Textiles

Hemp textiles are all textiles made of hemp fibers. In addition to clothing textiles, these are also home textiles as well as technical textiles. 

Hemp has always been used very frequently, especially for the production of clothing. Until the 19th century, hemp fibers, along with wool, nettle and flax, were the most important raw materials for the entire textile industry, whereby hemp was mainly used for the production of workwear and outerwear due to the coarser fiber bundles. Before the introduction of cotton and other exotic fibers such as jute, sisal and ramie, hemp processing took a key role in textile processing. However, the use of hemp and other natural fibers declined greatly with the increasing use of cotton as a clothing fabric, with only wool holding its own. Especially the development of cotton spinning machines in the 19th century as well as the cheap imports of jute and cotton mainly from Eurasia ended the use of hemp and flax as textile fibers.

From the middle of the 20th century, hemp textiles had become extremely rare on the market of industrialized countries, and it was not until the 1990s that they were rediscovered. Even today, hemp clothing unfortunately represents only a niche product, although with the so-called cotonization a process could be developed that gives hemp fibers similar properties to cotton. Hemp fibers originate today mainly from China and are used almost exclusively in the production of textiles. They are particularly resistant to tearing and are ideal for the clothing industry. Clothes made of hemp also have the special ability to absorb about 30% moisture, making them particularly comfortable to wear.