In late Winter of 2010, I suffered from mysterious sleep sweating which woke me up every hour of the night. Extremely uncomfortable & sweaty, I would disgustingly peel off the blanket to dry myself. Moments later, the sweat would dry and the winter chills would resume. This process of sweating, waking, taking the blanket off and putting it back on repeated for well over a week.

Then one day while chattin’ with my mom in her bedroom, I noticed she was using the exact same blanket. In that moment I had an epiphany: the blanket could have been the reason for my sweating. I asked her if she had been sweating abnormally in her sleep as I had. To my confirmation, she’d exclaimed, “Oh my God! How’d You know?!”

It was that moment that led to the creation of iLoveBad, but for us it’s always been about more than making hemp clothing or a comfortable blanket. We believe hemp can make people’s lives better, as we discovered when we researched hemp blankets.

UNDERSTANDING SLEEP SWEATING & SYNTHETIC FIBER BLANKETS

Beginning that day, my wife and I began researching as much as we could about this night sweating problem.

With just a few hours of google searches, we realized that intense sleep sweating, otherwise known as Hyperhidrosis, was somewhat of a worldwide epidemic that seemed to have no clear answer.  Further, we discovered the blankets we were sweating under was the cause of the sweating because it was made from synthetic fibers (Nylon, Polyester, Acrylic, etc) that are known to be non-breathable, which means that those fibers keep oxygen from entering our bodies through our skin (our body’s largest organ), causing our bodies to suffocate & overheat.

If you own a microfiber couch or a car seat, you can detect the sweating against your skin. Over time, I believe that prolonged exposure to these fabrics causes our bodies to suffer. Even though our bodies are magical in their ability to restore balance, this sweating is extremely counter-productive. Sleep is supposed to restore our bodies, but instead they work overtime!

Realizing all this, we immediately sought for a blanket made with natural fibers. Surprisingly, there were very few options to choose from. Granted, it was 2010 when this was taking place prior to the organic/natural living craze that had swept the world. The blankets we had seen were either too small, too thin, or not soft enough. The only one that came close to what we were looking for cost about $500!

CREATING OUR OWN HEMP BLANKETS

So instead of purchasing something to get by, we decided to make one ourselves. That decision led us to the re-discovery of hemp, a forgotten weed-like plant that was once the staple of American agriculture.

Because of hemp’s renewability (grows rapidly like weeds), versatility (can be used for so many different applications), and environmental benefits (in that it doesn’t require a lot of water to grow as well as pesticides to ward off bugs), it was an easy fiber choice for us to go with.  We then found a local fabric vendor in LA along with a seamstress to help us design & sew the blanket.

We spent about $200 to complete the project and the results were beautiful. Our blanket feels incredibly soft, being that it’s fleece, and magically stopped my mysterious sleep sweating!

We loved it so much that we had to make more for friends and family. The growing excitement over our organic hemp blankets eventually evolved into a business that now includes undies, tees & socks. All our products are comfortable, but they also bring awareness to the incredibly dynamic hemp fiber as well as the many benefits of natural living in general.

WHY HEMP MATTERS: IT’S MORE THAN JUST HEMP BLANKETS & SOCKS

There were a lot of reasons why we could’ve gone with hemp as a business and every single one of those reasons would validate its use.

However, the one aspect that really motivated us to go with hemp was the fact that it was erroneously labeled as a Schedule 1 drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Hemp was banned banned as a crop by the United States Government for nearly a hundred years, until 2014.

Further, the U.S. government used propaganda to demonize this harmless plant. The goal of all this was to coerce our society to believe that all forms of cannabis, including hemp, will get you high and do really scary things. Ironically, the government still allowed hemp imports, leading many thousands of dollars to flow overseas annually.

We’ve all been misled at some point in our lives and though it’s not cool, it is what it is. This situation however really bums us out because it reminds us of how unaware & gullible we can be as a society and as individuals. Being unaware doesn’t have to be unhealthy but this lack of awareness led us to judge, criminalize (unjust imprisonment), and destroy the lives of so many people & groups associated with it over the years.

I bring this up not to be sour but rather to remind our collective society to reserve our judgement about everything. Chances are, we really don’t understand them to begin with. We often fear that in which we don’t understand (especially drugs like Marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, MDMA, and LSD); we all know this.

When you think about it, you’ll easily deduct that fear is the root cause of our insecurities. Fear leads to our anxieties, depressions, and a host of psychological disorders. Likewise, it inevitably stunts creativity! By reserving our judgement about the unknown and perhaps even embracing them as a creation of a higher being, I believe this will drastically mitigate our fear and subsequently dispel the anxieties that comes with it. Again, there are so many reasons to champion hemp back to its glory days and we’re all about them.

But because the most common mental illness in our society is anxiety, we also care to promote the ideology and mental benefits that comes with supporting hemp.

NATURAL FIBERS & ORGANIC HEMP BLANKETS HELP YOU REST

To sum it all up, blankets made of synthetic fibers (such as Polyester, Nylon and Acrylic) are non-breathable.  This blocks our skin from the necessary oxygen it breathes in. Blankets made of natural fibers such as hemp, organic cotton, wool, silk and so forth are more breathable. Natural fibers allow our bodies to effectively collect the oxygen it requires.

Supporting hemp teaches us about the idea of reserving judgement and fear towards the unknown, like hemp and even other currently illegal substances. Consciously raising awareness for unconditional acceptance and love, reducing anxiety, and inspiring limitless creativity

Working together, we can all meet our daily hurdles en route to manifesting our highest aspirations.

The post Hemp Blankets Can Drastically Change Your Life for the Better appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

For this gift guide, we look for more than just deals on CBD and hemp: we select unique, tasteful and fun gifts that show you care or let you treat yourself to an act of self-care.

Our CBD gift guide is a great way to introduce a loved one, or yourself, to the benefits of CBD oil. Even if you’re shopping for an experienced consumer, this is a perfect time to share CBD as a thoughtful gift.

To celebrate the holiday season and the end of 2020, we selected 20 of our favorite hemp and CBD brands and some of their best products. We’re also sharing some exciting holiday bundles below, which let you try several products at a great price.

Ministry of Hemp Official Holiday CBD Gift Guide 2022

For this hemp and CBD gift guide, we’ve selected great deals and quality products from some of our favorite CBD and hemp brands.

Below you’ll find all 20 brands we selected for this guide. You can choose from this list, or read on to see all the gifts.

• Hatshe
• Hemp EyeWear Edinburgh
• Populum
• Alive & Kicking
• Mission Farms
• Kentucky Crafted
• PhytoLogica
• Sir Hemp Co.
• Highline Wellness
• Kush Queen
• Aspen Green
• Extract Labs
• Green Unicorn Farms
• Barlean’s
• Healist
• Mana Artisan Botanics
• Tommy Chong’s
• Green Wellness Life
• Smilyn
• Flora
• Just CBD

Read on and let our gift guide help you find the best in CBD and hemp for the holidays.

Hatshe: Soothing topical CBD

We all have aches and pains and Hatshe provides relief to keep your body on the move – the ultimate self-care regimen. Whether you like to garden, surf, ski or run, Hatshe can ease pain, help you relax and rest, or give sore muscles a chance to heal so you can get back to doing what you love.

Great gifts: Hatshe has three great topicals: their Tangerine Relief Gel ($25 – $76), Sandalwood Healing Cream ($30 – $58), and Eucalyptus Orange Salve ($30 – $53) … or try all three in their CBD trial pack ($60).

Hemp EyeWear Edinburgh: Gorgeous hemp glasses & sunglasses

Thank you, Hemp Eyewear Edinburgh … Being able to buy beautifully designed glasses made from our favorite plant makes us feel like we’re already living in a more sustainable future. They even offer blue-light blocking lenses for all-day computer users like us.

Great gifts: Use coupon code MINISTRYOFHEMP for 15% off your order. Hemp sunglasses start at £145 (about $176), prices for glasses vary based on lenses. Order by December 16 and get your glasses shipped to the U.S. in time for Christmas.

Populum: 30% off orders over $200, limited edition products

One of our Top CBD Brands, Populum combines potent, U.S.-grown hemp with the finest natural ingredients. They guarantee customer satisfaction with a risk-free 30-day trial. And they’re offering special, limited-edition holiday products and a build-your-own gift bundle system!

Great gifts: Limited edition Orange + CBD Raw Honey and Hazelnut + CBD Coffee Syrup (both $39) are sure to impress and relax your loved one. Spend $200 or more on any custom gift bundle to get 30% off.

