Hemp fashion Archives - Ministry of Hemp America's leading advocate for hemp Wed, 17 May 2023 04:45:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://ministryofhemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Icon.png Hemp fashion Archives - Ministry of Hemp 32 32 Hemp Blankets Can Drastically Change Your Life for the Better https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-blankets/ https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-blankets/#comments Tue, 02 May 2023 18:57:22 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=54071 Daniel Ong of iLoveBad started learning about hemp after suffering from night sweats. That led him on a journey to rediscover hemp's promise and, eventually, the creation of organic hemp blankets, socks, and underwear.

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My journey to creating organic hemp blankets began with a bad night’s sleep.

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?!”

After Daniel Ong suffered from night sweats, he and his wife began creating organic hemp blankets and, soon after, other hemp clothes seen here.
After suffering from night sweats, Daniel Ong discovered that synthetic fabrics might be to blame. He and his wife began researching alternatives, leading creation of organic hemp blankets and later other hemp clothes too.

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!

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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.

A young child holds a hemp leaf. A deliberate campaign of misinformation led to the demonization of cannabis in all its forms, including industrial hemp.

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.

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Hemp Jeans From Wild Himalayan Hemp, With Shreyans Kokra of CanvaLoop https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-jeans-canvaloop-podcast/ https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-jeans-canvaloop-podcast/#respond Wed, 09 Dec 2020 00:14:15 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=63873 Fiber company CanvaLoop is crowdfunding SLOW, a brand of hemp jeans, made from sustainably grown hemp harvested by locals in the Himalayas.

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Some sustainable hemp jeans could hit the market soon, if a fiber company based in India gets their way.

In Episode 65 of the Ministry of Hemp Podcast our host Matt sits down with Shreyans Kokra the CEO of CanvaLoop, an Indian based hemp fiber company, to discuss their new ‘SLOW’ brand hemp jeans Kickstarter. CanvaLoop is using a proprietary process to make high-quality hemp jeans with the same feel as cotton-based denim. Unlike regular jeans, Slow Jeans are made from carbon negative Himalayan hemp harvested by locals.

Himalayan hemp is a cannabis plant growing in the wild, in the majestic and pristine Himalayan ranges of India and Nepal. It has been growing with ‘zero’ human input for over 5000 years — that means it needs no water (except natural rainfall), fertilizers or insecticides. The seeds are also not sowed by man but by nature itself — twice every year. It takes only 90 days to grow and also replenishes the soil it grows in.

In addition, hemp fabric itself offers a number of benefits over cotton fabrics in terms of sustainability, durability, natural antibacterial properties and more. India is quickly distinguishing itself as a leading creator of hemp textiles.

About Shreyans Kokra and CanvaLoop

In 2016, Shreyans Kokra (Founder and CEO of CanvaLoop), set out on a journey to make a truly sustainable fashion material that has all the performance features that a modern human wants. This quest led him to Himalayan Hemp and the current Slow hemp jeans Kickstarter campaign. If funded, SLOW hemp jeans will be available in three classic colors: Black, Indigo and Sky in various fits.

CanvaLoop is an alternative fibers and material science company. They make textile fibers from agri-waste or plants like hemp and banana. Their fibers are eco-friendly, ethically produced and functionally superior. Their mission is to mainstream sustainability by creating alternative fibers.

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!

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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!

In a composite photo, at left a person in a white t-shirt poses in pale blue 'Slow' brand hemp jeans, seen from behind with a hemp leaf in the back pocket. To the right half of the picture, a photo of Shreyans Kokra smiling in a white button down t-shirt.
CanvaLoop recently launched a Kickstarter for their new ‘SLOW’ brand hemp jeans. At right, CanvaLoop founder Shreyans Kokra.

Sustainable ‘Slow’ hemp jeans, with CanvaLoop: Complete episode transcript

Below you’ll find the complete transcript of episode 65 of the Ministry of Hemp podcast, “Sustainable ‘Slow’ Hemp Jeans”:

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.

Matt Baum:
Welcome back to another episode of the Ministry of Hemp podcast. My name’s Matt, I’m your host. I have talked to a lot of people on this show and learned a ton about hemp, but I don’t think I’ve ever spoken with anyone from India. I almost lined up an interview with some people that were running an Indian hemp conference a while ago, but it fell through due to time constraints. This week, I’m changing that. I have a conversation for you to hear with Shreyans Kokra. He’s the CEO of Canvaloop. Canvaloop is working on bringing hemp jeans to the public. They look just like regular jeans, they feel just like regular jeans, but they are much more ecologically friendly, not in just the way that they’re made, but also when you wash them, and you’re not going to believe where they’re getting the hemp.

Matt Baum:
The Canvaloop process is one of the most carbon negative processes. Not carbon neutral, but carbon negative, and you’ll hear why, that I have ever heard of. It’s incredible what they are doing, and they have a Kickstarter that’s running right now to get their jeans to the public. There’ll be a link for that in the show notes, and I hope you’re going to go and back it, after you hear my conversation with Shreyans Kokra of Canvaloop.

Harvesting wild Himalayan hemp

Shreyans Kokra:
Hi, I am here today primarily because we launched an awesome Kickstarter campaign, called Slow by Canvaloop, which is jeans made out of wild-growing cannabis in the Himalayas.

Matt Baum:
So let’s start there. We noticed you because of the Kickstarter. At Ministry of Hemp, we’re always looking for cool stuff like this. Where are you guys centered out of?

Shreyans Kokra:
Yeah. So we are based out of India.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Shreyans Kokra:
Currently I’m in Surat, Gujarat, which is the Westernmost part of the country.

Matt Baum:
Okay. You are using Himalayan hemp to spin it into a cotton and then make denim jeans, basically. So tell me about Himalayan hemp, because I watched the video and it blew my mind. Tell me a little bit about Himalayan hemp first.

Shreyans Kokra:
Basically, it’s the wild cannabis that grows throughout the mountainous regions of the Himalayas, so when you probably reach there, all the lower and the middle part of Himalayan are full of the wild cannabis that grows there and it is brought up the own lip line in which you have very good quality flood, which is generally used by people as marijuana and also a very, very good quality fiber. So, that is what we found. And it has no known genetics. It grows absolutely in the wild with zero human interference. It just grows when we harvest in three months after you go to the same place, it’s dead at the same height, yielding the same quality of materials. So it’s like nature’s biggest gift to the planet. Every 90 days, you have some amazing things growing and you can just go and collect it.

Matt Baum:
This is not farmed. This is truly wild. Himalayan hemp, like pine nuts. Basically, you don’t grow them on a farm. You just go get it.

Shreyans Kokra:
Yes, exactly.

Matt Baum:
Does this land belong to anyone? Or are you allowed to just go take it?

Shreyans Kokra:
So we need permissions from the forest officials…

Matt Baum:
Right.

Shreyans Kokra:
To go and collect it. But since hemp again is such a renewable resource. Within 90 days it grows back to it’s same height and the same….

Matt Baum:
Right.

Shreyans Kokra:
So that forest officials have also started to allow it in the past two, three years, we follow a lot of guidelines. With regards to how much can we harvest? How do we harvest? Especially keeping like the areas has zero infrastructure. And it’s by design that the infrastructure is kept to a minimum because we want nature to survive as it is.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Shreyans Kokra:
So we take a lot of precautions while exercising the extraction, the harvesting, and we follow a lot of guidelines as well. So yes.

Matt Baum:
So it’s carbon zero, like carbon negative essentially because you’re not farming anything. You guys are literally going and picking a weed.

Shreyans Kokra:
Yes, exactly.

Matt Baum:
That’s just amazing. Tell me about that though. You said it, there’s not a lot of infrastructure. So how do you get there? Are you like rolling in, on a dirt road, basically into just a forest?

Shreyans Kokra:
So let’s imagine that there are small villages all across the mountain region. And villages are like 10, 15, 20 houses.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Shreyans Kokra:
And so the villagers initially used to only collect the seeds. And sell them in the cities for making a small amount of living. So we basically taught them that fiber is something which is also a very, very useful part of the plant.

Matt Baum:
Definitely.

Shreyans Kokra:
Right. And there are ways to harvest and extract the fiber. So we have trained them with the help of some NGOs on the ground. And literally from each village, you get like a hundred kilo or 200 kgs of fiber. And a track goes down, keeps on collecting it from the villages. Some of it comes on a donkey bags. Some of it comes by…

Matt Baum:
This is so bad. [crosstalk 00:05:53] I don’t mean to like… [crosstalk 00:05:59] I don’t mean to like be so mind blown by it. But there just isn’t anything like this in the United States where we’ve been sweet enough to work with local people and not exploit them and not coming in clear cut, therefore for us to hear that you’re going into these smaller areas and working with the people that live there and giving them income as well. I mean, you’re paying them to go out and gather this, right?

Shreyans Kokra:
Yeah. So we actually get a lot of support from the ground because this prevents migration of people from the villages to the cities, which is a big problem in the villages, because there is actually no infrastructure. There are no industries. Then there are no employment opportunities, but this gives them a way to get employed throughout the year without leaving their birthplace place. So this is something that they’re getting a lot of ground support on.

Matt Baum:
And they’re the experts too. They know exactly where it is. They know exactly where to go get it, let them do the work with their expertise.

Shreyans Kokra:
Exactly, exactly.

Creating hemp jeans with CanvaLoop

Matt Baum:
It’s amazing. So you show up, you pick up the hemp from there, you drive it back into town. Tell me about the process now from turning hemp fiber, I’ve always known that hemp fiber can be made into fabric obviously, but jeans, that seems like pretty next level. Can you take me through sort of a broad scope of the process of what happens?

Shreyans Kokra:
Yeah. So basically the parent company Canvaloop, we have a proprietary technique, it’s patent pending by which we convert any sort of a hemp fiber for a plant, a stock part of the plant to a garden light fiber. While retaining the properties of hemp. So the hemp fiber is some amazing deal. Like it being anti UV naturally, anti-microbial all of these properties by [inaudible 00:07:53] we make sure that the amazing properties of hemp stay and hemp gets converted to a very soft fiber. And this is what we have been doing for the past couple of years. But then we thought that there is a gap, we must do something that the consumer actually sees and wants. We understand that a lot of people want to wear hemp clothing, but it’s not available. So that’s why we worked for it, on it for a couple of years, since 2019, we have been working on this project.

Shreyans Kokra:
And so we have kept a lot of thought on sustainability in hemp, throughout the jeans making process. So the way we convert the stock into fiber, again, 100% green be used compressed natural gas instead of coal, which is generally used in the fashion industry for heating [inaudible 00:08:47]. So all the little things that couldn’t be taken care of. Again, right. We have used natural Indigo dyes. So dyes actually gotten from the Indigo flat. So that’s why jeans are called in the indigo. Because jeans technically used to have natural Indigo dyes in the past two, three decades that we are seeing all artificial dyes, which…

Matt Baum:
yeah.

