The hemp fabric used to create Botanical Clothing garments is organic, non-GMO, biodegradable, and ethically manufactured.

It is sourced from a female owned, family run business in Colorado called that's been manufacturing organic textiles since the 1970's (and that I've been working with since 2012). They personally manage their textile facilities to ensure working conditions are not only safe and ethically run, but are places that people actually enjoy working. Employees receive retirement benefits, medical insurance, paid maternity leave, child care on site, lunch provided, and transportation to work. 

The hemp fibers grown to make the fabrics I use are grown without the use of herbicides or pesticides on family run farms. Hemp is a carbon negative crop, meaning it absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it produces. It is grown as a regenerative companion crop, replenishing the soil it is grown in to ensure healthy soil for future crops. Hemp does not require irrigation to be watered, thanks to its minimal water needs.

When fully grown, hemp fibers are manually harvested from the stalk, and stalks are left in the fields to naturally biodegrade and replenish the soil. These fibers are then soaked in human made ponds created for this sole purpose of removing the bark from the core of the plant. The fibers are then sun dried and hand peeled.

After this, they are put into solar heated pressure cookers under high steam. The wastewater from this "degumming" process is filtered in a closed loop system, ensuring water is purified at the end. Fabrics are wrapped in cellulose based plastics (made from wood pulp, not petroleum based) when being prepared for transport to Colorado in United States. 

When you think about how many hands a product comes into contact with as it's being made (and this is before I even receive the fabric and make a garment out of it!) it becomes even more apparent how important it is we support things that are made in an ethical and thoughtful way.


references:
https://www.ucsusa.org/food/sustainable-agriculture
https://www.ams.usda.gov/about-ams/programs-offices/national-organic-program
https://www.envirotextiles.com/standards-and-certifications#