Hemp Use In Textiles And Clothing

The fiber is one of the most valuable parts of the hemp plant. Since ancient times (10,000 years ago) people have been using it to make clothes, a fact proven by fiber imprints found in pottery shards in China and Taiwan, which date back to the Stone Age.

In World War II, hemp was used for clothing, military uniforms, ship’s rigging, shoes, parachute webbing, baggage and others. Even Christopher Columbus’s ships were fully rigged in hemp. It was also used as the source of canvas, sail, rope and webbing fiber hundreds of year before nylon appeared. Now, it is being used for clothing (jeans, knits, dresses, shirts, caps, jackets, ties, belts, etc.), canvasses (chairs, sails), pet supplies (collars, pet toys), household cloth (bedding, napkins, tablecloths, towels, shower curtains, etc.) household (candles, crayons, paint, rugs, shoe polish, etc.).

Hemp is the longest and strongest plant fiber, but the use of it for fibers has decreased over the last 2 centuries, but before the industrial revolution it was a popular fiber because it grows fast, it is strong and long (hemp fibers can be 3 ft. – 15 ft. long). Because of its length and strength, hemp fibers can be woven into natural advanced composites.

Because of the multitude uses that industrial hemp has the early Colonial American governments mandated its cultivation. American settlers even used hemp fiber to pay taxes.