Alive & Kicking: Unique ‘micro-slim’ CBD pre-rolls

“Micro Slim” pre-rolls from Alive & Kicking are one of our newest favorite CBD products. These unique sized pre-rolls are small, slender and perfectly sized for an individual “sessionable” experience. The design is discreet and meant to look like a small cigarette. 14 pre-rolls come in every pack.

Great gifts: Alive & Kicking Micro-Slim CBD pre-rolls ($29) are made with .3 gram of premium hemp flower in every smoke. Eighths of wonderfully fluffy, relaxing hemp flower in two different strains are available in handy, reusable jars.

Mission Farms: Luxurious goats milk bath soak

Made in Bend, Oregon, which they call the “Napa Valley of Hemp,” Mission Farms combines their lovingly tended plants with the best natural ingredients. They tailor their product line to fit different needs, from sleep to relieving discomfort. Not to mention relieving (holiday) stress.

Great gifts: Luxurious Mission Farms CBD Bath Soaks ($20 – $39) combine their carefully grown hemp-extract with goats’ milk and natural essential oils for an incredible bath time getaway-from-it-all. Can’t sleep? Their Rest CBD Oil ($25 – $109) is another favorite.

Kentucky Crafted: Peppermint & mint chocolate CBD holiday bundle

Kentucky Crafted supports community farmers by creating great products from our favorite plant. From the old fashioned sweetness of their CBD gummies to their quality CBD oil and topicals, all their products are infused with the goodness of Kentucky-grown hemp.

Great gifts: The Kentucky Crafted Holiday Bundle ($99) features both mint chocolate and peppermint flavors of full spectrum, Kentucky-grown CBD (they’d be perfect in our CBD hot cocoa recipe). Or try Kentucky Crafted THC Free CBD Gummies ($39.99), which taste delightful. They’re offering free shipping during the holiday season.

PhytoLogica: Holiday bundle specials

PhytoLogica bundles let you give the gift of wellness with products that could be life-changing … what’s a better gift than that? One of our Top CBD Brands, PhytoLogica creates their products from a unique cultivar of U.S.-grown, organic hemp.

Great gifts: Use code MoH15 for 15% off your order! Don’t miss the deep discount in these PhytoLogica holiday bundles (starting at $59). Choose from specials like the Deep Relief Bundle ($149) to beat those aches and pains, or Essentials Tri-Pack ($99) featuring everything you need to get started with CBD.

Sir Hemp Co: High potency CBD made with love in Florida

Sir Hemp Co makes CBD from 100% U.S. grown organic hemp, available in 3 high potency options! They puts a lot of care into their oils. Choose from full spectrum, isolate, or genuine Florida orange flavor CBD, which our team loved.

Great Gifts: Use coupon code MINISTRY15 to get 15% off your order! Sir Hemp Co Florida Limited Edition CBD ($89.99) features 1800mg of broad-spectrum CBD extract, tastes like fresh Florida oranges, all in a tiny 1/2 ounce bottle.

Highline Wellness: CBD sampler kits

Try a lot of great CBD and support a good cause at the same time with Highline Wellness … this great brand donates 1% of your purchase to a charity of your choosing at checkout.

Great gifts: Choose from over a dozen Highline Wellness CBD bundles ($45 – $125). There’s something here for everyone, whether you want to create a CBD-infused facial and skincare routine, or even try all of their delicious and effective gummies.

Kush Queen: Flight of gummies and Wellness Bundle

All Kush Queen products are handmade with love, transparency, and you in mind. Kush Queen products are made in the U.S. and never tested on animals.

Great gifts: Try three differeKush Queen Gummiesnt Kush Queen Gummies in their gummy flight ($149.99) or experience their Ultimate Wellness Bundle ($89.99) with CBD-infused bath bomb, shower gel, tincture and lotion.

Aspen Green: Organic, terpene rich CBD

Aspen Green is deeply committed to providing only USDA organic full-spectrum hemp and CBD products for the best results and most beneficial experience. Their three principles are quality, integrity, and transparency, three important ideas we can really get behind!

Great gifts: Try one of their new citrus or mint flavored extracts ($85). Another great choice is Pain Relief Body Balm ($90), which is rich in additional cannabinoids and terpenes. Click here for 20% off.

Extract Labs: CBD-infused coffee & more

Created by an Iraq veteran, Extract Labs believes CBD can change the world. Their products include batch tested, top quality cannabidiol, like their CBD-infused coffee pods, perfect for waking up with more chill.

Great gifts: Bearded Man CBD Coffee ($30) is available in four different roasts, with 12 pods per pack. Or try one of their holiday gift bundles (starting at $57.60), with everything from coffee to bath bombs to suit your recipient’s taste.

Green Unicorn Farms: Hemp flower samplers

Feeling is believing with hemp flower from Green Unicorn Farms. Green Unicorn believes in the therapeutic benefits of the cleanest, richest, most aromatic CBD hemp flower, cultivated by the best farmers.

Great gifts: Green Unicorn Farms Flower Sampler Pack (starts at $29.99) lets you try 6 of the best strains of smokable hemp flower. Or try one of their pre-roll bundles, including the ultmate Pre-Roll Flight ($189.99) with 5 joints from each strain.

Barlean’s: Seriously Delicious CBD Emulsions

Barlean’s Seriously Delicious CBD uses a patented emulsification process to help your body absorb more of the CBD you paid for—and absorb it faster, too. Oh—and did we mention it tastes amazing?

Great gifts: Seriously Delicious CBD emulsions ($47.98) from Barlean’s comes in chocolate mint and lemon drop flavors. You have to try these to believe how good they taste mixed into drinks or topping your favorite frozen treats.

Healist Naturals: Holiday gift bundles

CBD bundles from Healist Naturals impressed us in every way, from their potent effects to their beautiful, sustainable packaging. Healist Naturals is dedicated to helping you heal from the struggles of everyday life.

Great gifts: Share CBD starting at just $19.99 for the Healist Naturals Discovery Drops. Their Keep Calm and Zzzz Bundle ($79.99) lets your loved one enjoy both Healist Calm Chews and Sleep Drops, both of which our review team loved trying.

Mana Artisan Botanics: Hawaiian-grown wellness trio

Mana Artisan Botanics is committed to regenerative agriculture, local economies and, of course, making you feel great. Their Introductory Wellness Collection mixes CBD with Hawaiian-grown organic botanicals.

Great gifts: Mana Artisan Botanics Synergy Trio ($115) includes hemp oil, hemp balm and hemp honey, all infused with the flavors and scents of Hawaii.

Tommy Chong’s: 30% off Good Vibes

Every Tommy Chong’s CBD product is backed up by science and guaranteed by Tommy Chong himself. Don’t waste your loved ones’ precious time with anything less than the best.

Great gifts: Use code MINISTRY for 30% off your Tommy Chong’s order for a great discount on products like Tommy Chong’s Nice Dreams AM/PM Combo ($79.95, $55.97 with coupon).

Green Wellness Life: Holiday Skin Soother bundle

Green Wellness Life started with a quest for more balance in our fast-paced lives. They painstakingly research the best CBD products and share them with you.

Great gifts: The Holiday Skin Soother Bundle ($31.99) from Green Wellness Life includes PlusCBD Skin Serum, CBDfx CBD Face Mask, and a CBDMD bath bomb!

Smilyn: CBD Daily Kit

Get Happy with Smilyn! Based in Carlsbad, California, Smilyn wants to be an antidote to a boring, pain-filled uninspiring life. That’s why their products are so colorful and so effective.

Great gifts: Smilyn CBD Daily Kit ($169) lets you share a combo-pack featuring their Mixed Fruit Gummies, CBD Face Mask, softgels, and your choice of tincture flavor.

Flora CBD: Try CBD from ‘Nature’s Gold Standard’

Enjoy “Nature’s Gold Standard” with Flora CBD. Choose from potent, great-tasting CBD oil and gummies or unique products like CBD-infused shisha and even CBD dip!

Great gifts: Looking for a great stocking stuffer? Try the Flora CBD Beginner’s Bundle ($69.99) with CBD oil and CBD gummies. Or surprise a hookah enthusiast with their Shisha Bundle ($33.95).

Just CBD: Save up to 30% with deep discount coupons

Get deep discounts savings on quality CBD products from Just CBD! A leading provider of CBD products since 2017, JustCBD has an incredible variety of CBD products.

Great gifts: Whether you’re looking for CBD gummies, tinctures, even CBD vape cartridges and CBD soap, Just CBD has you covered.