Shreyans Kokra:
Look up river systems and everything. So throughout the process of making the jeans, we have kept sustainability in hemp at the core. So from making the fiber to the thread and then making the final denim, we have kept sustainability in hemp. And yes, it’s a beautiful piece of denim. We have tried to make it as soft as possible. And a lot of tests have been done. We have washed it off 500 times. It stays as it is because of the great durability properties of hemp.

Matt Baum:
So it’s not going to fade like my other jeans and whatnot?

Shreyans Kokra:
It is not because it uses natural Indigo dyes. And then hemp. Hemp is the strongest natural fiber. So we, as an industry have to use hemp’s properties to make products that reflect its true nature.

Matt Baum:
Right. It’s not a matter of turning hemp into something else it’s using hemp to get a final product that you want with the benefits of the hemp fiber itself more…

Shreyans Kokra:
Yes. Exactly. Yes.

The benefits of fabric made from hemp fiber

Matt Baum:
So tell me about that. Let’s talk about the fiber for a second. Because I watched the video and the jeans look amazing, looking at them. I can’t tell any difference. Visually. You said hemp is a very strong fiber and it’s hard to work with and you have a proprietary process to turn it into something that looked like cotton, but it’s not cotton. It’s still hemp.

Shreyans Kokra:
Yes.

Matt Baum:
So how does it perform differently when you make it into a denim than say, I am wearing a pair of jeans right now, a pair of raw denim jeans that I paid 75 bucks for, which is a steal for raw denim. That’s pretty cheap. And guess what? A year and a half later, I’ll be real honest with you, there’s a split in the crotch. You can’t see it. Cause I’m at home by myself. So it’s fine right now. But these are $75 raw denim jeans that are supposed to be tougher than normal denim. And they were also made, like you said, there, they were made more responsibly, whatnot. They’re garbage. So explain it like these hemp jeans. How does it stack up to something like raw denim and what are the differences, I guess, similarities and differences I suppose.

Shreyans Kokra:
So similarity, we have worked a lot to not change the feel of the denim. Because we have been wearing denims for so long and they suddenly may give you a very different feeling denim, you will not want to wear it.

Matt Baum:
They will say these aren’t jeans.

Shreyans Kokra:
Yeah. These aren’t jeans today. So we have consciously tried to make the feel of the jeans right how it’s worn as similar to cotton like your normal jeans as possible, like a premium from jeans as possible. The major differences that lie are on the way you can bear the jeans. So jeans are technically made to be worn for longer periods of time without being washed. But the problem with modern jeans nowadays is with a lot of say things coming up in the past few years, you cannot wear them multiple times.

Shreyans Kokra:
They start smelling or they’re sweaty, they’re sticky all of those problems. So, because hemp has a very… Sorry for being a little technically, but yeah, as a very porous, but again, say cross-section, it’s very breathable. So you’ll sweat significantly less. And also it’s naturally anti-microbial. So since there is no bacterial activity, the jeans not get smelly. So again, probably wear them for longer periods of time without actually washing them.

Matt Baum:
So these are jeans that I can wear during the summer is what you’re saying.

Shreyans Kokra:
Yes. Summer as well as winter again, because it’s porous, they’ll keep you warmer in the winters and cooler in the summers. So again, these are all amazing properties of hemp that we’re just trying to reflect on the product rate. Hemp is what takes the credit over here. So that is how it’s different. Because of the amazingness of the plant, the variability of the jeans is amazingly better than what you can expect from a normal cotton.

Matt Baum:
So more durable, it’s more porous, so it’s breathable. So it’s, cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter, which is good for guys like me. Cause I’ve chicken legs. And I don’t like wearing shorts. I want to wear jeans all summer. And also it’s UV resistant you said.

Shreyans Kokra:
Yes.

Matt Baum:
That’s a natural Part of the hemp fiber is UV resistant.

Shreyans Kokra:
Yes.

Matt Baum:
Wow. So it’s not going to fade.

Shreyans Kokra:
Yeah, it’s not going to fade. So it is eventually going to fade like probably after 10 or 15 years, but not when you’re going to wear it for sure.

Matt Baum:
So what about construction? As far as, as sewing it, is it harder to work with than working with denim?

Shreyans Kokra:
It is definitely harder to work with. Especially when we get to the machines, because most of the modern machines are either made for synthetic fibers or cotton. So it’s significantly harder to work with and there are specialized skills required. So not your everyday jeans maker can make a hemp jeans. So, and hemp jeans, there are some jeans on the market which have like a certain percentage of hemp in the denim.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Shreyans Kokra:
But they are not hemp rate. By hemp rate I mean like at least 50% of the fabric should be hemp.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Shreyans Kokra:
Then [inaudible 00:14:49] something made out of hemp. So it’s significantly difficult, but we are getting there. So either could be believe that within a few years within say the next decade hemp is going to be a norm of the fashion industry.

Matt Baum:
Absolutely.

Shreyans Kokra:
So everything will revolve around hemp. It’ll go, it’ll be the next big material. So yes, we are trying to make it happen.

Matt Baum:
So did you guys have to make new machines to work with this because they’re not out there right now. Right? I mean sewing machines and whatnot, and the looms that bring this hemp fabric that you can’t just run this through a normal loom and make the same type of cotton. Can you?

Shreyans Kokra:
So again, the fiber that we make, since we’ve [inaudible 00:15:37] so like cotton. It runs on the regular loom with special assistance. So with some modifications and some special assistance, that’s not your everyday person can done it, but someone who’s trained to run something like this, then definitely run it on the regular machine. So that is the basic. But for us that we are trying to solve to make the adoption of hemp as easy as possible for mainstream fashioning vans as well. Every one on the planet should start using hemp.

The sustainable benefits of hemp jeans

Matt Baum:
I totally agree. That’s why I host this podcast. Now you have a proprietary process that breaks it down into that fabric, more, not the fabric, but the thread, the fiber, if you will, at that point, you’re saying once it’s there, you could ship it into any place that deals with fiber and they can work with it pretty much the same way.

Shreyans Kokra:
Yes, exactly.

Matt Baum:
That’s incredible. One of the other things I saw, it takes 7,600 liters of consumed water to make regular denim jeans. And that’s for Americans, that’s over 2000 gallons of water. And 1900 pieces of micro plastics are released into the oceans with every wash. Why are micro plastics coming out of my jeans? I had no idea.

Shreyans Kokra:
So, so a lot of jeans nowadays have a certain percentage of polyester or say like in a [crosstalk 00:17:11].

Matt Baum:
To make it stretchier and more comfortable and…

Shreyans Kokra:
Yeah stretchier and a lot of jeans that you see on the market claim to be more durable. Actually use polyester, which every time you wash like a piece as each piece of this cloth, it releases micro plastics in the water.

Matt Baum:
That makes sense.

Shreyans Kokra:
So, and a lot of again, jeans are nowadays branding themselves as made out of plastic bottles, recycled plastic bottles. But that’s again, not so good for the environment. Because on one hand, you’re recycling the plastic bottle but again from the fabric that is made mainly you’re releasing micro plastics in the world. So it’s like dying by one goal. You’re dying by a… [crosstalk 00:00:17:59]

Matt Baum:
Yeah. It’s death by a plastic bottle or death by a million pieces of tiny micro plastic.

Shreyans Kokra:
Yes.

Matt Baum:
So tell me about the water consumption. How does that work? Like slow jeans, obviously, according to what I’m reading here use quite a bit less water. How does that work out?

Shreyans Kokra:
So again, it’s so hemp, as I said, requires no sort of artificial water irrigation to grow. It grows on the lane rainfall that happens or from the ground water.

Matt Baum:
Because again this is not farmed. You’re just going and picking this…

Shreyans Kokra:
Yes. Exactly. And the cotton that is used to make denims, it requires a tremendous amount of water to grow. So one kg of cotton requires approximately 10,000 liters of water.

Matt Baum:
Jesus.

Shreyans Kokra:
And that’s literally just two pieces of jeans. So, and again, throughout the processing, the dying process of the jeans and all of those processes also, there’s a lot of water required and we have, we allow, so we make denims in mills that use completely recycled water. So they recycle their own water. They do not take any new water.

Matt Baum:
So it’s like gray water system.

Shreyans Kokra:
Yes, yes. Right. And again, the plant did not require any water to grow. So throughout the whole value chain, we are saving tremendous amount of water.

Matt Baum:
That’s incredible.

Shreyans Kokra:
Yeah. So that is what we wanted to emphasize in the campaign as well, because a lot of people are not aware about the water footprint of that clothing.

Matt Baum:
Right. So let’s talk about…

Shreyans Kokra:
It may be. So by the way, yes.

SLOW hemp jeans on Kickstarter

Matt Baum:
Let’s talk about the campaign for a second. Tell me about the Kickstarter, what you guys have going on. I’ll have a link to the Kickstarter, of course, in the show notes. So people can go throw many of this because we all need to be wearing hemp jeans. And by the way, these are not like boxy farmer looking jeans. These are sexy. These are really good. Do you come from some type of fashion background or anything? We’ll talk about you in a minute I guess. Let’s talk about this, the Kickstarter first. Then I want to talk about you where you came from and how you got this idea. Because I think it’s amazing. So tell me about the Kickstarter.

Shreyans Kokra:
So we presenting slow jeans. These are jeans completely made out of the vial growing Himalayan hemp, and it’s processed in the most sustainable manner possible. And the final output, the jeans better than the normal jeans that we wear, cotton jeans. It’s available in trees, timeless colors like sky, which is like a light blue color, Indigo, which is like a dark blue color and the classic black….

Matt Baum:
Right Very classic American denim jean [inaudible 00:20:52].

Shreyans Kokra:
And all the fits. Right? So if you want a regular fit or a slim fit or a skinny fit. So most of it’s a perception that hemp is a loose that grandpa kind of a thing… [crosstalk 00:21:06]

Matt Baum:
See the hippie and the pajamas with like the poncho on, like I’m wearing clothes bro!

Shreyans Kokra:
So this is like your regular, this is jeans that you can wear to the biggest party in town and people will ask this jeans, what is this jeans? So all the fits, all the colors are there. And I just want to say it out loud that there are two things with it. First it’s made of the wild Himalayan hemp and second it’s insanely comfortable.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Shreyans Kokra:
So this is what we have emphasized on. We did not want to give a product that did not feel good. Not just want to sell hemp because of just it being hemp. We wanted to make a very good usable piece of product. And once you have it, you’ll see the difference for sure.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. It’s definitely jeans, I think are an intensely American institution where everybody wears jeans. It’s just something that like for, I mean, Cowboys wore jeans back in the days, its crazy jeans are something that we go to work in jeans, jeans are something that I mow the lawn in, jeans are something I can take a nap in. So if these are going to be hemp jeans, I’ve got to be jeans. They’ve got to be comfortable. They’ve got to look right. They’ve got to feel right. It’s not like you’re just showing up with hemp pants. So tell me about you. How did you get into this? What is your background?

