The production of
Hemp begins with an agricultural crop grown under licence from the UK government Home Office on a farm in England. Using the Cannabis sativa strain, which contains only minute amounts of the psychoactive substance THC, the plants are sown from seed and reach over three metres in height in just 120 days.
Once grown, they are harvested, and the process of separating the stem’s fibres for spinning into yarn begins with dew retting – a natural way of allowing dew and rain to begin breaking down the tissues and pectins which surround the stem – which is then completed by mechanical decortication, during which the fine textile fibres are extracted from the heavier woody shiv.