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Today’s production-driven U.S. hemp textile sector needs to be turned on its head, with the focus shifted to developing consumer demand for high-quality products, according to a new report from consultants Canna Markets Group (CMG).
And those products won’t come from cottonized hemp, the focus of most U.S. processors, the report suggests.
As the latter-day hemp industry has developed since passage of the 2018 Farm Bill – an epoch referred to as “Hemp V2.0” in CMG’s terminology – the focus has wrongly been on farming and production, to the near exclusion of product development and marketing, according to the report, authored by CMG Lead Strategist & Project Manager Joseph Carringer, a 25-year veteran in hemp and other textiles, and fashion.
“With this model, it appears that hemp is being cultivated and processed first, with attempts to find products for its use second. Product lines that cultivate consumer demand are necessary to achieve economies of scale,” Carringer writes in the report’s introduction. “Unfortunately, Hemp Industry V2.0 has done little to create these consumer-facing product lines.”
Premature supersizingBy prematurely supersizing their production, U.S.-based fiber hemp processors are scrambling to stabilize their operations by offshoring fiber into the international apparel manufacturing supply chains of China and India. That bolsters the economies of those nations while not addressing the lack of end-to-end domestic supply chains, Carringer argues.
“Why are we growing hemp in the US to offshore to other countries to finish into apparel?”Get the report
It also represents a national security threat by playing specifically into China’s strategy for competing in the global marketplace.
“If Hemp Industry V2.0 continues to pursue an offshoring model for its fiber sales instead of supporting and developing manufacturing supply chains domestically, it will continue to play into China’s long-term plan of economic dominance over the West by creating dependencies on its goods,” according to the report, “A Wearable Solution: Product Development for Industrial Hemp Textiles.”
Chasing cottonEarly processors’ fascination with cottonized hemp is also misplaced, according to Carringer, who suggests it is unrealistic to push hemp through existing supply chains for cotton, primarily for economic reasons.
Products that come from cottonized hemp – seen by many fiber processors as a “silver bullet” – ultimately cannot compete with those based on longer fiber, and wet and semi-wet spinning, which produce the most durable and high-quality hemp yarn and fabrics. By eschewing production of long fibers and high-end hemp fabrics, the U.S. hemp textile industry will also yield critical markets to other nations, Carringer warns.
“For industrial hemp to continue to develop as a commodity in the United States, there needs to be equal investment made into historically stable product line supply chains as there has been in agronomy, processing, and theoretical developmental markets, such as building materials and food,” the paper concludes.
Stakeholders and local officials in south-central France say they are two weeks from harvesting first trial hemp crops, holding out hope that the plant could lift the fortunes of local farmers.
Aura Chanvre, a Lyon-based association working to revitalize the hemp textile industry in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, is leading the project, under which 11 farms in the Roannais and Forez sub-regions planted 18 hectares of trial fields this season.
Local supply chainsThe initiative is probing the potential for developing local hemp supply chains in the Massif Central, a large plateau region known for its rugged terrain, sparse population, and relatively underdeveloped economy. Most agriculture in the area is based on forage crops and livestock.
Massif Central is a large plateau region in south-central France
“It is a challenge for sustainable development and the circular economy that must be supported,” Hervé Gérin, sub-prefect of Roanne, told the L’essor Loire website. Other elected officials, farmers and producers are also involved in the initiative, which aims to create “a local, ecological, and equitable textile fiber supply chain.”
Fabric makers interestedLinder, a maker of fabrics, curtains, sheers, and tablecloths, and Tissages de Charlieu, a specialist in textiles for fashion, furniture, and the aeronautics industries, have both expressed interest in the initiative, according to L’essor Loire.
Hemp straw will also be explored for its potential to turn out hurd for hempcrete and fiber batting for France’s growing eco-construction industry.
The hemp trials are being financed by the municipalities participating in the project. The experimental phase could last from 3 to 5 years, organizers said.
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