Shreyans Kokra:
So I’m personally trained in finance. So, but I have a family history in textiles and fashion. So my family has been in the fashion textile industries for 40 years and I wanted to get away from it all. And that’s why I came to the US with a finance background. But then again, I got in touch with hemp and just realized it’s awesome potential. And the actual problem that the textile industry had, I was always aware of that. Right. But I did not really have a solution in mind, but when I got in touch with hemp then its awesome benefits. We were damn sure that this is something that needs to be presented to the normal public. And…

Matt Baum:
Absolutely.

Shreyans Kokra:
Yes. The four years back, we started on from scratch, literally from scratch, working with the plant. And how do we convert it into the best possible fabric for the people?

Matt Baum:
What was it that brought you to hemp? Did you discover it?

Shreyans Kokra:
So when I came to the US a couple of people mentioned it to me. And I’m a very inclusive, curious, kind of a person. So I just go out into it, started reading about it. And interestingly, I was doing a master’s in entrepreneurship.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Shreyans Kokra:
And we had to pitch an idea to work on throughout the year during the course. So this was my master hemp was by all about the masters.

From US college entrepreneur to Himalayan hemp

Matt Baum:
You’re the second person I’ve talked to that did this as their master. They’re like, I was in grad school and I came up with this crazy hemp idea. And they were like, write the paper about it? And now it’s my job.

Shreyans Kokra:
So we started, so during the college itself, you are a group of people. We started a company there in Boston itself. Over the time we did not work out. It was still hemp. We stuck on it. We pivoted a lot of time. And then we finally had this breakthrough with the technology. And today here we are with the jeans.

Matt Baum:
Well, just the kind of thing where you were in the States and you got interested in hemp and decided, okay, my family is from a fiber background. Was there this moment where you just went, Oh my God, there are hundreds of thousands of acres of this stuff back in the Himalayas. I got to go home and use this. Was it just something like that?

Shreyans Kokra:
Yeah, I think, I think you pictured it perfectly. This is exactly what happened. So…

Matt Baum:
I mean that’s [crosstalk 00:25:26] that’s incredible.

Shreyans Kokra:
[inaudible 00:25:25] The United States, a lot of incidentally [inaudible 00:25:34] 16, when I was in the States, the whole movement to legalize hemp and the separation of hemp from Atlanta was going on. Especially in the Boston area. So that movement actually was like a kickstart that we got. And coupled with my textile background back home. Right. Because we also need some sort of an expertise in the product. This is what I also firmly believe, like build the traditional sort of industries get into hemp. It’s not going to go very, very mainstream. So like [inaudible 00:26:11] starts making, say probably some sort of edited drinks with hemp. [crosstalk 00:00:26:16] yeah. So I think they did really good times ahead. So

Matt Baum:
So you, you came to the States and you got your finance degree, and then you were like, Oh, Oh crap. I’ve got to go home. That’s where the action is. You come home with this idea and you come to your family and like, hear me out, hemp jeans, who’s on board? Were they like, yeah. Let’s Absolutely. Let’s pull the trigger over there, like, son, you’re insane. What happened to you in America? How do you pitch an idea like that? Because I’m guessing you’re, and I don’t know, but I’m guessing your family’s textile business was not going out into the woods and finding plants to make clothes out of, how do you pitch that to mom and dad? And were they just on board?

Shreyans Kokra:
So my dad was on board right away, he is like very open. Yeah. So he’s very open. He’s like this, these are your years to experiment in life. And so you can go ahead, you are not making a fool of yourself, then go ahead, try as many things as you want.

Matt Baum:
That’s awesome.

Shreyans Kokra:
But again, since in India we have sort of an extended family system. And there were a lot of people who are not very keen on letting this happen, because there are a lot of regulatory issues in India. And also in the States it’s everywhere…

Matt Baum:
Sure, sure.

Shreyans Kokra:
Just cannot deny it. It’s significantly harder for a person to do business in the hemp industry as compared to any other. So we have under layer of licenses when we import and we export, then we do autumn normal, dry transaction. So people are not very keen. But since I had to go ahead with my dad, we just winged it and…

Matt Baum:
You just got to keep fighting. Right?

Shreyans Kokra:
Yes.

The challenges of working with hemp

Matt Baum:
Sooner or later they’re going to stop telling you. No, because they’re sick of you. This guy won’t shut up. Just tell him. Yes. All right. So what is the government like with hemp in India? Is it… Like you’re in the States, we’re still trying to figure it out. Like, which is ridiculous because our neighbors in Canada have been doing it since the 90s. Europe is way ahead of us. China has been doing this since they figured out they could make fabric out of it. What’s it like in India is a government, a little more green friendly or is it similar to the state?

Shreyans Kokra:
So it’s, it’s changing, the current is like, no one wants to get into this crop. So it’s so controversial, no elected government is like let me take this ahead. So it’s just stuck in us or double limbo, but there are smaller States which are now acting up and legalizing it. Because one interesting thing with India and hemp is it grows in the wild part in the country. So it’s not something that people haven’t seen. It’s just that it was not commercialized. People have seen in spite of the culture. So the ground level acceptance is there, but from a regulatory standpoint, it’s changing slowly. But we are hopeful especially with the United nations, the announcement coming last week with regards to cannabis and we tend to follow the US in order…

Matt Baum:
It does. It sounds very similar to the really stupid stuff we are dealing with hemp here in this country. I’m sorry. It’s like that there. I’m sorry. You guys are following us. It’s embarrassing. We’re bad at this.

Shreyans Kokra:
And even like the States that have made it legal, there’s a lot of issues because we have just copied the guidelines from the European union. Without actually making the guidelines as part of the country. So there are a lot of issues that are there a lot of things in the gray area, but we’re very hopeful that in a couple of years, all of this will work.

Matt Baum:
It sounds like they’re starting to see the benefits. And especially when you have someone like you was who is like, look, I’m not just grabbing this stuff and immediately exporting it to China or immediately exporting it to South America. We are keeping it here. We are using the local population and helping them make money and putting the product together right here and then exporting it. That’s…

Shreyans Kokra:
Exactly.

Matt Baum:
very important. Very much. I mean, India, we have definitely for years and years, not just India, but India, Bangladesh, a lot of these smaller Vietnam, even we say, Hey, make our gap jeans, Hey, make our old Navy jeans do it any cheap, crappy way you can think of and then ship it over here. It’s nice to hear that someone is doing it the right way. I’m sorry that you’re fighting to do it. I wish this could just boom, explode. But this is an amazing story. And I think it’s awesome. And I hope anybody who’s listening to this goes and backs the Kickstarter. I want a pair of these jeans, so damn bad. I just want to walk around and be like, I’m wearing hemp jeans and they look awesome.

Shreyans Kokra:
Amazing, amazing. Thank you. We, as a hemp and the cannabis community, we keep talking about how great the plant is, but there’s a lot less action happening. Even if within the community, they start using things made out of hemp. Well, actually everything in the house that we are living in and in the office space that we are occupying. A lot of things can be made out of hemp and they can be better than the current things that we’re using. So we, as a community, if we start using hemp products in general, the industry and the community will become stronger. And I think the way forward for the industry is to start supporting each other first and then looking outside…

Matt Baum:
Definitely.

Shreyans Kokra:
For more approval.

Matt Baum:
Because we can’t just continue to just cheerly do each other. That’s not going to change anything. We’ve got to keep screaming to everybody else. Hey, we can make wood out of this. Hey, we can make jeans out of this hey. We can make plastic out of this. And Oh, by the way, you have an endo cannabinoid system in your brain that wants this as well. I mean, it’s very important. Thank you so much for your time and thank you for what you’re doing. I truly think this is just incredible. And I hope this explodes. I hope you’re so famous, it’s stupid. And sometime next year, they’re going to be like, Oh, you got to hear when he was on that ministry of hemp podcast before anybody knew him.

Shreyans Kokra:
I definitely hope this happens, thank you so much.

Matt Baum:
Thanks to Shreyans for talking with me. It was going on midnight, his time when we had this conversation. So thank you for staying up late to talk to a lazy American that didn’t realize what time It was there. And also the links to the canvaloop Kickstarter are going to be in the show notes, please go check it out, watch the video. I think we’ll have it in the post for the podcast as well, but it’s truly incredible what they are doing. And he’s right. Hemp is one of the fibers of the future and it’s just a matter of time. And it’s really cool. Does he early pioneers? And when I say early pioneers, that’s ridiculous. Because we’ve been making hemp clothes for thousands of years, but it’s coming back in a big way and it’s really cool what they’re doing. So we owe it to support people like Shreyans in Canvaloop. Speaking of the show notes here at the ministry of hemp, we believe that a more accessible world is better for everyone. So you can find a complete written transcript of this show in the notes as well.

Final thoughts from Matt

Matt Baum:
Thanks again for spending some time with me today and learning about hemp and thanks to everybody that supports this podcast, by going to patron backslash ministry of hemp and becoming a ministry of hemp insider, it is an amazing way to keep this information coming and here, podcast extras to get a look at early posts before they go up on the site and all kinds of other extra stuff we’ve got T-shirts, we’ve got stickers, all kinds of cool stuff. It really does help. And you know what else helps leave me a review for this show, wherever you listen to podcasts, whether it’s a star rating or even a written review, it helps so much to bump us up in search algorithm. So other people can find show. Speaking of the show, next week, I will be talking to two of the gentlemen that started Santa packaging. They are one of the largest hemp plastic packaging companies in the United States.

Matt Baum:
And it was an awesome conversation. So be sure to tune in for that, if you need more ministry of hemp in your life until then head over to ministryofhemp.com, we have got our holiday gift guide. The holidays are coming and you have people that would love all kinds of hemp presents to check out our holiday gift guide. And if you didn’t hear it last week, check out our round table discussion that we posted on the show here, where I spoke with drew and kit and Deseret, the whole ministry of hemp gang. And we talked about hemp and cannabis on the ballot in the 2020 election. It was a great conversation and I hope you had a chance to check it out. You can also follow us on all our social media at backslash ministry of hemp at ministry of hemp or all over the place.

Matt Baum:
And we’re always kicking out great hemp education links. And maybe you have questions about this episode or CBD or anything hemp related. You can call us (402) 819-6417 and leave your message with your question. We will play it on a future show. We do these Q&A shows where myself and other people from ministry of hemp answer your questions. It’s a ton of fun. And I would love to hear from you. You can also email me matt@ministryofhemp.com with your question or shoot me an MP3 to that email too. Regardless we want to hear from you. It’s your show. Let’s hear your questions. I got to get out of here. And I like to do it the same way every week by saying, remember to take care of yourself, take care of others and make good decisions. Will you, this is Matt Baum with the ministry of hemp signing off.

