Hemp Textiles Developing for Fashion Apparel

Abstract

The present day’s sustainable production and consumption trends have given rise to the popularity of developing textiles from various kinds of natural fibers. However, only a few natural textiles are being developed in order to be utilized as clothing materials. This article is a part of the research The Branding Innovation of Womenswear from Hemp for Environmental Creative Crafts Target Group by Japanordic Cultural Capital Concept to Sustainability. The objectives are to create and develop textiles from Hemp to be used as a material for fashion apparels, and to conduct a survey on the people with expertise in textile development and fashion design to evaluate the final products.
The research experiments with handwoven fabrics from the hybrid between hand spun Hemp yarn and other kinds of yarn, using a plain weave pattern from a 2-shaft loom and the twill pattern from a 4-shaft loom. The results reveal that the end products have distinct qualities which can be versatile for ranges of products. The fabrics most suitable for clothing production are those woven by a combination of cotton twist spun yarn as the warp and the boiled Hemp yarn as the weft and a combination of the boiled Hemp yarn as the warp and the hand spun Leub as the weft. The ratios of the other type of yarn used in combination with Hemp yarn affect the thickness and the weightiness of the end products, creating fabrics suitable for more durable and structured garments. The organic coloring, created from the mixing of the natural fibers and the other fibers, also produces distinctive patterns on the fabrics, reducing the steps and the amount of water used in the dying process.