• Get 20% off All Orders Under $50 with Code ELF
• 25% off All Orders $50+ with Code REINDEER
• 30% off All Orders $100+ with Code SANTA

Kit O’Connell contributed to this guide.

The post CBD Gift Guide 2022: Hemp & CBD Holiday Shopping [Updated] appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

Shoes. We all wear them, some even collect hundreds of pairs. But did you know up to 300 million pairs of shoes make their way to landfills every year. According to thechicecologist.com shoes make up a massive portion of waste in landfills and some elements of athletic shoes can take up to 1000 years to decompose.

In this episode of the Ministry of Hemp podcast, Matt sits down with Bernardo Carreira, CEO of 8000Kicks, to discuss their new line of hemp fabric-based shoes with bio-plastic soles. They talk about the impact an ecologically friendly shoe can have on the environment, the difficulties of running a start-up with a mission, and the ways hemp and bioplastic continue to prove to be sustainable replacements for oil-based plastics and fibers.

Update: Due to popular demand, 8000Kicks provided us with a coupon code. Use coupon ‘moh10‘ to get 10% off their hemp shoes!

You’ve got hemp questions? We’ve got hemp answers!

Send us your hemp questions and you might hear them answered on one of our Hemp Q&A episodes. Send your written questions to us on Twitter, Facebook, matt@ministryofhemp.com, or call us and leave a message at 402-819-6417. Keep in mind, this phone number is for hemp questions only and any other inquiries for the Ministry of Hemp should be sent to info@ministryofhemp.com

Subscribe to our show!

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Become a Ministry of Hemp Insider and help spread the good word!

If you believe hemp can change the world then help us spread the word! Become a Ministry of Hemp Insider when you donate any amount on our Patreon page!

You’ll be the first to hear about everything going on with our special newsletter plus exclusive Patron content including blogs, podcast extras, and more. Visit the Ministry of Hemp on Patreon and become an Insider now!

Sustainable hemp shoes: Complete episode transcript

Below you’ll find the complete transcript of episode 58 of the Ministry of Hemp podcast, “Hemp Shoes Are Part Of A More Sustainable Future”:

Matt Baum:
I’m Matt Baum. And, this is the Ministry of Hemp Podcast, brought to you by ministryofhemp.com, America’s leading advocate for hemp and hemp education. Welcome back to the Ministry of Hemp Podcast. My name is Matt Baum. And, today on the show, we are going to talk about shoes, specifically shoes made of hemp. But before we get into that, let’s talk about shoes for a minute. I love shoes. I’m a huge shoe guy. I’m not like walk-in closet full of shoes, kind of guy; but I do love shoes, Adidas, Nike, Vans. I’m a huge fan. I hold on to them. I keep them clean. I like them to look good, but eventually they do get old. And then, I get rid of them. Oftentimes, I’ll take them to a secondhand clothing store. I try not to just throw them away. I’ll donate them. But, until I started working on this episode, I honestly didn’t even think about how much plastic goes into shoes, and how long they stick around.

Matt Baum:
According to thechicecologist.com, it’s estimated that 20 billion pairs of shoes are produced annually, with roughly 300 million pairs ending up in landfills, after they’ve been worn. The ethylene vinyl acetate, which usually makes up the mid-sole of most running shoes can last for as long as a thousand years in a landfill, a thousand years. And, that is absolutely insane. The good news is, there’s people out there that are worried about this, and thinking about it, and have even started making a more ecologically responsible shoe. Today on the show, my conversation is with Bernardo Carreira. He’s a CEO of 8000Kicks, and 8000Kicks are making an all-purpose athletic shoe, if you will, out of hemp and algae-based plastic, and they’re pretty fricken amazing. 8000Kicks is a startup, and Bernardo is super pumped about what’s in store for the future. I’m really excited for you to hear this interview. Here’s my conversation with Barnardo Carreira, CEO of 8000Kicks.

Meet Bernardo Carreira

Bernardo Carreira:
Okay. That’s a good question, and I’m currently stuck in Portugal because of COVID Portugal.

Matt Baum:
You’re stuck in Portugal. So, where would you be normally without this COVID business? Where would you be?

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah, actually I’m Portuguese. I’m here because my family is here.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Bernardo Carreira:
Otherwise, I would be in the U.S. We have currently, doing some hemp production in China, so I will be in the U.S. or China. But now, I cannot go to either one’s. [crosstalk 00:00:02:55].

Matt Baum:
Got to love it, right. Which makes business really easy, I’m sure.

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah, of course. It’s much easier.

Matt Baum:
Tell me about, 8000Kicks. What do you guys do there? We know that you make a hemp shoe. I have some on the way, and I’m super excited. But, tell me about 8000Kicks. What goes on there?

Bernardo Carreira:
Okay. It’s a [inaudible 00:03:17] because a lot of things go in there. But, let me describe a little bit of what we do. What is the shoe that we do? It started out as an idea, how can we make a super shoe that is eco-friendly, and meets all the needs of active person, a millennial that wants to go to work; and then, go to go for a hike in the mountain.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Bernardo Carreira:
And, a shoe for traveling, a shoe for a business, a shoe that I can wear, whatever. And, I don’t when I wear like 10 pairs of sneakers or 10 different flip-flops, every time I want to go to a different place.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Bernardo Carreira:
So, that’s the need that we faced. And, we wanted something sustainable. Because, guess what? We are millennials and we care about… We want to do things properly.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. That’s our cross to bear. We were actually care about this stuff, right?

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. Not just millennials, but it’s super awesome to see that everyone nowadays cares about this. And, our team is young and we’re like, “Let’s do things the way we want the world to be.” And, that’s how it all started. And, it all started with a stupid brainstorming session when someone had the idea of…. We’re all smoking…. Yeah, we’re a bit high there, right. Then someone came up with the idea.

Matt Baum:
That happens. I get it.

Bernardo Carreira:
Let’s make a smokable shoe, the kind of ideas that you would have when you high.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

The creation of 8000Kicks hemp shoes

Bernardo Carreira:
And, that’s how we kind of joined cannabis to the equation. Back then, we didn’t really know what we wanted to do exactly. But, we just had a stupid idea of make it, hemp. And certainly, we realized that hemp is not only eco-friendly, but it’s also super strong, super durable, and it’s also cool.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Its very cool.

Bernardo Carreira:
Right. So, we’re like, “Okay, this is us.” “This is what we need.” And, certainly the products are changing. And okay, we need to add more. Let’s make it waterproof, because personally I lived two years in London. And, hey man, London has a big problem, which is, it rains all the time.

Matt Baum:
It rains all the time. Yeah.

Bernardo Carreira:
Day one, day two, day three, like 365 days a year.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Its also sunny everyday, too. It’s weird, because the day starts up beautiful, then it rains. Then it’s beautiful, then it rains again. It’s so weird.

Bernardo Carreira:
Exactly. How can you have like a pair of canvas shoes? I don’t know, like a pair of All Stars. The moment you step outside, you’re soaked wet, and it’s super annoying. And, at the same time, you want to do different stuff, but after you’re wearing an All Stars for a long time, your feet kind of feel a little bit sore. So, you want to have more than that, in terms of comfort. And, we started like innovating, okay, “Let’s make something better.” Then, okay, we decide make it waterproof, but what’s next? What can we make it? And then, we decided to initially we were working with a recycled rubber sole, but now we did a crazy upgrade, where we use algae. We literally collect seaweed…

Matt Baum:
Algae, like seaweed?

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah, exactly.

Matt Baum:
Oh my God. I didn’t know this part.

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. That was a crazy innovation. You were like, “We need to stand out even more.” So, we partner with this company called Bloom, and they collect algae from algal blooms.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Bernardo Carreira:
Why are we doing this? Because algae, first it destroys the entire ecosystem if it grows exponentially, in algal blooms. And at the same time, it has some interesting properties that we can use to make it super light. And, that’s exactly what we’ve done. We decided to incorporate some of these algae, to make what we call, bloom foam. This is the name of our project.

Matt Baum:
That’s great.

Bernardo Carreira:
And so, it’s really light. Once you receive it, you will see the shoe is like a feather. It’s really interesting.

Making eco-friendly hemp shoes

Matt Baum:
So, lets talk about that for a second. Let’s talk about everything that goes into it. First of all, you just decide, we want to make an eco-friendly shoe, but it needs to be waterproof, it needs to do everything. This isn’t just a running shoe. This is a all around shoe. And then you decide, we want to go with hemp. And you said, “You’re dealing with hemp growers in China.