The post Hemp Jeans From Wild Himalayan Hemp, With Shreyans Kokra of CanvaLoop appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

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Hemp Shoes Are Part Of A More Sustainable Future, With 8000Kicks https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-shoes-8000kicks-sneakers-podcast/ https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-shoes-8000kicks-sneakers-podcast/#respond Wed, 14 Oct 2020 22:39:53 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=63108 Bernardo Carreira, creator of 8000Kicks hemp sneakers, joins the Ministry of Hemp podcast to discuss the sustainable promise of hemp shoes.

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

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Today, we’re talking about hemp shoes, and how they can be part of a more sustainable way of life.

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

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A pair of sneaker-style hemp shoes, with the body of the shoe dyed black and the base in white bioplastic rubber. in an insert photo is a headshot of the 8000 Kicks founder Bernardo Carreira.
Bernardo Carreira (insert photo) joined the Ministry of Hemp podcast to introduce 8000Kicks, his hemp-based sneakers, and discuss how hemp shoes could be part of a more sustainable future.

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.

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Hemp Masks Offer Sustainable Personal Safety During COVID-19 Crisis https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-masks-ilovebad/ https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-masks-ilovebad/#comments Tue, 26 May 2020 22:34:32 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=61414 Hemp masks from iLoveBad Organics and The Hemp Cooperative offer a sustainable alternative. They're donating them to frontline workers during the COVID-19 crisis.

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Recently we tried out some comfortable new hemp masks. We’re happy to report they’re a great choice for shopping, working, or any time you might be around others.

We tried the new organic hemp face mask with cotton ties created by iLoveBad Organics and The Hemp Cooperative. Available in black, or a reversible black & white option, this simple mask ties around the back of the head. It’s easy to wear and easy to throw in the washer to clean (use a lingerie bag to keep it from getting tangled). But the differences go deeper than the deceptively simple appearance of this mask.

With no finite end to the pandemic in sight, frontline workers, from grocery clerks to delivery drivers, now wear masks all day. Many businesses require masks for entry. Most of us want to keep ourselves and other people safer too. But what about creating masks that are made from more sustainable fabrics

That’s where hemp masks come in. Hemp fabric is extremely durable, and naturally antimicrobial and antibacterial too. There’s no proof this will provide additional protection from the COVID-19 virus. It does mean your mask will stay fresher during long sweaty wearing sessions. 

Workers at a Trader Joe's pose in hemp masks created by iLoveBad and The Hemp Cooperative.
Workers at a Trader Joe’s pose in hemp masks created and donated by iLoveBad and The Hemp Cooperative. (Photo: iLoveBad Organics)

We talked with Daniel Ong, half of the founding team behind iLoveBad Organics. Ong said although they’d been considering making hemp masks for some time, it was Brittanny, the other founder, who spurred them to move forward with this collaboration. 

“Brittanny woke up to this palpable realization that masks are going to be the standard and that we should contribute towards the production to supply our friends at our local supermarkets,” he wrote in an email.  

Creating a hemp mask with THC (The Hemp Cooperative)

“Prior to the Pandemic, I had small talks with my twin brother Dany (a co-founding member of The Hemp Co-op) about the idea of a mask,” Ong recalled. “Shortly after the pandemic took off, he made a prototype, showed it to me and proceeded to go into production with it.”

“We genuinely feel that we’re all in this together.”

Daniel Ong, cofounder of iLoveBad Organics

Originally, Ong became interested in creating hemp masks both out of a desire to create a “weird” hemp fashion aesthetic, and to reduce their exposure to the bad odors of urban life in Los Angeles.

When they realized that the front line workers who supported them needed better masks, they agreed to collaborate with The Hemp Cooperative (a clothing brand cleverly known by theit acronym “THC”). 

“With THC’s help, we made a couple refinements to their design to fit our personal preferences and within a few days, we started production.”

Their hemp masks are manufactured in the U.S. from organically-grown hemp that’s carefully sourced from China. The seamstresses they work with are largely single mothers or senior citizens, and the brands are paying higher than normal wages to help them make it through the pandemic. 

Hemp masks are breathable, comfortable for long wear

“A number of frontline supermarket employees have reached out stating that the masks were perfect for their needs given that they have to wear it for longer periods of time,” Ong told us. “Hearing it directly from them was pretty awesome.”

The iLoveBad & THC masks sell for $21 with free shipping. They sent us a sample to try out. Our Editor wore the mask multiple times while getting outdoor exercise or doing simple chores out of the house.

The masks tie around the back of the neck and the back of the head, unlike the more common design which loops over the ears. This may be more comfortable for longer wear. If you have long hair, you can loop the upper ties over a pony tail, which feels very secure. For anyone having trouble adjusting to the masks, Ong sent us a graphic which shows how to use them properly:

A graphic explaining how to use the iLoveBad masks.
iLoveBad provided a simple graphic explaining how best to use their masks.

While these hemp masks aren’t medical-grade personal protective equipment, current CDC guidance suggests that even wearing cloth masks can help reduce transmission of the novel coronavirus. 

iLoveBad & THC make their hemp masks are made with two layers of fabric. A pocket in between allows the wearer to add their own filter. Popular disposable filter options include paper towels and coffee filters. Another option that’s also washable is a fabric called non-woven polypropylene. Commonly found in reusable shopping bags and conference swag bags, this fabric is washable and closer to medial-grade N95 materials.

Hemp industry offers sustainable solutions during crisis

Hemp fabric is extremely durable, and tends to grow more comfortable with repeated washing. It also typically requires fewer chemicals during manufacture (and while the hemp is grown, as well). iLoveBad make their fashion even more sustainable by contributing a portion of their profits towards valuable causes. These include ending animal abuse and supporting orphans in Mexico. For Ong, it’s important to give back to the community anytime, but especially during the pandemic. 

One other clothing brand, Hemp Black, also recently started making hemp masks. Many CBD brands have started giving away free hand sanitizer, another way to be a part of the solution. We love seeing the industry step up to find ways to be leaders in corporate responsibility during this time. However, Ong stressed that the hemp industry isn’t special here: everyone has a part to play.

“We genuinely feel that we’re all in this together and we all will respond accordingly when the timing is right,” he wrote.

He hopes the hemp industry can find a way to sustain itself through this rocky economy. Like us, he believes in the potential of hemp to change the world.

“If there is one responsibility that hemp brands should take on, perhaps it’s purely to stay in business during these times so that we may continue the momentum that the hemp community had powered over this past decade.”

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How Hemp Fabric Is Made & Why It’s Better https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-fabric/ https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-fabric/#comments Wed, 12 Feb 2020 20:37:00 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=54468 Hemp fabric could be crucial to creating a more comfortable, more sustainable world. Hemp fabric is softer, stronger, resistant to odor, and protects the wearer from UV rays. It's also better for the planet.

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Hemp fabric could be crucial to creating a more comfortable, more sustainable world.

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

What makes hemp fabric better?

Patagonia's hemp sweater is perfect for chilly fall days, an example of a durable but comfortable and fashionable hemp fabric.

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.

A dense field of green bamboo-like industrial hemp stalks grows tall in the summer sunshine. Industrial hemp can be harvested for thousands of uses including hemp fabric and fiber.
A dense field of green bamboo-like industrial hemp stalks grows tall in the summer sunshine. Industrial hemp can be harvested for thousands of uses.

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.
Folded hemp fabric and hemp rope and string sit in a wooden box, on a wooden table.
Right now, most hemp products in the U.S., including hemp fabric, are imported from China, increasing cost and carbon footprint. That could change with total hemp legalization.

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.

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Even More Hemp Questions Answered With Matt & Kit https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-questions-answered-podcast/ https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-questions-answered-podcast/#comments Tue, 10 Dec 2019 22:44:11 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=59207 In the Ministry of Hemp Podcast, we answer questions about industrial hemp, hemp fabric, choosing CBD oil and vaping CBD safely.

The post Even More Hemp Questions Answered With Matt & Kit appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

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Where can you buy hemp fabric and why isn’t it easier to find? What’s coming in the future for hemp plastic? It’s another episode of CBD and hemp questions answered!

In this week’s episode of the Ministry of Hemp Podcast it’s time for another Q&A session with Matt and Ministry of Hemp’s Editor in Chief Kit O’Connell. This round of questions touches on everything from where to buy quality CBD, vaping CBD safely, and industrial uses for hemp like plastic and fabric.

https://youtu.be/Fl0LWXtZJH4

Sponsored by LifePatent

Thanks to our friends at LifePatent, one of our Top CBD Brands, for sponsoring this episode of the Ministry of Hemp Podcast. Check out their site now to try free samples of their great sleep capsules.

We’re also big fans of their CBD-A tincture, which we reviewed last year. Our editor Kit still frequently reaches for this product for help with his chronic pain.

Send us your feedback!

We want to hear from you too. Send us your questions and you might hear them answered on future shows like this one! Send us your written questions to us on Twitter, Facebook, email 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.

In this episode we answer questions about industrial hemp, hemp fabric, and using CBD safely. Photo: A farmer uses a tractor to harvest industrial hemp.
In this episode we answer questions about industrial hemp, hemp fabric, and using CBD safely.

Thanks again for listening! Contact sales@ministryofhemp.com if you’re interested in sponsoring our podcast or other content on our website.

Answering common hemp & CBD questions

Below you’ll find answers to some common CBD and hemp questions like we address in this episode of our podcast.

Oh, and one of our callers had a doctor concerned about the calcium content in hemp milk. It turns out hemp milk has the highest calcium content of any alternative milk.

Hemp questions answered with Matt & Kit: Complete episode transcript

Below you’ll find the complete written transcript for this episode:

Speaker 1: 00:00 The Ministry of Hemp podcast was brought to you by LifePatent, purveyors of high-quality CBD products that just happen to be one of our favorite brands too. They care very deeply about their customers because when it comes down to it, LifePatent understands their customers are people seeking relief. You can learn more about the entire line of CBD-related products at lifepatent.com.

Matt Baum: 00:31 Welcome to another episode of the Ministry of Hemp podcast. Today on the show, I am joined once again by ministryofhemp.com’s editor-in-chief and all around brilliant guy, Kit O’Connell. We are going to be answering your hemp-related questions on our second Ministry of Hemp Q&A show. I am super excited, so let’s get to it, shall we? Kit, welcome back for another Ministry of Hemp Q&A. It is always good to have you, sir.

Kit O’Connell: 01:11 It’s good to be here. I enjoy dropping in for these.

Matt Baum: 01:14 This is where I bring you on to do my job for me and I appreciate that. Thank you. We got a few voicemails today and, again, the questions are kind of all over the place, which is great. If you guys want to call, like I said at the beginning of the show, you can always do so. Just call us at 402-819-6417 and leave your message with your hemp-related question. Kit, should we get into the first one? You ready?

Kit O’Connell: 01:37 Let’s jump in.

Matt Baum: 01:38 All right. Here we go.

We don’t sell CBD, just review it

Speaker 4: 01:40 Hi, I’m trying to get ahold of the company that makes first-class, full-spectrum CBD, [inaudible 00:01:50] hemp oil. Please give me a call.

