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Hemp has been a center of debate for a while. With the stigma attached to cannabis for it’s most popular usages, the general public has been hesitant to accept help, a variant that falls under the scientific name Cannabis, into their daily lives until quite recently. The biggest reason behind this change in perspective is due to the relentless effort by B Label, one of the very few companies in India manufacturing and producing Hemp clothing.
Initial Hype Behind Hemp Clothing
B Label is a brand under a Mumbai startup Bombay Hemp Company (Boheco), the first startup in the country to partner with Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to study the use of cannabis in medicine the has managed to find investors in Ratan Tata, the chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, and Google India’s managing director Rajan Anandan.
Its association with such big names caught the attention of big publications like Verve magazine, Economic Times, the Hindu business and many other in the big media circuits which covered the company and their origins and values under various articles. This was the start that initiated the public interest in Hemp and the possibility of sustainable fashion.
Benefits Of Hemp
B-label further caught the attention of the media publication The Business world, India which did an exclusive featured highlighting the benefits of using the Hemp plant as a clothing material. The article particularly points out that Hemp clothing is not only sustainable but also produces zero waste.
One kilogram of cotton uses up water up to 20000 litres, If that does alarm you there is also the issue of chemicals. Over 30 per cent of pesticides is used on cotton plant alone! Imagine the kind of soil pollution that has been induced with the wide demand in cotton materials!
Hemp Can Replace Cotton
Media giants like Huffington Post have also marvelled at the fashion industries dependency on cotton that leads to monocropping which is very harmful to the soil and the environment. With the existence of hemp as a clothing material, We have found the ultimate environment-friendly alternative! Hemp is UV resistant, antimicrobial, and requires very little amounts of water and pesticides to grow a large quantity of the crop. Hemp also grows through carbon uptake that helps in reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.
Using hemp for clothing alone reduces one's carbon footprint tremendously but surprisingly it only gets better. Hemp can be used to make shoes, housing items and also be used as a food source! Imagine the difference you could make on the growing concern over global warming and chemical wastes by just promoting the growth of the Hemp Industry!
Hemp is widely grown in the entire Himalayan belt which has the world’s largest wild cultivation of hemp of which is left unutilized. B Label's parent company, BOHECO is one of the few companies granted permission by the government to grow hemp for industrial use where the production of industrial hemp is banned. B Label has taken this a step further by employing rural women that live along the Himalayas to produce hemp fabric and also contribute to the economy. This provides employment for women in rural areas and in turn increasing the per capita income and the status of farmers and local artisans.
Hemp Is Promoted By Various Well-Known Personalities
The move to promote hemp and its sustainable consumption has seen a lot of support since it was publicized. Tathagata Satpathy, an MP from Odisha, gained a lot of attention when he walked into Parliament wearing a kurta made of hemp. The Obama Government in 2016 also acknowledged the efforts of promoting hemp products by inviting BOHECO to attend the 7th Annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit as one of the 10-15 India/American India companies to attend the event.
Hemp - The Super Plant
The hemp plant is a super plant to reckon with such that from Verve to Forbes, everyone acknowledges the power of hemp to replace cotton once the stigma attached to it is removed. With phenomenal properties, Hemp can be one of the plants that is a one-stop solution to all problems. With the drastic rate at which the environmental conditions of earth are deteriorating, Hemp can be the welcomed solution that is waiting to be acknowledged and accepted.