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
How do you hook up with hemp growers in China? How does that work? Dude, [crosstalk 00:00:08:13]…

Bernardo Carreira:
[crosstalk 00:08:15] figuring it out, because I wish I knew, but it’s just knocking doors.

Matt Baum:
Just find [crosstalk 00:08:22] the right company.

Bernardo Carreira:
This was the number one struggle we had with our project. From the moment we had the idea of making a smokable shoe, until the moment that we actually had a prototype, that was like six months.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Bernardo Carreira:
So, it’s hard.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Bernardo Carreira:
I mean, you can Google and you will find a lot of hemp manufacturers. The real problem is to understand the ones that actually make it good. The ones that make, what do you need, what we need. And then, you have to also understand the one that has, I mean, the good quality. And, there is the process that takes time. And then, you also have another problem, which is once you find the right one, and the one that does it well, water-proofs with the technology that you want, and you can develop the fabric the way you want; then you realize, “Okay, but we need a huge minimum order for you. And, if that was like, [crosstalk 00:09:22] really, really, really complicated.

Matt Baum:
It’s got to makes sense money-wise, too. You can’t charge $5,000 for a pair of shoes. You’ve got to figure out how to bring the price down, so.

Bernardo Carreira:
Exactly. And, the thing is they don’t let you order 10 meters. You need to order 1000 meters at once. And, that is minimum order quantities. And, that was a big struggle for us. Because, for us to achieve that quality, we had to develop from scratch. To develop from scratch, you need big quantities.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Bernardo Carreira:
So, it was tough, very tough. But now, we get the ball rolling, so we can now focus on bringing more innovation, and bringing more products, and continue this iteration process, and improve every step of the way.

Sneakers with bioplastic soles

Matt Baum:
Tell me about the algae bloom plastic. How did you find that? Initially, did you think, maybe we can do it with hemp foam, or hemp rubber, or something?

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. We had a lot of ideas. It’s kind of, we brainstorm a lot. And then, kind of saw this company doing this interesting stuff, and they were exploring like…. It was kind of random, I will honestly tell you. It’s like, you literally see something, okay, this is interesting, “I’m going to dig into that.”

Bernardo Carreira:
And, I sent them a few emails, and they replied, “Oh, this is interesting too.” So, we start developing it. And, this was exactly one year ago.

Matt Baum:
And, where are they out of?

Bernardo Carreira:
They’re based in the U.S.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Bernardo Carreira:
And, they collect algae from like this algae blooms, all over the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Matt Baum:
Oh, wow.

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. We saw that they were doing some interesting stuff working with surfboards. Okay, we want to develop the same thing for our shoes. And, they were like, “Ah, this is interesting.” [crosstalk 00:11:28] Yeah. And, we eventually developing… Okay, we need more of this, more of that. And then, one year later, we launching this shoes with this technology.

Matt Baum:
It seems like a lot of this innovation comes from people like you who are just like, “Hey, can we do that?” “Is that something we should try?” And someone else was like, “Yeah, that’s weird, let’s try it.”

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. It’s a bit like that. But guess what, if you don’t try it, you don’t make it.

Matt Baum:
Exactly. So, you’ve got your prototype. You started producing shoes. Where are they going to go? Where can I buy 8000Kicks? What’s the challenge of getting these, into markets. Where’s it going to be be?

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. So, this is something that you’re trying to be very careful with. And, the thing here is, we want to control every single step of production, to delivery, and to the customer. And, the reason we do this, is because if problems happen, then… To be honest, we found problems where we did not really expect, and this allows us to… Look, I’m the CEO here, and I answer customer’s emails every day, which is not normal in a company. In most companies [crosstalk 00:12:46]…

Matt Baum:
Typically, not. [crosstalk 00:12:49] Every time I contact Apple, I certainly don’t get, Tim and the boys.

Bernardo Carreira:
Exactly. But, the reason I do that is, because it’s crazy, amount of problems you face from production to customer. And, we’re still trying to fix every single one of them, and make sure that they are properly sold, before we expand and start selling. So right now, only on our websites, and that’s because we control it. Customers have a experience that we can control, they can communicate directly with us.

Matt Baum:
Cool.

Bernardo Carreira:
We basically guarantee that they are a 100 percent happy with the product. We know [inaudible 00:13:31] they are using it, except if something goes wrong with the product, because sometimes it does; we are there to replace it, or change it, or whatever needs to be done. So, that’s how we want to make sure we grow, and we make sure we do it properly.

The challenges of making hemp shoes

Matt Baum:
So, you said there were problems you ran into that you couldn’t even foreseen. What was some of those issues? What were the biggest issues that you ran into?

Bernardo Carreira:
All right. That’s a big question. So, I’m going to tell you a funny story. [crosstalk 00:14:02] When we were shooting [crosstalk 00:14:04]…

Matt Baum:
Because success is fun, we love about success. But, the mistakes and the problem, that’s where the real story is. Right? That’s where the fun is.

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah, exactly. I will tell you a funny one. So, one of the big problems we had was, we were shipping everything out of the UK. Because it’s like, okay, this seems like a no brainer. UK is competitive worldwide prices. Let’s ship the shoes from the UK to the U.S. And, knowing freight time is kind of fast. Let’s do it. Suddenly we realized, that customer’s got the shoes in the U.S. And, imagine you buy a shoe, we ship it from the UK, and it’s the wrong size.

Matt Baum:
Oh yeah, because UK sizing and U.S. sizing is different.

Bernardo Carreira:
No, not really actually. We have the shoes in U.S. sizes.

Matt Baum:
Oh, gotcha. But, I got my shoes.

Bernardo Carreira:
Sometimes, people order the wrong size.

Matt Baum:
Okay. Gotcha.

Bernardo Carreira:
So we just say, “Hey, you can ship the shoes back to us, we don’t have a return…” “Right now, we’re working and we going to launch a free return service.” But imagine that, for exchanges, we were like, “Okay, just send us a shoe back, we’re going to exchange it. And then, some customers were like, “Oh, this is impossible, “I’m paying like…”

Matt Baum:
Yeah. It’s like 20 bucks, 30 bucks to send it back to UK.

Bernardo Carreira:
And, we were like, “Oh, really?” We were like, “We’re not expecting this.” We thought it was like… Okay, we thought was kind of cheap.

Matt Baum:
Cheap for you, because you’re sending so many. But, when it’s one person sending one box, that’s a whole different story, so.

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. So we were like, this is a problem because we cannot allow our customers to pay this [inaudible 00:15:49] for an exchange. I mean, if I was a customer, I’ll be a bit annoyed.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Bernardo Carreira:
This is a really funny story. I was looking for a student in the U.S., and I hired him. And I said, “Bro, I’m going to pay you to receive our shoes.” “I’m going to send you spare boxes, and I’m going to send you a cleaning kit.” “You’re going to receive the shoes, you’re going to exchange them; and you’re going to send [inaudible 00:16:21] shoe to the right customers.” And, basically we had a student working in the U.S., helping do all the exchanges for us.

Matt Baum:
It’s like own little private, like UPS hub, basically. And, it’s just like one dude, cleaning shoes, and mailing them out.

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. I mean, this guy saved our life. I mean, customers were like, “Man, this is impossible.” “We cannot ship the shoes back to the UK.” And, they like [inaudible 00:16:48]. And then, we found this solution. It was really funny. You had a fulfillment center in Florida from the student, which is kind of funny.

Matt Baum:
That’s awesome. Is he still with the company, or has he graduated and moved on?

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah, he graduated.

Matt Baum:
Ah, that’s too bad. It’s hard to find good help. You know? So, have you heard…

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. We still get in touch with him, and eventually got some spare shoes. Some shoes never got used, never got shipped, so he got pretty happy with two or three pairs of shoes for himself.

Competing with other shoes

Matt Baum:
Hey, that’s not bad. Have you heard that from any of the big boys yet? Have you heard from like Adidas, or Nike, or anything? Have they been poking around, see what you’re doing? Is anyone else doing stuff like this, right now, with shoes?

Bernardo Carreira:
I mean, with hemp, there are a few companies. We already got some copycats.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, of course.

Bernardo Carreira:
Which to be honest, if it were like… I mean, it’s always like mixed feelings, right. You get a copycat, you feel like, “Oh, these guys here…”

Matt Baum:
It’s a compliment. But it’s a compliment, right? I mean, they’re saying like, “Hey, these guys have a good idea.”

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah, we see it as a complement.

