Hemp Fiber: The Textile Material as a Fashion Value

The focus on sustainable textile materials opens a vital approach to industrial hemp. Hemp significantly contributes to the environment and local economies since it grows on an extensive range of latitudes, requires little water, is almost pest-free, crops benefit the soils, and requires low labor intensity. Fashion brands such as Patagonia, Lee, and Wrangler, among others, are adopting hemp to fulfill their quest for sustainability. European Union incentivizes textile industries to use new materials and recommends hemp, of its sustainable characteristics, to support the new circular economy. In European textile industries, the Portuguese, among others, produce fabrics and knighted fabrics 100% hemp but mostly in mixtures of cotton/hemp for clothing and home textiles. The products can be labeled sustainable on all dimensions (ecological, economic, and social), durable, comfortable, and rated as high quality/high price products. The research reviewed the related literature to refocus the problem on the current market conditions and presents how fashion brands, from global ones, such as Patagonia, and new brands, such as the Portuguese Sensihemp, reinforce their sustainability strategies through hemp. The foreseen perspective is that hemp will conquer a strong market share among natural textile materials at a very high pace, following the continuous augmentation of the amounts of this fiber that will arrive in the market from USA and China. Prices will tend to decrease progressively as the various countries, particularly in Europe, adhere to the comparative advantages that the use of hemp presents, and the textile production chains adapt to this fibre production.