Matt Baum: 01:54 We do get a lot of calls like this. I wanted to play one, rather than responding to everybody and saying, “Hey, we don’t actually sell it.” Kit, maybe you can explain for people that are listening to the show where can they go to find quality hemp oil that they can trust?

Kit O’Connell: 02:09 Sure. Yeah. We don’t sell products. That is a common misconception that we get a lot of emails to about that. We’re trying to provide useful information and really clear, honest, transparent basics about what’s happening in the CBD and hemp industries. The good thing is we do have a lot of information. We’ve tried out a lot of different products and we list a lot of our favorites on our website. You can go right up to the top and search right where it says, “CBD Reviews.” We have a best CBD oil review, which is our favorite, overall brands in the industry. Under that, you’ll see breakdowns. If you’re looking for tinctures or a topical to apply to your sore muscles or gummies and so on, we’ve got all of that in there. We’ve recommended some of our favorite brands beyond that. We’ll put a link to this in the show notes.

Kit O’Connell: 03:04 We’ve written a couple articles about how you can pick a really good brand of CBD. Check the show notes for this or if you want to just go directly on our site, you can even just go search for the word. A good word to punch in is actually the word quality and that’ll bring up a couple articles about why quality matters in CBD and some guides and tips for picking the best products. In general, you want a brand, of course, that’s transparent, that’s offering third-party lab results. For a lot of people who are going to prefer that full-spectrum hemp extract, which has CBD plus traces, at least, of all the other compounds that are naturally occurring in the hemp plant. That’s a good choice for a lot of people.

Matt Baum: 03:51 It looks like some of our latest reviews, she was looking for hemp oil. Right now, we’ve got some of our top brands up there that include like Populum, Lazarus, Ananda, Everyday Optimal D-Stress, CBDfx and Joy Organics. Again, right under the CBD reviews, it’s the first link you’ll see, best CBD oil reviews. If you want to start there, can’t go wrong. Let’s go for our next question here.

Kit O’Connell: 04:17 Yup. Yup.

Questions about buying hemp fabric

Speaker 5: 04:18 Good morning. It is 2:39, eastern standard time in Columbus, Ohio. I’m calling. I’m an artist. I do turn tree limbs into Moses or as we say in Arabic, Musa’s staff, for my artwork, bags, wall hangings, what I call urban survival clothing, my own design and I wanted to know where I can buy hemp fabric. I’m retired. From Michigan, Detroit, but I live in Columbus, Ohio, right now, and I wanted to buy some hemp fabric. Probably will have to save up for it, but I would like to know how I can do that. Just happen to be up in the middle of the night like most artist’s are. A farmer who had done some clothing for some fashion show to the awareness of hemp farming, so African-American farmers, so I thought I would just research it on Facebook and I found you all. I was trying to find out … I’m 70 tomorrow on the 18th, September, so I’m trying to figure out how to use all this technology to find your podcast and listen to you. I hope you have it archived. Blessed to have found you. Much success.

Speaker 5: 05:29 Once in a blue moon at Trader Joe’s, we can find hemp milk, which is really neat. I have to look up the calcium content though. My doctor frowned when I mentioned it, but I’m like, “Whatever.” I like to try different milks. I used to farm and I get tired of that. I will look that up also. Any place I can find or buy hemp fabric in America. I saw one place in UK, but I don’t know if that’s legit or dependable or not. I would appreciate it. I will email you to send you my telephone number.

Speaker 5: 06:04 All right. Thank you. You guys have a blessed week, month and keep it going. I miss farming. I used to raise cows, sheep, goats, chickens and selling animals, slaughter them, sell them and then process the hide for artwork. I brought a few back with me to the city once I left the country down south. All right. Again, take care. Have a blessed, successful podcast. You’re growing. Take care. Bye-bye.

Matt Baum: 06:30 She sounds like the coolest. I really like her.

Kit O’Connell: 06:33 I want to hang out with her.

Matt Baum: 06:35 Totally.

Kit O’Connell: 06:35 Pop open a beer and talk about crafting. I’m a writer, so I’m up at 2:00 a.m., scribbling away-

Matt Baum: 06:43 Oh, yeah.

Kit O’Connell: 06:43 … sometimes getting my best ideas, so I totally get that. I think our caller is a great example too of how the stigma around hemp is disappearing because we are hearing from people from the older generations that are really interested in hemp. Some of them might not have been in the past. I don’t know about this caller, but a lot of them might have turned away from it because of the associations of it with the war on drugs and all that.

Matt Baum: 07:08 Absolutely. Absolutely.

Kit O’Connell: 07:10 I love to see this kind of thing. This is great. In terms of the specific topic with hemp fabric, that is an area … Unfortunately, it’s hard to buy domestic, US-produced fully hemp fabric. That is one place that our video producer, Jessica, recommended to me because we had this question come in at least once before via email. What she recommended was this site called Nature’s Fabrics. Again, we’ll put this in the show notes, but it’s just Nature’s, with an S, Fabrics, again with an S, dot com. They do have a small collection of hemp fabric. That’s one of the only US sources that we’ve personally worked with.

Kit O’Connell: 07:54 We’ve also engaged with a company in India called Hemp Fabric Lab. Now you are obviously going to be paying a little more because of the international shipping, but one of the nice things about Hemp Fabric Lab is that they don’t have any minimum orders. They have several different hemp fabrics that they’ve made, as well as some blends of hemp with other fabrics. You can pick up just one yard of it to play with if you want or obviously make a big bulk order too. They’re really cool people. They’re working with some really interesting fashion designers. But, overall, some of their stuff is affordable, especially with that no minimum, so Hemp Fabric Lab. We’ll drop a link to them.

Kit O’Connell: 08:34 This is an area that we really hope is going to expand a lot-

Matt Baum: 08:38 Definitely.

Kit O’Connell: 08:38 … in the coming years.

Matt Baum: 08:39 Definitely. This is one of those areas where it is a little more expensive right now I’m sure, but the only reason that is, is because we don’t have as many producers yet.

Kit O’Connell: 08:47 Exactly.

Matt Baum: 08:47 As you see more producers getting in the game, we will see the price of hemp fabric come down.

Kit O’Connell: 08:54 We don’t have exact figures on this year, but we probably in the US grew, give or take, about 150,000 acres of hemp, let’s say as a generous figure. It’s probably a little less than that. Out of that 150 or so, from the experts I’ve spoken with, we only had about 10,000 acres of hemp that was grown for anything other than CBD. That means for fiber, to making the fabric, to making the building material, to making the food. Almost all of those uses of hemp are still bringing it in from Canada, from China, from India, eastern Europe, places like that. This is going to come down. Prices are going to come down. The availability is going to go up. It’s all going to happen over the next couple years is our prediction.

Matt Baum: 09:37 One of the things we’ve been talking about on the show with guests is that there is a very big CBD bubble right now. Like you said, everyone is growing hemp for CBD, literally everyone, because that is where the money is at the moment. But, again, that is going to change too. Unfortunately, you might have to dig around to find hemp fabrics right now, but they are out there. Like we said, we’ll put this in the show notes. You can check it out. As far as hemp milk goes, you had mentioned you had talked to your doctor and he kind of aargh because he wasn’t sure about the calcium. I took a couple years of nutrition when I was going through culinary school and it is an absolute fact that you get more calcium from plant-based milks like soy milk or almond milk or oat milk than you are from cow milk and that’s just because there’s lactose in it. If you’re not a baby, you are lactose intolerant to some degree. You’re going to get more calcium, as long as it’s in there. I haven’t seen the Trader Joe’s hemp milk, but I would think it’s pretty weird if there’s no calcium in there. Be one worth looking into though.

Kit O’Connell: 10:42 Of course, also with hemp milk, the hemp seed has a ton of great benefits apart from the calcium you gain all kinds of amino acids, Omega-3’s and 6’s and all these other beneficial nutritional substances that are in the hemp seed. It’s a real nutritional powerhouse. Even if it’s not your main source of calcium, it’s definitely … can be really good to make hemp milk. We’ve even got a video and some instructions on our site to make your own hemp milk with seeds, so check that out.

Matt Baum: 11:11 Again, all things are you’re not going to get from lactose-based animal milk.

Kit O’Connell: 11:17 Hey, if you do get this, drop us a note and tell us more about the artwork you are doing. That sounds really cool.

Matt Baum: 11:21 Yeah.

Kit O’Connell: 11:21 We’d love to learn more about what you’re doing.

Matt Baum: 11:22 Yeah, email that to us, we’d love to us. You can send that to-

Kit O’Connell: 11:25 Please.

Matt Baum: 11:25 Matt@ministryofhemp.com or info@ministryofhemp.com. All right. Let’s move to our next question here.

Understanding the dosage of CBD oil

Speaker 6: 11:32 Hey, so I was looking at some stuff online and I have some questions. I’m confused about CBD dosage on products. Some of the bottles say that they’re 1,000 milligrams or 500 milligrams or 250 milligrams. Is that the total amount in the bottle? Then it kind of goes hand-in-hand like why are some of them 25 milligrams? Is that just like a really low dose amount or is that the amount in the dropper? Appreciate some answers on this. Thank you very much for taking my call.

Matt Baum: 12:12 This is an excellent question. I’ll be honest, I get a little confused sometimes looking at these labels. Can you shed any light on this one, Kit?

Kit O’Connell: 12:20 It is confusing and it even throws us off a little bit. There’s one thing I want to say at the beginning here as sort of a preamble is that it’s just a good reminder and something that has come up recently to say that CBD is not currently regulated by the FDA. The FDA and the FTC will come down on the worst of the worst actors in the field. Those are the people that are claiming that CBD is going to cure cancer.

Matt Baum: 12:44 Right.

Kit O’Connell: 12:45 But as far as the other side of things, they’re not setting any standards. There’s no one looking at CBD and saying, “Every CBD bottle should be labeled like this.”

Matt Baum: 12:54 Right. Like you-

Kit O’Connell: 12:54 In the same way that there’s standards around buying vitamin C, we just don’t have that.

Matt Baum: 12:58 Yeah. It’ll say, “250 milligrams per pill” or whatever and you know exactly what you’re taking. Unfortunately-

Kit O’Connell: 13:03 And that’s just not the case for CBD, right now. Exactly. Yeah. When we look at products, because we review products here, the gold standard to us is that your label should say how much total is in the bottle. Some brands that are still very reputable brands have made the choice to instead list, like you said, the total amount in a dropper. If a full dropper is 25 milligrams, they’re going to put 25 milligrams on the bottle or if it’s a capsule, they’re listing how much is per capsule, which obviously makes a lot of sense to do it with capsules. The short answer is it varies from product to product and you need to read the label a little more carefully with CBD than you would with other products. For a tincture it should be the total amount on the bottle. Obviously, for things like a gummy or a capsule, it makes more sense to put a per dose list on there too. That’s what we think it should look like, but you are seeing stuff that’s all over the map. You see people that are just putting the per dropper. Occasionally, you’re seeing people that are listing a number that’s based on say the full amount of hemp oil in the bottle. It’s kind of an inflated number that doesn’t accurately reflect on what’s actually in the bottle.

