Why Eco-fabrics

Conventional fabric manufacturing is one of the most toxic processes in the world. Traditional crops like cotton dump millions of tons of pesticides into the environment worldwide each year, while sucking up our precious water supply. Just why are pesticides, dyes, and chemicals so terrible? Well, anything designed to kill indiscriminately can’t be good (see Aliens 1-4), but did you know that many of these chemicals are also epigenetic? That means that the changes they make to us at a genetic level in our generation become heritable to our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren…Does this suddenly make “wrapping your goodies in environmentally friendly goodness” seem like a really good plan? Read on about the wonders of more sustainable eco-fabrics.

HEMP

Hemp is the superstar of eco-fabrics. Hemp is so green it has actually been used as a carbon-negative crop. It requires no pesticides, little weeding, and grows like the dickens. It even enriches the soil it leaves behind. Is it any wonder we named our line after this wonder-fabric? Hemp has been used for millennia in clothing around the world, and requires no chemicals to be spun into cloth.

Why Hemp?

• so green it’s carbon negative
• strongest natural fibre
• pesticide free
• fast growing
• enriches the soil it is grown in
• used for thousands of years
• blocks UV rays

BAMBOO

Bamboo-liscious! Bamboo is one of the fastest growing “grasses” in the world and needs no pesticides and little water. We love bamboo because of its soft feel and drape, but you might love it because it is hypoallergenic, absorbent, fast drying, and naturally anti-bacterial (this means less washing, and less…um…smelling). Bamboo is also thermally regulating, meaning (like cashmere), it keeps you warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. It needs no ironing; just hang your clothing and the wrinkles fall out. While bamboo does need caustic chemicals to take it from plants to pants, our bamboo fabric is created in a closed-loop system meaning less toxic chemicals go out into the environment.

Why Bamboo?

• abundant and easy to produce
• grows without pesticides
• naturally anti-bacterial
• wrinkle resistant
• absorbent
• fast-drying
• thermo-regulating
• bio-degradable

ORGANIC COTTON

Cotton, the way nature intended. Regular cotton is one of the great evils of the environment, using mountains of pesticides and oceans of water. Organic cotton still uses lots of water, but it’s natural, and needs no chemicals to convert into fabric. Plus, our organic cotton is fair-trade, bringing much-needed fair industry to third world countries. What’s not to love?

Why Organic Cotton?

• pesticide free!
• fair trade
• natural
• needs no chemicals to convert to fabric
• second strongest natural fibre
• takes dye well

SACRED PLANTS

The weaving of hemp fabrics is one of the world’s oldest industries, and soon will be the only sustainable path left for our future. Our ancestors used hemp 10,000 years ago because of its extremely high fibre content and multiple uses. By planting hemp instead of cotton today, we can produce 250% more fiber on the same amount of land. Since hemp is resistant to insects and diseases, it requires no pesticides. By way of contrast, non-organic cotton growers are responsible for over 50% of world pesticide use. Since non-organic cotton is often rotated with certain food crops, toxic pesticides build up and find their way into our meals. Run-off from non-organic cotton fields further pollutes streams, lakes, and all the creatures that depend on them.

Aside from the myriad environmental reasons for supporting the growing hemp industry, one might also be persuaded by the fabric’s legendary strength. In fact, hemp is the most durable of natural fibers: 3.3 times more durable than cotton. The extended life of hemp means that if everyone wore it, we could reduce by one third the resources needed to clothe the planet.

Wearing hemp clothing also promotes personal health. Hemp cotton blends are both more absorbent and more mildew resistant than 100% cotton. Fabric made using 50% or higher of hemp will block more UV rays than non-hemp fabrics. Have you ever noticed that hemp-made garments don’t create static? That is because hemp has the same net static charge as human skin, resonating perfectly with our electromagnetic fields.

We are not the first to profess the benefits of hemp for the world and its inhabitants. The outlawing of hemp was a grand conspiracy, headed by an evil petrochemical consortium and its partner in crime, the wood-pulp industry, as documented in Jack Herer’s excellent book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes. These industries apparently felt threatened by the relative cheapness with which hemp’s clothing fibers and high-cellulose pulp could be produced. They would lose billions of dollars if hemp had been developed to its full potential, so they undertook a misinformation campaign to outlaw industrial hemp by demonizing marijuana, meanwhile obfuscating the differences between the two strains of cannabis.

Your interest in, or purchase of, a hemp garment helps in the development of sustainable products through conscious consumerism. We hope you will enjoy our high-tech yet earthy clothes.

For more specific information about hemp and its multiple uses, please visit this excellent site: www.harbay.net