Matt Baum:
“Let’s do what they’re doing.”

Bernardo Carreira:
Exactly. And to be honest, more than a compliment we see it as like these guys if they’re doing it right, and by using hemp itself, it’s just already amazing. Okay, perfect. We want to make hemp great again. If other shoe companies use hemp as well, that will be awesome. That means, we are achieving our vision of making hemp great again. And also, it’s a compliment for our business as well. And I mean, it’s a little bit like, you always feel very low, these guys are…

Matt Baum:
Right.

Bernardo Carreira:
But in the end, I think you need to take like… You cannot be selfish, and you need to be a little bit more altruistic towards what’s happening overall, rather than you.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Bernardo Carreira:
I mean, you have to understand that, it’s bigger than you, it’s bigger than you selling shoes. It’s, you’re creating something for the planet, not just for you.

Matt Baum:
If, everybody started copying you, the world would be a better place. And sure, you’ve got a lot of competition, but hey, we’ve changed the world at that point, so.

Bernardo Carreira:
Exactly.

Matt Baum:
That’s not something to you know… So, have any of the big guys… Have you heard from anyone, like any major shoe producers that are looking into doing something like this?

Bernardo Carreira:
We got a few [inaudible 00:19:29]… And, to be honest, I look at it the same way. I doubt that they will make a lot of hemp shoes. But, if they start making hemp shoes, I will take it as a compliment. But, I saw some big companies buying our shoes already.

Matt Baum:
Oh, yeah.

Bernardo Carreira:
Because…

Matt Baum:
They want to check them out.

Bernardo Carreira:
Because, they buy the shoes with business email.

Matt Baum:
Oh. Come on, guys. They’re like ship to… We like Rick Shipment from Rick@nike.com. [inaudible 00:20:06].

Bernardo Carreira:
Exactly.

Matt Baum:
Come on man, you got to be smarter than that.

Bernardo Carreira:
To be honest, I see it. And to be honest, it’s a compliment. I showed the team and say, “Hey guys, competition is buying our shoes.” But in the same way, we’re like, “It’s not really competition for me.” We’re doing something unique. We are doing something that we identify ourselves with. And to be honest, if everyone’s starts making hemp shoes, and they’re good for the environment, then we just…

Matt Baum:
Again.

Bernardo Carreira:
We’re moving to making more eco-friendly stuff, so that they can copy this again.

Matt Baum:
Mark that a win. Definitely. How many people out there right now are wearing your shoes? How many have you shipped so far? Roughly, you don’t have to give me a give me an exact number, but like roughly.

Bernardo Carreira:
Okay. A few thousand, cannot say for sure. Four, or 5,000.

Matt Baum:
So, this is still very new. This is like a small club of people around the world, that are checking these out [crosstalk 00:21:05].

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. Exactly.

Matt Baum:
But, what are they saying? Those who have bought them, like what’s the response to them?

Bernardo Carreira:
I don’t want to sound biased, because I will obviously say that they love them.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Bernardo Carreira:
I mean…

Matt Baum:
I didn’t think you [inaudible 00:21:20], they hate him. Oh God, it’s been a failure.

Bernardo Carreira:
Well, you can always check our reviews on the Trustpilot. Those, we cannot control.

Matt Baum:
Trustpilot, really good, definitely.

Bernardo Carreira:
People go there, and they post the reviews. And [inaudible 00:21:36] go back, I completely like [inaudible 00:21:39]. Yeah. But, so some reviews and some feedback from people that… Mostly, they all like the shoes. Some of them gave comments like, “Oh, I wish my shoe was lighter.” “Oh, I wish my shoe was…” And, this is something that we take really serious. And, that’s why we improve to, bring this new algae sole. This new [inaudible 00:22:03] is super light. Because okay, this guy is right, and he gave the… Like a few people said, “I wish the shoe was a bit lighter. And we’re Like, “They are right, we need to improve it.” And then, we make it super light.

Matt Baum:
That’s where the new soles came in. Yeah.

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah.

The future of 8000Kicks shoes

Matt Baum:
So, [crosstalk 00:22:19] what was the first soul made of? Was that the recycled plastic, or recycled rubber, you said?

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. Recycled rubber. So, we changed the entire structure. And basically, we use the algae, which makes it super light. And, that was a big innovation for us, but that’s basically what happened. People complaining that it was, “Okay, this shoes could be lighter.” And we’re like, “Okay, how can we do this?” We had this company that does algae bloom foam. Then we decided, “Let’s do it.” And, that’s how it started.

Matt Baum:
So, what’s the plan?

Bernardo Carreira:
The other things, were the small things, people said that, “The cork rubber was very good, very interesting, but they wish it was a little bit more cushioning.” Which to be honest, I did not really expect. But, after reasoning with the customers, I understood that it didn’t have the feel that they wanted. So, we were like, “How can we improve this?” So, I mean, there’s no such thing as a perfect shoe. There’s always stuff to improve.

Matt Baum:
Of course.

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. And, that’s how we can improve the shoe to be a super shoe. We always like, this small detail, this small detail. And, that’s how it goes.

Matt Baum:
And, you answering the emails, you’re on the front line; so you are carrying this stuff direct. It’s not like someone is coming to you with a marker [inaudible 00:00:23:46], “Sir, 14.2 percent of the respondents said, that the shoe needs to be a little bit lighter.”

Matt Baum:
You’re just getting emails directly from customers like, “Hey man, I wish the shoe was a little lighter.” And, that kicks in a new idea to have like, “All right, how do we do that? And, it [inaudible 00:24:00]. I got to check out this algae foam. That sounds amazing. What’s next for you?

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah, you getting them shipped to your place right now.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, I know. I’m super excited. So, what’s next for you guys? Post COVID, you’re coming back to the States, and then you take over the U.S. Is that the plan? We’re all wearing hemp shoes.

Bernardo Carreira:
[inaudible 00:24:18] COVID, we’re going to make a mandatory for every farmer.

Matt Baum:
I love it.

Bernardo Carreira:
No. So, we’re still really small, right. So the idea is, we making sure that we’re bringing new colors, making sure that people like what we doing. Growing, [inaudible 00:24:40] very strong foundation. And, we have a lot of attention already, but we don’t want to outgrow what is sustainable.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Bernardo Carreira:
We want to make sure, that we have full control of what we make. And for that reason, the idea is to go to the U.S., so that we can follow up a little bit more on this process, be there with our customers, do a few more events, where we actually are in-person with the customers. Which is kind of complicated right now, because of the COVID. But, we wish we would be doing that right now.

Bernardo Carreira:
And, bring new colors. What colors do customers want? How do they feel about walking with this shoes. Do they want more like summer stuff, more like winter stuff. Of course now, it’s winter, and then summer coming, but that’s easy to say. But, what exactly is that you want for summer. But, we don’t want to make just another summer shoe, or another winter shoe; it has to be amazing. Right. Otherwise, we just making another pair of, I don’t know, sandals, or another pair of boots. I mean, [crosstalk 00:25:57].

Matt Baum:
But, these are blue. And, these are pink.

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. Exactly. It has to be really high quality. Our idea is like, small amount of products, but amazing. Amazing ones. [crosstalk 00:26:15] I’m really excited for you to try them, because really, you’ve [crosstalk 00:26:17] for a long time.

Matt Baum:
I’m super excited. So, the idea is to scale up responsibly, basically. And, not outgrow the quality that you’re trying to maintain now, while also pushing the product forward.

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah, exactly.

8000Kicks = 8000 B.C.

Matt Baum:
That’s amazing, man. So 8000Kicks, where’s the name come from?

Bernardo Carreira:
Okay. That’s a good question. A lot of people ask that. It actually comes from 8000 BC. That’s when hemp originated in Asia, in Taiwan, in China. Basically, hemp started back then. And we said, “Let’s honor the past, and let’s use a funky number, 8000 Kicks.”

Matt Baum:
That’s great.

Bernardo Carreira:
That’s how we came up with it.

Matt Baum:
I love it. Bernardo, can’t wait for you to get back to the States. I mean, I’m sorry you’re trapped there, but I got to get one of those hats too. I’m going to get on your site, and go order one of those hats. I’m guessing, that’s all hemp as well.

Bernardo Carreira:
The hats. Oh, these hats.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. The hat you’re wearing, yes.

Bernardo Carreira:
These ones are not for sale yet. We are developing them, but not for sale yet. And actually, we have a few ideas, funky ideas, that we want to launch. But, the hats are one of them.

Matt Baum:
Cool.

