEMP business here: https://www.facebook.com/HempFlax
http://hempflax.com/en/products
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Also, I've had it for years and it looks new. Durable fabric.
RandiFan1290
(6,710 posts)
Time to grow up America
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Vote Hemp http://capwiz.com/votehemp/home/
The shortest way to tell people about hemp is to say that it's misclassified as a Schedule 1 drug in the Controlled Substances Act as it doesn't meet any of the tests to be scheduled at all. The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which was the first federal control of hemp, allowed for the registration of hemp farmers and processors through the Treasury Department, but the last commercial crop was grown in Wisconsin in 1957. So, when the Marihuana Tax Act was found unconstitutional in 1969 by the Supreme Court and replaced by the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970 there were no hemp farmers or processors to ask that they still be able to register to grow and process the crop as they had always done. That's how we ended up where we are now. S. 359 and H.R. 525 could fix that, so could the President and Attorney General by removing hemp from the schedules in the CSA altogether.
Please take action now at http://votehemp.com/takeaction
LWolf
(46,179 posts)but I'M ready. My one hemp garment, a pair of pants, is 10 years old and I still love them.
cali
(114,904 posts)the most beautiful wedding dresses all made from hemp and hemp blends as well as antique bits of this and that.
"As a designer who is committed to using hemp and hemp blends in all of my garments.."
http://www.taralynnbridal.com/taralynncustomweddinggowngreenweddingdress/
other collections at the link.
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)thnx for sharing
roamer65
(37,926 posts)It's time for our useless Congress to author up a Cannabis Legalization Act and get it to the President's desk for his signature.
Alcohol is way worse and it's legal and controlled, time for the same for Cannabis.
Just get it done and over with...
shanti
(21,798 posts)in the past, and would definitely buy more, if they weren't so pricey. Most were made by Three Star Dog. The stuff wears like iron, but like linen, you do need to iron them! So glad hemp cultivation was approved here!
I also remember having some hemp ice cream. Tasted like bananas, yummy stuff!
BlueToTheBone
(3,747 posts)and long wearing. It's great that it will be a more widely used material for clothing, etc.
DiverDave
(5,245 posts)The gravy train is slowly coming to a halt.
I bet we will see the usual hand wringing and lamenting that this will drastically impact millions of people.
Dupont and others will screech the loudest.
Just think, a renewable substance that can, literally, be made into almost anything.
And I would by hemp clothes, they say it is so durable that some made in the 1800's would still be wearable.
Plus it's a weed, it doesnt need pesticides, fertilizer and very little water.
It'll grow anywhere. Just drive across Arkansas on I-40 and look in the ditches...miles and miles of hemp that got away from the farmers during WW2. They just ignore it.
Dont try and get high though, the THC content is .1-.2% or some ridicules amount.
longship
(40,416 posts)It's a great crop for:
* Paper
* Rope
* Petrol alternatives
* Building materials
Etc.
Better, here's a chart:
Initech
(108,620 posts)
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)PORTLAND, Oregon — Oregon farmers could put in a crop of industrial hemp next spring if a panel of experts can satisfy federal officials with a set of tightly drawn rules.
The committee of agricultural experts and state policy officials has been selected by the Oregon Department of Agriculture and will come together in December, the Oregonian (http://is.gd/ipQUT8 ) reported.
The committee hopes to set up a program that will meet what the federal government calls a "robust" standard, said Jim Cramer, a market and certification official in the department. He said the goal is to do so in time for planting.
Oregon is one of seven states with laws permitting industrial hemp — a strain of marijuana with only a trace of the plant's psychoactive chemical. Industrial hemp is grown for fiber and seeds.
But state officials have held off implementing the 2009 law, saying they would wait until the federal government reclassified marijuana from a substance prone to abuse and lacking medicinal value.
http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/25c16c4124814404a2d94a7c5edfeb2d/OR--Hemp-Growing-Rules/
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Colorado officials unveiled regulations Wednesday for legal hemp growing, setting the stage for a new agricultural industry.
Hemp advocates at a public meeting in Lakewood said the crop's potential is great. But they said development might be slowed by the plant's continued illegal status under federal law.
That will create problems for farmers in procuring hemp seed to start their crops, speakers said.
Amendment 64, the 2012 Colorado ballot initiative that legalized marijuana, also provided for state licensing of industrial hemp farming.
Hemp is a marijuana look-alike but contains little or no THC, the psychoactive substance in cannabis that makes users high. Hemp and its oil-rich seeds have dozens of uses in foods, cosmetics, textiles and construction materials.
The new state regulations call for farmers to register and pay a $200 annual fee, plus $1 per acre planted. Farms will be subject to inspections to make sure that the hemp plants contain no more than 0.3 percent THC.
Read more: Colorado hemp task force unveils regulations for legal farming - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_24469997/colorado-hemp-task-force-unveils-regulations-legal-farming#ixzz2jj7rsclb
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Oregon should be a national leader in industrial hemp production, which can fuel economic development in rural communities, inspire entrepreneurs and meet rising consumer demand, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer said Saturday.
"I think the stakes are high for Oregon," Blumenauer told a group of industrial hemp supporters at a forum he organized in Portland Saturday.
The Portland Democrat, an outspoken advocate of industrial hemp, said momentum is building for the crop in Oregon and in other states. He pointed to a letter he received on Friday from Oregon's U.S. attorney, Amanda Marshall, as a positive step for hemp production in the state.
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/11/industrial_hemp_in_oregon_us_r.html
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Community begins sustainable housing project....
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/11/09/hemp-something-all-homes-should-be-made-of-scotland-community-begins-sustainable-housing-project/
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Manufacturers use hemp in plastics, insulation and even a little paper. Health food lovers eat hemp seeds by the handful for the protein and omega-3 fats. Hemp clothes, shoes and handbags sell for top dollar, prized for durability.
But while hemp fields abound in Canada and Europe, only a few acres of the plant are grown in the U.S. Authorities outlawed the crop a half-century ago because of its affiliation with its high-inducing cousin marijuana, even though the industrial variety contains only trace amounts of the psychoactive chemical THC.
Ten states, including Kentucky, have removed barriers to hemp production, and state Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Fields, wants to bring it back to Tennessee. He’s drafting a bill that would legalize it here.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20131110/NEWS0201/311100049/Tennessee-considers-legalizing-hemp?nclick_check=1