Matt Baum: 14:25 Is that where we start seeing labels that say 5,000 milligrams and stuff like that?

Kit O’Connell: 14:31 We do see some of that. Yeah. We’re going to see some of those. Unfortunately, there are some people that, as far as we can tell, are just straight up scammers. If you search for CBD on Amazon, we’ve talked about this before, you’re going to see those ridiculous ones where they claim that there’s 25,000 milligrams in the bottle. On a more reasonable level, we did encounter a product recently. I won’t name names, but they had … theirs listed 3,000 on the bottle. When we took a closer look, we found that the actual amount of CBD was closer to about 2,250 say, 2,250 milligrams. The rest of it, they had made up by saying that there was hemp seed oil in there, so you’re still getting the hemp nutrition. We decided because they did provide a real honest breakdown on their website that they were a brand that we wanted to work with. Even with some of these good brands, it does require a little more research on your part. You need to go look at the brand information on the website, see what kind of breakdowns they’re offering. Even if a brand says that they have 500 in the bottle, unfortunately you still have to go look at their lab tests to find if they’re telling the truth about that. It’s really important to check those third-party lab tests.

Matt Baum: 15:46 Definitely.

Kit O’Connell: 15:47 A good product is going to be within 10% of what they say they are on their bottle or more exact, obviously, but you don’t want to go with anybody that’s any further off than that.

Matt Baum: 15:56 The TLDR version here and correct me if I’m wrong, but if we see a bottle with something that says 25 milligrams, typically that means it’s 25 milligrams per dropper. Anything above 100 is technically saying there is that much CBD in the bottle. If you get something that says 250 milligrams, that’s 250 milligrams per bottle.

Kit O’Connell: 16:21 That’s a good rule to follow in general at least as a starting point as you’re looking into a product [crosstalk 00:16:28].

Matt Baum: 16:27 Okay. All right. Yeah, because honestly I had a friend of mine who has been having some knee and hip trouble. I gave him CBD that someone had sent me and he really liked it. Then, I gave him another one that somebody else had sent me and he’s like, “Well, this one only says 25.” I said, “Well, I think means it’s per, you know, dropper, but I don’t really know.” I knew they were very reputable and he ended up really liking it, so good to know I wasn’t lying to him.

Kit O’Connell: 16:58 Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Thanks to LifePatent

Matt Baum: 16:59 Before we move along, I am super excited to introduce you to our first sponsor for the Ministry of Hemp podcast, LifePatent. With a full line of high-quality and responsibly-sourced CBD products, LifePatent offers relief from pain, anxiety and even some help getting to sleep. It even offers CBD tincture for dogs and personally I have a pug with a nerve issue that was causing pain and she was shaking like crazy. I found giving her a CBD tincture with her meals has helped her stop shaking and reduced her pain quite a bit. The LifePatent site is currently offering free samples of their new LPX Technology, which harnesses a natural delivery system. The most effective delivery method available for the ingestion of cannabinoids on the market. You get to try two, 15 milligram sleep capsules on LifePatent and enjoy the power and efficacy of nature’s delivery system at lifepatent.com.

Matt Baum: 18:00 Also, check out a glowing review of LifePatent’s CBD/A oil over at ministryofhealth.com and you’ll learn more about the antiinflammatory and nausea-reducing properties of CBD/A. LifePatent cares deeply about their customers, because when it comes down to it, they understand their customers are people seeking relief. Like I said, you can learn more about their entire line of CBD products at lifepatent.com and, of course, we will have links to their site in the show notes. Huge thanks to lifepatent.com for sponsoring the Ministry of Hemp podcast.

Vitamin E & CBD vaping safety

Matt Baum: 18:41 Okay. Next question, here we go.

Speaker 7: 18:43 Hey, yeah, I had a question for you. It’s kind of been bouncing around my head a little bit. I’ve been hearing a lot about flavored vape pens that can cause serious injuries and sometimes death with people that have been using them. With all this CBD stuff going around out there now, I was wondering has there been any similar reports with CBD and stuff like that? Yeah, I’d love to hear your thoughts on that. Thank you.

Matt Baum: 19:06 This is a really good one and I think this has been on a lot of people’s minds. We talked about it briefly on the show a little while back when they were still investigating what the ingredient was that was causing problems. As I understand it, all of the deaths were related to cannabis, like full-on, marijuana-related products, is that correct?

Kit O’Connell: 19:30 Yeah. Specifically, it seems like it was an issue with an additive that … It was vitamin E acetate.

Matt Baum: 19:39 Right.

Kit O’Connell: 19:39 Vitamin E is something that gets added as a preservative and I don’t want people like … Because you will see the edible products like the tinctures with vitamin E in them and you shouldn’t panic. That’s a very safe ingredient in something that goes on your skin or that you eat. But as far as inhaling, it seems like vitamin E is really bad news. That seems to be, again, as we often say, “We’re not doctors and we’re definitely not medical researchers.” It seems like the current consensus is that all of the issues seem to have been this additive called vitamin E acetate. I remember reading some research that also maybe pointed at this terpene-based additive that some of the black market brands were also adding to make their stuff go further. That’s also kind of with the vitamin E acetate is these black market cannabis or marijuana vape brand makers found out that they could keep having a thick looking extract inside of that capsule, inside of that cartridge, but have to put less of the actual THC extract in it by spacing it out with these terpenes or with the vitamin E.

Kit O’Connell: 20:59 Bottom line, don’t buy illegal vape cartridges. That’s unfortunate because I know that there’s a lot of people out there that are still stuck in black market states and it looks real tempting, but just don’t do it. It’s just not worth it unfortunately. Stick to the legal stuff, especially when it comes to vapes. It does seem like you’re relatively safe if you’re going to a legal dispensary and buying a vape there or buying these CBD vapes. As far as it looks like, there were not any issues with CBD. We’re still waiting to see if there’s any more research to come out before we’re personally picking up on the vape reviews again at Ministry of Hemp. I think we’re heading in that direction. It does look like it really … almost all or all was this vitamin E.

Matt Baum: 21:48 I did a, not a deep dive on this one, but I couldn’t find any reports about CBD vaping being involved even in the sicknesses, let alone the deaths. Again, not doctors here, but you’re probably okay as long as you’re buying your vape product from a reputable company.

Kit O’Connell: 22:10 Just like with CBD, I think, especially with if you’re going to be vaping it, you should make sure you know every ingredient that’s in that cartridge that you’re buying from a reputable company-

Matt Baum: 22:20 Absolutely.

Kit O’Connell: 22:20 … and that they’re a company that has really comprehensive third-party lab tests. There have been issues in the cannabis field where even outside of vaping where people got sick from inhaling moldy marijuana flower. As far as I know, that hasn’t happened in hemp yet, but it is potentially a risk because mold is mold and it’s bad for you no matter where it pops up, so it doesn’t-

Matt Baum: 22:43 Right. Whether you’re eating it or inhaling it.

Kit O’Connell: 22:46 Exactly. Especially with vapes, look for the brands that are offering these comprehensive third-party tests where they show not just the CBD content, but also that they’ve been checked for mold and pesticide residues.

Getting involved in hemp plastics

Matt Baum: 23:00 Okay. Last question here. It’s a longer one.

Speaker 8: 23:06 Hi, this is Rico, from Southern California. I recently discovered the possible impacts that hemp may have on our society and culture as a whole. Obviously, it’s come a long way in the size as far as external use products, topical products and obviously oral products. I am interested in getting into the field as soon as possible. I’m apparently making plans to get myself involved. I wasn’t thinking so much on the food or dietary supplement side of things, what I was thinking was more like in the industrial product or production of industrial use products made from hemp. What was I thinking, to be more specific, was plastics. My question is where do you see the process or how soon do you see something on the horizon in terms of processing plastics for the industry because as far as I’ve read up on this topic, decortication is heavily outdated. Because of all the years of being outlawed, so to speak, there’s been real no new manufacturing techniques or methods developed over the last 70 years or so, ever since the Marihuana Tax Act.

Speaker 8: 24:47 My question is, like I said, how soon do we see some major processing revolutions taking place for industrial goods, like plastics in particular. Thank you. My name is Rico. I’m from Southern California. I’ll be listening. Bye-bye.

Matt Baum: 25:04 Thanks for your call, Rico. That is a fantastic question. The short answer is the sooner guys like you get involved, the sooner we will see more, but I think there’s a longer answer here too.

Kit O’Connell: 25:18 Yeah. It’s really good, Rico, that you pointed out the effect of the prohibition, because we lost decades of development in every aspect of the cannabis plant.

Matt Baum: 25:28 Absolutely.

Kit O’Connell: 25:29 There’s so much more we could be doing with it right now if we hadn’t had this huge gap. That affects everything from the farmer planting the seeds in this field, all the way up to the guy trying to make the hemp plastic and everybody in between. The people processing and decorticating and drying and all the other processes, all those steps would be much advanced and more convenient and more efficient if we had the years of research. As far as the state of plastic right now, there is some hemp plastic out there in use. Now, of course, car manufacturers are pretty cagey about exactly what they do and how they make their cars, but we do understand that if there is some composite use of hemp in things like doorframes and some other very durable parts of vehicles are actually, in certain cases, using hemp. It’s usually mixed with other materials, but it is basically a hemp plastic. Beyond that, what we’re seeing is there’s these … They’re kind of crude, these hemp composite plastics and you can look at that them and tell that it was something made from a plant. It’s got little bits of plant in it. It’s not a clear plastic bottle. We just can’t do that yet.

Matt Baum: 26:35 Right. I remember seeing like a-

Kit O’Connell: 26:36 Not just the hemp-

Matt Baum: 26:36 … surfboard and stuff that we saw at NOCO that was completely-

Kit O’Connell: 26:39 Yeah, exactly.

Matt Baum: 26:41 … made of hemp. It was kind of fibrous if you looked really close.

Kit O’Connell: 26:46 You saw too, of course, there’s those people, PF Design Labs and they’re printing these very advanced composites. They had a bicycle frame that was made from hemp and it just looked like any other bike frame.

Matt Baum: 26:58 Yeah, it was amazing.

Kit O’Connell: 26:58 It was real light. It was real light.

Matt Baum: 27:00 Like virtually weightless, it was incredible.

Kit O’Connell: 27:02 Yeah, it was amazing. But that’s obviously super experimental. We’re seeing these great advanced, really cool experimental stuff. As far as practical use, there is this great company that we love called Sana Packaging, S-A-N-A, and they’re taking hemp plastic and they’re making products for the marijuana, for the cannabis industry where they’re taking … If you’re buying a doob tube or whatever, you can have it made out of a recycled hemp plastic. Even in some experimentation with taking the hemp waste from CBD production and turning that into plastic or paper, which is really cool.