Bernardo Carreira:
But, not yet. Not yet.

Matt Baum:
Fair enough.

Bernardo Carreira:
Not right now, only the masks.

Matt Baum:
So, final question. If I’m Adidas or I’m Nike, and I come to you tomorrow; and I go, “Bernardo, this is an idea, man, how much you want?” “I’ll write you a cheque right now.” Are you selling, or are you holding onto it?

Bernardo Carreira:
To be honest, not really selling. I think if it was for the money, there will be easier ways to make money.

Matt Baum:
Absolutely.

Bernardo Carreira:
I will go to investment banking, or something like that.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Bernardo Carreira:
But, there’s something that the big brands have, that I don’t have, and that is the access to a lot of resources, and the access to a lot of big networks. And so, although we were really committed to do amazing stuff, and we have a lot of energy and motivation; a lot of times it takes us a lot of effort to get… So, we mentioned like, these guys have big Ferrari’s, then they can have really big machines. Then basically, we don’t have big machines, so we have to run all night to catch up with it.

Matt Baum:
Right, exactly.

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. So the thing is, we are really committed to quality, and by teaming up with people that have a lot of experience, that would be very good for us. So, we want to scale up the team to bring more quality. But, these big companies have a lot of resources, that can help us drive our mission. So it really, it shouldn’t be a question of money. It should be a question of, what do they bring to the table that can help us bring this project further.

Matt Baum:
That’s awesome. That’s completely awesome. So for now, if I want to buy a pair of shoes, I have to go to 8000kicks.com.

Bernardo Carreira:
Exactly.

Matt Baum:
Awesome. Thanks so much.

Bernardo Carreira:
And, you buy one each color.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, I buy one each color. Deal.

Bernardo Carreira:
We’re coming up with new color’s. And, if you want to suggest any new color, feel free to reach out on Instagram, or Facebook, or just via email. Because, many times I’m there with my colleagues answering the emails.

Matt Baum:
Cool.

Bernardo Carreira:
So, you’ll probably get a message directly from me, asking you more questions, “Hey, what color?”

Matt Baum:
It sounds like you’ve got a great product, and it sounds like people are excited. I’m super excited for this. Shoes are one of those things, that I don’t think we think about enough, when we buy them. Because, they do have so much plastic, and there’s a bunch of cloth on them. And, when you get done with those shoes, they just get thrown away into a landfill. Yours, since they’re hemp and this algae plastic, do they break down better eventually, when I’m done with them? And, I’ve worn them for five or 10 years, when I’m done with them. Will they be around, as long as my Nike shoes?

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah, definitely not. They are not. However, I have to be a 100 percent transparent. The shoes are not a 100 percent natural. This is a fact, they are like 95 percent natural. Then we had to add, for instance, our membrane, it’s synthetic, so this is how we guarantee that it’s waterproof. But to be honest, we don’t mind adding that five percent extra of synthetic material to improve the features, and to make sure the product is extra good.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Bernardo Carreira:
And also, in many cases that also helps us reduce the CO2 footprint, which for us, is a big number.

Matt Baum:
Definitely.

Bernardo Carreira:
That’s one of our biggest KPIs. And right now, we have 4.1 kilo of CO2, kilo per shoe. And, I mean, that is a really low number. Most shoes consume 30 kilos of CO2 per production. By adding this small synthetic, we reduce a lot, the CO2 that goes out; and we increase a lot, the features of the shoes. And basically, what that does is, instead of the shoes lasting six months, they last one year, two years. So, it’s the five percent that we will rather not replace by natural materials, that do not perform as well.

Matt Baum:
But, the point being like 95 percent natural, is 95 percent more than just about every other shoe on the market. So, I’m not [crosstalk 00:32:24]…

Bernardo Carreira:
Exactly.

Matt Baum:
Like, that sounds pretty good to me, so.

Bernardo Carreira:
Yeah. I mean, full transparency on our side.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. No, and that’s awesome. I mean, a lot of people wouldn’t even bring that up. I’m glad you did. But, I think it’s amazing. I’m excited to get these. I think you guys have, what looks like a really cool product. And as I know, there’s others on the market, but you’ve already sent some to some people at Ministry of Hemp, and they’re like, “I love them, I think they’re amazing.” So, I’m super excited, man. And, I look forward to…

Final thoughts from Matt

Matt Baum:
I finally got my pair of, black with black sole 8000Kick hemp shoes this week, which is cool. Because, I can wear them with all my metal T-shirts, and stuff. And I got to say, I love them. They’re lightweight. They’re super comfortable. They’re a fantastic shoe. And, I feel good owning them, too. If you want to check out 8000Kicks, I will have a link to their website in the notes, for this episode.

Matt Baum:
Thanks for joining me, again for another episode of the Ministry of Hemp Podcast. Next time on the show, I’m going to be talking to some local guys right here in Nebraska, where I’m from Ministry of Hemp is technically out of Austin, Texas, where Kit our editor in chief, and Drew, our brand managers live. But right here in Nebraska, there are some people doing some really cool stuff with hemp. So, I’m excited to talk to them. If you need more Ministry of Hemp in your life before that, head over to our site, ministryofhemp.com, and check out some really good articles we have up right now. We have an update on the side effects of CBD oil, and it talks all about whether or not CBD is safe. We also have a really interesting article about, can you overdose on CBD, if you take too much? Spoiler alert, No. But, it’s a good read. And if anybody could, it would be me, because I have a ton of it, and I’m always trying different CBD stuff for this show.

Matt Baum:
Speaking of the show, if you like what you hear, give us a rating, give us a review. It really does help, for us to get this information to people that are looking for it. And, it raises us in the search algorithms as well. And, if you really want to help us out, head to Patreon/ministryofhemp, and become a Ministry of Hemp insider. We just put up a podcast extra, today; me talking to Evan Nison from NORML. You may remember him, from last week’s episode. We talk about his San Francisco based cannabis tour guide company, that takes people on tours of local cannabis dispensaries, and farms. It’s a really cool little discussion.

Matt Baum:
And it’s our way of saying, thank you to you guys for supporting us on Patreon. You can find a link to our Patreon, in our show notes. And, speaking of the show notes, here at the Ministry of Hemp, we believe that a more accessible world is better for everyone. So, we include a full written transcript of this episode in the show notes, over at ministryofhemp.com. All right, that’s it. I got to get out of here. Thank you so much for joining me, again. And, I like to end the show the same way, every time. Remember to take of yourself. Remember to take care of others. And, make good decisions, will you? This is Matt Baum, with the Ministry of Hemp. Signing off.

The post Hemp Shoes Are Part Of A More Sustainable Future, With 8000Kicks appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

What would you do if we told you that you could buy a T-shirt that lasts longer, is cheaper, and harms the environment less than your average cotton T-shirt? You’d probably tell us that’s impossible, but you’d be wrong. So very wrong.

That’s because hemp clothing exists, and it has all of those advantages listed above and more.

Table of contents

• Why choose hemp fabric?
• How do you make hemp fabric?
• Comparing natural fabrics: Hemp vs. cotton & wool
• The future of hemp and sustainability
• Hemp fabric buying guide

What makes hemp fabric better?

Hemp clothing has numerous advantages.

Hemp fabric is deliciously soft on the skin, and is known for growing softer with each wear. Hemp is naturally resistant to bacteria and provides natural UV protection. That means it protects your skin, and retains color better than other fabrics. As you can see, hemp fabric is quite practical. It literally prevents you from getting stinky, gets softer with more use, and is stronger and longer-lasting than cotton.

Hemp fabric can have some disadvantages, including a more limited color palette than synthetics, but we feel the benefits more than make up for this.

It’s not only practical but stylish too. Hemp fashion is a real thing, and there are many companies that produce appealing hemp clothing. To name a few: Hemp Horizon, iLoveBad, and Patagonia’s hemp clothing collection. These companies are producing awesome clothing; clothing that makes us want to drop hundreds of dollars on sweaters and underwear. Just look at Patagonia’s Fog Cutter Sweater, it’s perfect for Michigan’s chilly fall weather.

Style isn’t the biggest upside of hemp, though. The biggest advantage of hemp fabric is its production methods and hemp’s environmental impact (or lack thereof).

How do you make hemp fabric?

The production of the clothes that we use everyday aren’t something most people think about. Clothes are simply things that we buy and wear. Most of us aren’t aware of the hyper-complex supply chain systems needed to bring that simple cotton t-shirt to our local Walmart. That sentiment is true of all fabrics, including hemp.

Let’s take a quick dive into how hemp textiles are produced.

Recreator, another hemp brand we love, outlined how hemp fabric is produced:

1. Cultivation
2. Harvesting
3. Retting (The process whereby naturally occurring bacteria and fungi, or chemicals, break down the pectins that bind the hemp fibers to be released. Common techniques consist of soaking in water, or laying on the ground and letting dew do the ‘retting’)
4. Breaking
5. Scutching (Beating stems, which separates the desired fibers from the hemp’s woody core)
6. Hackling (combing of the stems to remove unwanted particles)
7. Roving (improves strength)
8. Spinning (can be wet and dry spun)

Recreator explains in more detail, but it’s a labor intensive process. Modern day production methods of hemp are closely related to the traditional methods but done in a much more efficient manner, with the invention of more effective modern equipment. The core principles stand: grow hemp, break it down, separate the fibers, and then spin into a textile.

How hemp fabric compares to other natural fabrics

How does hemp production compare to other textiles?

• Cotton: Cotton is grown in fields, like hemp, and is harvested by cotton harvesters, those big machines that can harvest cotton at a super-human rate. Then, like hemp, cotton is put through a “ginning” process, in which the fibers are separated from the seeds. The fibers are put through multiple processes that further refine them, like scutching, hackling and roving. Once the cotton is ready, it is spun into fabric.
• Wool: This material is easier to process, as it takes less steps to reach its final product. One needs to harvest the wool, then process it via techniques called ‘carding’ and ‘combing’ that smooths and refines the wool, and then weave or knit it into the fabric. Although easier to process,  cattle farming creates its own carbon foot print and a great deal of waste. Not only do you have to use energy and water to process wool, but you have to feed, clean, and maintain the sheep. Sheep who produce methane-dense waste and require more resources to survive than a plant.

Right now, most hemp products in the U.S., especially outside of CBD oil, are made from imported hemp. This increases both the carbon footprint, or environmental cost of making hemp products, and the final cost that you, the consumer, pay to buy them. We hope that some of this changes as hemp is fully legalized in the US in the near future.

Fabric is just the beginning

While hemp is harvested and processed similarly to other fabrics, its main advantage is through the hemp plant itself.

Hemp uses about 5% the amount of water it takes to grow cotton and can often be rain-fed. Hemp can grow in almost all soil conditions, and unlike cotton (which depletes the soil of nutrients) hemp’s deep-reaching roots preserve the topsoil and subsoil. Hemp grows densely as well, leaving no room for weeds and competing plants and is less vulnerable to insects, which means little to no use of pesticides. Lastly, hemp grows extremely fast, only needing 120-days to be ready for harvest. We’ve compared hemp and cotton before, and while not everyone agrees, we think hemp is the winner.

Don’t forget that we’re only talking about the stalk of the hemp plant, which is the part used to make hemp fabric. The leaves and seeds are used to make hemp seed oil, hemp fuel, and other products that each have their own benefits.

We’ve come again to a conclusion that we’ve come to many times before: hemp is a super-plant. From its practical uses to environmental sustainability, the hemp plant comes out on top, out-performing all competitors.

Buying guide

We thought we’d offer a few places where you can buy hemp fabric. Unfortunately, there aren’t as many sources where you can buy hemp fabric online as we’d like. Now that hemp is legal in the U.S., we hope to see the options expand in the near future.

Here’s a couple of options. If you know about more, leave us a comment or send us an email.

• Nature’s Fabrics (link) — Nature’s Fabrics is a family-owned business based out of Pennsylvania. Our video producer Jessica has ordered from them, and they’re one of the only U.S.-based sources we know about for hemp fabric.
• Hemp Fabric Lab (link) — Based in India, Hemp Fabric Lab offers many unique hemp and hemp-blended fabrics and has no minimum order, making them an attractive option despite the cost of international shipping. Check out this article from Hemp Fabric Lab on the state of the hemp industry in India.

The post How Hemp Fabric Is Made & Why It’s Better appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

Here’s some hemp clothing we love! Hemp is more fashion forward than ever and brands are doing amazing things with hemp fabric. Hemp fabric is more sustainable too, thanks to the use of fewer pesticides and other harmful chemicals.

We did some searching and picked out some awesome hemp pieces from clothing brands that everyone needs to check out!

Hemp Fashion Brands in This Video

• The Hemp Temple
• Jungmaven
• WAMA
• Toad & Co.
• ANARA Hemp Denim
  

More About Sustainable Fashion and Hemp

Here are more articles about hemp and sustainable fashion:

• Hemp Fabric Lab & Hemp In India
• Hemp Horizon Brings Flowing Elegance To Women’s Hemp Fashion
• How Cotton Is Killing The Earth
• How Hemp Fabric Is Made & Why It’s Better

The post Sustainable Fashion: Hemp Clothing We Love appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

Cait Curley is quickly becoming a name to know among hemp enthusiasts and cannabis fans of all kinds. We noticed that whether she’s exploring the potential of hempcrete or winning hearts and minds at hemp expos, Curley seemed to be everywhere we went and interested in the same topics we were. In November, she created a “Women of Cannabis” photoshoot, highlighting the diversity of the industry. Now she’s expanding her hemp media brand and, after years of partnering with other hemp companies, getting more involved in self-driven hemp projects.

She told us she sees hemp as key to solving our environmental crisis.

“This plant can overturn the synthetic world we live in, and save our planet,” Curley declared, when we caught up with her by phone.

Impressed by her passion and energy for hemp in all its forms, we wanted to know how she got involved and how other people can support hemp too.

Cannabis Brought Freedom from ‘Burnout’

“Until 2005, I believed all ‘drugs’ were dangerous and dirty,” Curley recalled. “I got high one night, for the very first time, and changed my perception on cannabis right then and there.”

That night, Curley realized she’d bought into the social stigma around cannabis without learning the real facts about the plant. That moment set in motion a major journey of discovery and transformed her into a hemp and cannabis advocate.

“If you have a connection to the plant, then you already are involved and part of the community.” — Cait Curley

Curley was always drawn to entertaining and inspiring people from a young age. She even participated twice in the world championships for Irish dance. In 2010, she moved to New York to pursue acting and modeling. However, she wanted to find ways to help people on a deeper level.

She switched to a career in audiology, the science of studying hearing and treating hearing disorders. The position she took led to a corporate style job. Success meant good money but also working incredibly long hours.

“I understood what the term ‘burnout’ meant.”

Move to Colorado Allowed Full-Time Support of Cannabis

Although she hid her recreational use of cannabis for a long time, due to the stigma around it, her experiences changed her life.

Just spending time in nature while high helped Curley gain a new perspective. She decided she needed to get more involved, and become someone that could openly support cannabis access and legal reform. She also wanted to leave her corporate job.

In 2015, Curley packed up her life and moved to Denver. She started attending meetups and networking and immediately found herself part of an incredibly welcoming group of cannabis/hemp supporters. Now, in addition to creating cannabis/hemp-related media, Curley works with the NoCo Hemp Expo, Southern Hemp Expo, Tree Free Hemp, One Planet Hemp, and Let’s Talk Hemp Media. She also appears at hemp events and collaborates with various other brands that reach out to her.

Curley passionately supports the cannabis plant in all its forms, from psychoactive cannabis (“marijuana”) to industrial hemp, believing both are integral to making a better world.

How to Be a Hemp Advocate and Support Hemp

“If you have a connection to the plant, then you already are involved and part of the community. Curley emphasized during our chat. “There is no official stamp.”

However, she also offered a few additional tips for how anyone can support hemp and become a hemp advocate:

• Use hemp. Hemp goods are often better for you, more durable, or otherwise better than the alternatives. They can also be more expensive, meaning it’s not simple to transform your whole wardrobe from cotton to hemp overnight. Start small: wear a hemp t-shirt, add hemp hearts to your diet, or switch to hemp lip balm. Every hemp product you use supports this growing industry. It’s also an opportunity to start a conversation.
• Educate others & yourself. The first step is to understand hemp and its potential, then help those around you learn. Many people still misunderstand hemp and cannabis, and their many potential benefits for humanity. Even people familiar with CBD, thanks to its incredible popularity at the moment, may not be aware that hemp and “marijuana” can be made into clothing, food, even Farm Bill legalized hemp, there’s still a lot of room for improvement especially in local laws and regulations.

While the hemp industry is growing by leaps and bounds, even more importantly Curley describes hemp advocates as a “family and a community.”

When you make hemp a part of your life, Curley believes that “not only are you bettering yourself, you’re supporting a movement.”