Matt Baum: 27:37 See, that’s very cool. That is amazing.

Kit O’Connell: 27:39 I love that idea.

Matt Baum: 27:40 Yeah.

Kit O’Connell: 27:41 Yeah. That’s like where the future is to us is closing the circle so that the waste products of the hemp industry get made back into the packaging for the hemp industry-

Matt Baum: 27:51 Absolutely.

Kit O’Connell: 27:51 That’s super cool to us. Beyond that, someone’s just going to have to see the potential, get people involved who can throw money at it and do the research because that’s what we need to get to having really good, modern plastics made from hemp.

Matt Baum: 28:06 Absolutely.

Kit O’Connell: 28:07 Now, of course, we do have to say too that just as us being lovers of the planet here that there’s a lot of potential in hemp plastic. It is more biodegradable than conventional plastic depending on how you make it. Not all hemp plastic is automatically biodegradable, that’s a myth. It really depends on the type. Beyond that, we still, as a whole, have to be more responsible as a species about plastic-

Matt Baum: 28:31 Absolutely.

Kit O’Connell: 28:32 … no matter what we make it out of.

Matt Baum: 28:32 Absolutely.

Kit O’Connell: 28:33 We’ve got to be better about it. But, with what said, Rico, I hope you get involved with this because there’s so much potential for hemp plastic. It’s kind of a catch-22 in that we need the money to put in it and we don’t have anything to show for that yet, so how do we get the money? We just got to have some people that are willing to see that potential there and invest in it and put their time and their blood, sweat and tears into really making a progress in this. We have people out there doing it, but there’s a lot of room for growth, so I hope you’ll get involved in some way.

Matt Baum: 29:03 This is one of those things where I don’t shop at Walmart and I don’t agree with all their politics, but they were one of the first companies to start massively buying plastics that had been recycled for their vegetables and whatnot like that. It’s going to take someone like that, a giant, that is willing to put their foot in the market and say, “Okay, we want to look at hemp plastic because it’s not going to use petroleum like regular plastics. It will degrade faster. But just like with CBD where we keep saying, “This needs to be done organically, it needs to be done the right way” plastic has to be done the same way. It has to be able to biodegrade. We can’t just come up with another product that we’re throwing in landfills. Otherwise, what is the point?

Kit O’Connell: 29:48 Exactly.

Matt Baum: 29:48 It is going to take some titan of industry out there to say, “Let’s go for it and give it a try” and throw a bunch of money at it, unfortunately.

Kit O’Connell: 29:56 There’s an article that unfortunately it goes viral every few months. It’s this headline saying that LEGO is switching to hemp plastic and they’re not unfortunately. The article has this headline that’s very definitive that LEGO is doing this, but if you actually open the article, it just says that LEGO is considering switching to a vegetable plastic. The article makes the argument that hemp would be a good choice, which it would be. They’re not doing it yet, but that is another great example. If someone like LEGO said, “We’re going ahead and doing … and putting the money into learning what it would take to make the switch to hemp plastic.” If someone like them did that or-

Matt Baum: 30:34 Oh, yeah.

Kit O’Connell: 30:34 … a Hasbro or somebody huge like that, that would make a huge-

Matt Baum: 30:37 Or a DuPont [crosstalk 00:30:39] or somebody. I mean, like-

Kit O’Connell: 30:40 Oh, yeah. Somebody like that. Yeah.

Matt Baum: 30:41 That would be massive, but for right now-

Kit O’Connell: 30:44 And it is this weird place because I’m not a big fan of Walmart either. These big corporations are problematic, but at the same time some of them are starting to see the way the wind is blowing. Even fossil fuel companies are investing in renewable energy. Hopefully, we’ll see one of these big plastic manufacturers realize, hey, not only are we destroying earth, but we’re going to go out of business if we don’t change.

Matt Baum: 31:05 Right.

Kit O’Connell: 31:05 We need to start looking into this now. Hopefully, we’ll start to see them realize that and to make the choice to investigate hemp.

Matt Baum: 31:11 The thing we can do on our end is start demanding stuff like this. That’s one thing you can do as a consumer. Start demanding it and when you do see it, buy it, throw your money at it and let them know I’m interested in this, I like what you’re doing and the more we do that, the more these larger companies will see there’s money here. I’m not fooling myself that they’re going to wake up and go, “What we have done to this planet?” That’s not going to happen anytime soon. But, if we can show them we as a consumer are genuinely interested in this, then we can make a change and we can interest them in making a responsible change, even if it is just to make a bunch more cash.

Kit O’Connell: 31:49 I think one other thing to add too is that it’s important with these sorts of topics to look at transitional steps. We see this with hemp fabric too where it’s really expensive right now to make a 100% hemp shirt.

Matt Baum: 31:59 Right.

Kit O’Connell: 32:00 But you can still make a shirt that’s 50% hemp and 50% cotton and you still have a healthier shirt that’s more sustainable for the earth. You’re taking that step. I think we probably are going to see some intermediate steps where we see, for example, plastic bottles that are 40% hemp and 60% fossil fuel. Let’s not turn up our nose at those intermediate steps because they will hopefully get us where we need to be.

Matt Baum: 32:22 Yeah. That’s a really good point. We have to be cheerleaders right now and if we start screaming everything down because they are not doing it the sacred way, then we’re not going to make any headway unfortunately. We got to keep our eyes on the prize. You know what I mean?

Kit O’Connell: 32:36 Definitely.

Hemp questions: Final thoughts with Matt and Kit

Matt Baum: 32:36 Kit, thank you so much for joining me and answering these questions. This was a great group of questions we got this time.

Kit O’Connell: 32:43 Great variety. Yeah. Thanks for calling everybody.

Matt Baum: 32:46 Yeah, definitely. I can’t wait to do this again. We will definitely, maybe in the next month or so, we’ll get together, answer some more of your questions. Sound good?

Kit O’Connell: 32:54 Sounds great. Anytime.

Matt Baum: 32:55 Awesome. Kit, thanks again for joining us. Huge thank you to everybody that called in today and if you have hemp-related questions, just like I said at the beginning of the show, you can always call us at 402-819-6417 and you can leave a message with your hemp-related question. Now, do me a favor, don’t leave your personal information because we don’t want to broadcast that to the whole world, but feel free to followup with an email to me, Matt@ministryofhemp.com, if you’d like me to follow up on your question or let you know when it’s going to be played.

Matt Baum: 33:46 Once again, I want to thank Kit for coming on the show and helping me out. He does an amazing job over at ministryofhemp.com where you can find all the latest hemp and CBD news stories and reviews and a fantastic list of quality companies that you should be buying CBD from, including LifePatent, our first sponsor. Thank you much guys. It’s great to have you on board.

Matt Baum: 34:11 Recently we’ve been talking a lot about hemp in the industrial world on the show and next episode we’re going to do just that, so tune in to hear more about the future as hemp as an industrial commodity. As always, you can find a full written transcript of this show in the show notes to make it a little more accessible for everybody. If you like what you hear in this show, then please do us a huge favor, go to iTunes and leave us a star rating. It really, really helps to put this information in front of people better looking for it. Hey, if you hate the show, let me know that too. Shoot me an email to Matt@ministryofhemp.com and tell me what you would like to hear, what you think we’re doing wrong and what you think we could do better. I would love to hear your thoughts. That is it for today’s show and for now this is Matt Baum with the Ministry of Hemp telling you to take care of yourself and take care of others and make good decisions, will you? This is the Ministry of Hemp podcast, signing off.

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Sustainable Fashion: Hemp Clothing We Love https://ministryofhemp.com/sustainable-fashion-hemp-clothing/ https://ministryofhemp.com/sustainable-fashion-hemp-clothing/#respond Fri, 17 May 2019 18:22:46 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=56602 Here's some hemp clothing we love! Hemp is more fashion forward than ever and brands are doing amazing things with hemp fabric.

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https://youtu.be/ZS8JP-bTmxw

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

More About Sustainable Fashion and Hemp

Here are more articles about hemp and sustainable fashion:

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How To Support Hemp, With Hemp Advocate Cait Curley https://ministryofhemp.com/support-hemp-with-cait-curley/ https://ministryofhemp.com/support-hemp-with-cait-curley/#respond Thu, 16 May 2019 21:03:12 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=56579 Cait Curley is quickly becoming a name to know among hemp enthusiasts. We caught up with her to find out how everyday people can become hemp and cannabis advocates in their communities.

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We recently asked a passionate hemp advocate how people can support hemp and help it spread.

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.”

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NoCo 6: Hemp Farmers Plan A Sustainable Future At NoCo Hemp Expo https://ministryofhemp.com/noco-6/ https://ministryofhemp.com/noco-6/#comments Tue, 09 Apr 2019 19:13:56 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=55613 10,000 people attended the sold-out 2019 NoCo Hemp Expo, better known as NoCo 6, held for the first time in Denver, Colorado. From the latest in hemp technology to discussions of regenerative agriculture, the event left us hopeful about hemp's future in the U.S.

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Judging by the sixth annual NoCo Hemp Expo, or NoCo 6, the American hemp industry is poised for explosive growth in the coming years.

Begun in 2014, the NoCo Hemp Expo celebrated its first year in Denver, Colorado on March 29 and 30. An estimated 10,000 people, the largest attendance ever, crammed into the Crowne Plaza Denver Airport Center for the sold-out show. The move to Denver came after the 2018 NoCo Hemp Expo outgrew the event’s former location at a convention center in Loveland, about an hour’s drive to the north. Organizers are already looking for a bigger home for the 2020 event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtSUvKyBn_E

While there were numerous CBD vendors vying for attention, NoCo 6’s expo hall also featured the latest in hemp innovations. All through the event, panel discussions looked to the future of a fast-growing industry, with a focus on building sustainable hemp in America.

HEMP INNOVATION ON DISPLAY AT NOCO 6

The legalization of hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill promises to open up new uses for hemp, thanks to an increasing supply of U.S. grown hemp. It’s clear from NoCo 6 that the industry is already reinventing itself.

The NoCo 6 hemp fashion show, organized by Enviro Textiles, showcased the growing variety in the field. Highlights included a tailored hemp suit, silky hemp robes, and even hemp backpacks.

Photo: Hemp guitars and a hemp ukelele from Silver Mountain Hemp Guitars, on display at NoCo 6, the 2019 Noco Hemp Expo in Denver, Colorado.
Silver Mountain Hemp Guitars, part of the WAFBA family of hemp brands, on display at NoCo 6 Hemp Expo in Denver, Colorado.

Morris Beegle, the founder of the NoCo Hemp Expo, also showcased products from his WAFBA family of brands. These included hemp notebooks, hemp clothing, and hemp instruments from Silver Mountain Hemp.

Going even deeper into hemp’s potential, high-tech hemp brands showed off the latest in hemp innovation. Green Spring Technologies impressed us with their injection-molded hemp plastics, and their hemp 3D printing display. We were equally excited about PF Design Lab and their bicycle frame made from hemp!

There was also a delicious variety of hemp and CBD-infused foods to sample, from Hempress’ hemp chai tea to decadent CBD chocolates and cookies from Incentive Gourmet.

GROWERS & ADVOCATES PLAN A SUSTAINABLE HEMP FUTURE

Sustainability was a recurring them of the panels at NoCo 6.

A panel of regenerative agriculture experts described hemp as part of a larger solution to the environmental crisis.

“It’s not just about hemp standing alone,” said Tara Caton of the Rodale Institute.

Mike Lewis of Third Wave Farms agreed. Sustainable farming isn’t just about the crops but about “giving back to the land but also the people and community around the farm.”

A Kentucky hemp grower, Lewis also founded Growing Warriors, an organization that helps veterans become farmers.

One of the most forward-thinking groups at NoCo 6 were the members of the indigenous farmers panel. Marcus Grignon, of Hempstead Project Heart, warned about the dangers posed by patents on hemp. Environmentalist and Native American hemp advocate Winona LaDuke led the panel in calling for investing in an “indigenous hemp economy.” They also called for more hemp education, so that the next generation is better prepared to sustain the hemp industry.

Journalists and hemp media professionals also gathered on a panel, moderated by Ministry of Hemp Editor Kit O’Connell. The group also included representatives of Cannabis Now, Honeysuckle Magazine, and the Nutrition Business Journal. Recurring themes were the continuing normalization of hemp after decades of stigma, and the need for better, clearer, more transparent language when reporting on hemp and hemp products like CBD.

WHILE BARRIERS REMAIN, HEMP BOOM SHOWS NO SIGN OF SLOWING

There are still challenges facing the industry. The USDA has yet to release its guidelines for hemp growing. The FDA is considering how to handle the boom in over-the-counter CBD supplements. And there are still barriers preventing people from participating in the hemp industry. A clause in the 2018 Farm Bill bans most people with drug felonies less than 10 years old from participation in the hemp industry. No other crop faces similar restrictions.

Overall, though, the mood at NoCo 6 was upbeat and the event left us hopeful. After navigating the crowded halls of the convention center, it’s easy to believe hemp sales could reach $2 billion by 2022, or even before.

With so many passionate people excited about our favorite crop, it’s hard to imagine any barriers the hemp industry can’t overcome. Whether it’s ensuring consumers can access safe, reliable CBD oil, or exploring the future of hemp plastic and textiles, the future of hemp is developing right before our eyes.

Drew De Los Santos, Jessica St. Cyr, and Matt Baum contributed additional reporting for this article.

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Hemp In India: Exploring The Growing Hemp Industry In India https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-india/ https://ministryofhemp.com/hemp-india/#comments Sat, 16 Mar 2019 17:40:45 +0000 http://ministryofhemp.com/?p=55273 Mansi Shah of Hemp Fabric Lab tells us about sustainable fashion and hemp in India. Although hemp was legalized in 1985, the industry is still growing.

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Recently, we got in touch with Mansi Shah of Hemp Fabric Lab, to learn more about hemp in India.

Hemp Fabric Lab makes innovative textiles that are either 100 percent hemp or blend hemp with fabrics like organic cotton, Tencel, silk, and wool.

As hemp activists, we’re always striving to make things better where we are. Often keeping our focal points on concerns of our country and what we can do within our local communities. Similar efforts are being made across the globe.

A collection of hemp fabric in a variety of colors and textures from Hemp Fabric Lab.
A collection of hemp fabric in a variety of colors and textures from Hemp Fabric Lab. (Photo: Hemp Fabric Lab)

Considering hemp grows naturally in India, it comes as no surprise this resource has been used for generations. But what about the modern hemp industry?

HEMP IN INDIA: A GROWING INDUSTRY

Numerous designers have already incorporated Hemp Fabric Lab into their work. Photo: A female model poses in front of a subway car in India, wearing flowing hemp fabrics.
Numerous designers have already incorporated Hemp Fabric Lab into their work. Image courtesy Mies Studio by Seerat Virdi, created for India’s first Circular Design Challenge organized by Lakmé Fashion Week, Reliance and UN Environment.

“The modern hemp industry in India is at a highly nascent stage,” Shah explained, “even though, paradoxically, the use of hemp fibre and seed for a range of applications — rope, fuel, food — has been commonly acknowledged for several centuries in India’s rural communities.”

A growing number of agriculture training programs and practices are spreading across farming communities to spread knowledge of hemp. Similar to the guidelines set by the Farm Bill in the U.S., India’s goal is for all hemp grown contain less than 0.3 percent THC.

“Over the past half a decade, the interest in and demand for hemp-based products is on the rise, as may be seen with the increase in the number of women artisans and weavers in rural Himalayan villages,” Shah continued. “[those villages] have increased the quantity and quality of indigenous hemp handloom products, such as shawls, stoles, accessories.”

According to Hemp Today, investers recently poured around $150 million USD into the Indian Industrial Hemp Association. Not only is the IIHA hoping to expand on this booming global industry, but they’re also seeking to incorporate more native Indian hemp strains. Unfortunately, most wild hemp in India  contains above 0.3 percent THC. Therefore, the association is seeking to raise the federal limit to 1.5 percent THC.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS SURROUNDING HEMP IN INDIA

It’s interesting to note that the county’s laws surrounding hemp have been looser than that of America’s for the past few decades.

India’s Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) of 1985 allows state governments the freedom to establish their own policies in terms of commercial cultivation. That is, “as long as they provide verifiable scientific and operational evidence that hemp cultivated shall not be diverted for misuse.”

After centuries of use before prohibition, hemp in India was re-legalized in 1985. Photo: Young hemp plants grow, seen during the sunset in Northern India.
After centuries of use before prohibition, hemp in India was re-legalized in 1985.

Still, there remains strict guidelines in accordance to the federal government. So much so, only two states in India — Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh — have developed an official set of policies governing the research and cultivation of hemp.

Of course, these efforts can be seen as similar to America’s recent hemp accomplishments. However, the biggest difference is India’s been able to grow hemp legally since 1985, as long as all laws are followed.

It’s due to this and efforts made by IIHA which have allowed for India to explore the different products hemp can create. According to HomeGrown, successful Indian hemp companies include foods and drinks and, of course, fabrics for clothing. In some ways, hemp in India seems more diverse than the ever-growing CBD market here in America.

Yet, the interesting aspect of all this is India’s demand for hemp didn’t grow until recent years.

INTEREST IN SUSTAINABLE FASHION

A male model poses in a long-sleeve white button down shirt made from hemp. White hemp shirt by India’s first hemp-based fashion brand, BLabel. Brands and designers of all sizes are exploring hemp fabric in India.
White hemp shirt by India’s first hemp-based fashion brand, BLabel. Brands and designers of all sizes are exploring hemp fabric in India.

Hemp Fabric Lab came into the picture when they noticed the Indian textile industry lacked easy access to natural fabrics. With that came a demand for sustainable fashion.

However, unlike other fabric companies, Hemp Fabric Lab offers customers the option to purchase a few meters of fabric. They did not want to force individual creators and small companies into minimum order quantities.

“Early on, we also focused strongly on becoming a brand name, with strong market, goodwill, and credibility,” Shah proudly told us. “We continue to work towards that goal through the kind of collaborations we do with [other] brands, as well as our social media voice.”

These kind of sales not only allow for other companies to develop their own sense of fashion, but for the fashion industry as a whole to start incorporating hemp.

RE-IMAGINING INDIA’S AGRICULTURE

“Agriculture in India is at an inflection point,” Shah said. “With a litany of problems plaguing the agrarian rural backbone of the nation.”

These problems range anywhere from an overdependence on intensive commercial crops (such as cotton and sugarcane) to socio-economic factors causing people to leave the countryside and move into the cities. In turn, these leaves rural parts of India ultimately unproductive.

Yet, through all the complications, Shah and her team believe hemp can be a solution to India’s agriculture.

“With hemp’s short cultivation cycle less requirement of water and agriculture inputs, combined with the price premium which can be commanded in the marketplace for hemp raw material and hemp finished products, it’s become increasingly evident to farming communities, government, and industry that hemp is a requirement for the heart of India’s next green revolution.”

Hemp’s ever-growing popularity in India is noteworthy. As is happening across the world, there’s a demand for organic materials and foods. India is no exception and many have been seeking out hemp’s eco-friendly material.

“Over the course of the past few years, there has been an increase in the number of organizations which are beginning to work with and trade hemp-based products in industry segments. However, India’s contribution to the global hemp market is currently less than 0.5 percent. We don’t view the upsurge in companies as competition — rather, we choose to view it through the lens of establishing a burgeoning industry.”

HEMP FASHION PROMOTES ACCEPTANCE OF HEMP

Hemp Fabric Lab allows artisans and small companies to order small amounts of hemp fabric, helping to promote hemp's acceptance in fashion at every level. Photo: A woman in a matching blue, off the shoulder shirt and pants made from hemp fabrics.
Hemp Fabric Lab allows artisans and small companies to order small amounts of hemp fabric, helping to promote hemp’s acceptance in fashion at every level. Image courtesy Sui Mue, a sustainable fashion brand based out of New Delhi, India.

One of the greatest ways to promote hemp is by allowing hemp to have an influence over the fashion industry. This is the final goal of Hemp Fabric Lab which we discussed.

“Our core offering is a wide range of hemp fabrics in woven, knits, and handloom varieties,” Shah told us. “Our parent company Bombay Hemp Company [or BOHECO] largely manages all aspects of industrial hemp from food to textiles to clothing to medicine.”

This cooperation Hemp Fabric Lab and BOHECO have found hopes to develop clothing which will make its way amongst the masses.

“Our B-Label clothing range comprises of semi-formal work wear and casual wear all made 100 percent from hemp, hemp and organic cotton, as well as hemp and lyocell blends that do well in a tropical country like India.”

Their main target is people between the ages of 21 and 50 with a focus on clean, easy-to-wear silhouettes that will allow people for easy, on-the-go clothing.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

As Shah mentioned, the hemp industry in India is still just coming into existence. With that, everyone involved has a lot of work to do. Not only in growing this industry, but also in teaching the rest of the world the many benefits of hemp.

“We’re hopeful, having had the support of the Indian government and thought leaders,” Shah said. “It has immensely helped BOHECO in its 6 year journey as an agro-socio enterprise looking to change the perception of industrial hemp.”

And what better place for this industry to occur than India? 60 percent of all districts in the country see natural, wild-grown cannabis. Furthermore, the link between India’s historic culture and hemp is strong. With the input of “modern technology to improve the quality of hemp and its base raw material, it wouldn’t be exaggerated to say that we shall soon see India reclaim its natural piece at a leadership level within the global hemp industry.”

The post Hemp In India: Exploring The Growing Hemp Industry In India appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

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