We couldn’t agree more!

Support Hemp and Help Change Our World

Curley sees the hemp movement as part of global progress towards sustainability and renewed recognition of our common humanity.

“A huge shift is coming, and cannabis has a huge part to play in that.”

Projects like her “Women in Cannabis” photo shoot help to illustrate that shift by countering the idea that only white men work with hemp. She partnered with prAna hemp clothing, Silver Mountain hemp guitars, and The Original Jack Herer to create the photos.

For Curley, hemp is a gateway to a better world, one that emphasizes both people and planet, through practices like regenerative agriculture, more responsible use of resources, and other alternatives to our current “synthetic” way of life.

“This is my purpose, this is my life,” she told us. “I can’t see myself doing anything else.”

The post How To Support Hemp, With Hemp Advocate Cait Curley appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

Putting aside the health benefits for a moment, how do you feel about clothes made from hemp? You’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s an heavy, course material, mostly popular with hippy-types who favour function over fashion. While most hemp clothing companies trade in little more than simple t-shirts, Hemp Horizon offer a diverse range of items, featuring everything from tight-fitting high-necked dresses to more free-flowing outfits with elegant bows.

Their products blend hemp with other organic materials, demonstrating not only its versatility, but also how much hemp production has been refined over recent years.

“Hemp is very much misunderstood,” said Karen Kay, head designer at Hemp Horizon.

“Forty years ago the fabrics made from hemp were crude, and didn’t have the refinement that today’s mills can produce,” Kay told us. “Now, when blended with fine silks and other organic yarns, hemp is soft yet durable.”

Kay works closely with business partner Steve Esser, who looks after marketing. Zoey Kay models the products.

We spoke to Karen Kay about the values behind the brand, the development process, and why hemp is a perfect fit for the future of fashion.

A ‘REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT’ IN WOMEN’S HEMP FASHION & HEMP AWARENESS

“[Hemp’s] the perfect choice for high quality, comfortable garments that look great, feel good, and last for years,” Kay said.

This is the most remarkable aspect of Hemp Horizon’s products: the fabric used is light and silky, making for items that wouldn’t look out of place at a luxury high-street store. It’s a far cry from the rough, scratchy hemp-based clothes of yesteryear.

The design philosophy is simple, Kay said. “High quality, flattering and comfortable with a unique design which is unmistakably Hemp Horizon.”

She continued, “Our tag-line is ‘Awareness Is Key,’ as we’d like to be a part of this revolutionary movement around this magnificent plant.”

Of course, the hemp world has its fair share of unscrupulous traders attempting to capitalise on its increased prominence in the mainstream media. Happily, Kay and Esser take an altogether more reputable approach.

“We searched the globe for mills that produce fine hemp-blended fabric, sourcing from China and the USA, and we’re now looking also to source from Eastern Europe to reduce our carbon footprint.”

These environmentally-conscious credentials play a major part in the forward-thinking philosophy that underpins Hemp Horizon.

“We hope that our customers will appreciate our endeavours and belief,” said Kay. “We are very aware of the eco-friendliness of hemp and the other organic fibre we use for our garments.”

HEMP HORIZON PART OF INCREASINGLY POPULAR UK HEMP INDUSTRY

Hemp is one of the most eco-friendly crops on the planet. It uses very few pesticides, and can often be grown almost anywhere. Hemp is ideal for a future in which sustainability becomes ever-more important.

“As well as being the base fibre for creating high quality fabrics it’s a high yielding plant with a very diverse range of uses,” agreed Kay.

Although CBD derived from hemp is becoming more popular in the UK, there is still a lack of understanding about hemp’s legal status.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BneOQIgnutS/?taken-by=hemphorizon

“We’ve never had any legal issues,” Kay said. “But we have found that people need to be educated about the simple fact that hemp cannot get you high.”

As an independent business, Kay admits that getting things off the ground hasn’t been easy:

It’s been quite a long journey to get to this point, almost two years — designing the garments, creating templates for the patterns and investing in machinery, all to ensure we’re totally self sufficient. Our development journey has been challenging, and required a whole new learning curve. There have been delays along the way, mainly in terms of investment as this project has been totally self-funded.

For now, Hemp Horizon’s range is mostly focused on women’s clothes such as t-shirts, skirts, dresses and jackets. There are plans to expand.

“We’re planning to launch a more extensive range of men’s products in early 2019,” said Kay.

Currently this is limited to a smart herringbone design cap made from 100 percent hemp, and a pair of bamboo wood sunglasses.

Hemp Horizon has no plans to move into hemp-based health products, in part because of ongoing confusion between hemp and psychoactive marijuana.

“As the public become more aware of the differences then we can look to cross sell all the benefits.”

HEMP LEGALIZATION BRINGS A NEW ERA OF SUSTAINABLE FASHION

Hemp has been grown for centuries, used for everything from paper, rope to food and has a range of uses far beyond the benefits of CBD and other cannabinoids.

With the prohibition era juddering to a halt across the Western world, we can look forward to more forward-thinking companies using hemp in increasingly impressive and sustainable ways. Fashion is just one industry to benefit, as both the public and government authorities realise just how useful this plant can be.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlviVTiHouu/?taken-by=hemphorizon

As for Hemp Horizon, the products speak for themselves. This boutique brand is a cut above the rest, not only with their stylish range of products, but in how they point toward a future where eco-friendly hemp becomes established as the most important crop on the planet. Like so many others, Kay believes hemp can be a key part of creating a more sustainable way of life.

“If everyone is thinking more consciously we can help contribute to the healing and sustainability of our planet for the future generations.”

The post Hemp Horizon Brings Flowing Elegance To Women’s Hemp Fashion appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

Hemp fabrics are known for both their durability and becoming more comfortable over time. These boxer briefs, blended from hemp and organic cotton, were no exception. The fabric grew softer, and seemed to fit better with every wash. Thanks to hemp’s superior breathability, they stayed fresh feeling even in the Texas heat.

Beyond making a great pair of undies, iLoveBad is dedicated to making sustainable, healthy products in an ethical manner. Customers can feel good about how iLoveBad makes their boxer briefs, in addition to how good they feel to wear.

iLoveBad boxer briefs are a comfortable, breathable choice for even the hottest weather.

We were paid a fee by iLoveBad and offered free products in return for our honest opinion. If you purchase a product from one of these links, we’ll receive a percentage of sales. We only select the highest-quality hemp products for review on our site.

Read on for our full review of iLoveBad Boxer Briefs and more about the care iLoveBad puts into every product they make.

SUPPORT SUSTAINABLE, ETHICAL HEMP WITH ILOVEBAD

iLoveBad began with their signature hemp blankets. Founders Brittanny and Daniel discovered that natural fabrics like hemp cured a night sweating problem that was keeping Daniel awake. After designing a great blanket, iLoveBad expanded into other essentials like underwear.

While hemp fabrics are better than cotton for the environment and for wearers, iLoveBad takes their products even further when it comes to sustainability. iLoveBad make all their products in the U.S. using ethically sourced hemp and organic cotton. They partner with small, employee owned manufacturers in the United States that promote fair labor practices and clean working environments. You can read about their passionate, diverse team on their website.

iLoveBad also donates a portion of their profits to important causes like LA Habilitation Houseand Corazon de Vida Orphanages.

ILOVEBAD BOXER BRIEFS OFFICIAL REVIEW

• Highlights: Organic Cotton & Hemp Boxer Briefs from iLoveBad are ultra-comfortable and breathable, making them great for everyday wear in almost any weather.
• Sizes:  Available in Small Through Extra-Large.
• Price: $24.00 in black or white, or mixed 3-pack for $63.00
• Customer Service & Shipping: Fast customer service. Standard shipping on a pair of hemp undies started at $2.79, with faster options available for an additional fee.
• Features: Soft, comfortable boxer briefs that are great for work and leisure. The waistband is looser than most undies, but they were comfortably snug in the thighs and didn’t slip.
• Materials: 64% Organic Cotton, 28% Hemp and 8% Lycra
• Other: Women’s panties also available. iLoveBad accepts returns during a 100-day “Happy Shopping Window” to ensure customer satisfaction.

iLoveBad sources their hemp from a cooperative in China, which their supplier visits regularly to ensure high standards in both growing and working conditions. In addition to iLoveBad Boxer Briefs, they also make hemp socks, t-shirts, and of course, hemp blankets.

The post Review: iLoveBad Boxer Briefs Are Super Comfortable, Soft & Breathable appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.